IN THE GARDEN.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20342, 15 September 1931, Page 7

IN THE GARDEN.

; WORK FOR THE WEEK. (SPECIALLV WRITTEN FOJI TUB PRIiSS.) [By J. T. Sinclair.J ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. I'-C.; It is a pity you did not stato where you wanted to. plant the fence. As you suggest 1 , macrocarpa makes a good fenc?. It also makes, a good breakwind, but as a fence for a small Section I do not - recommend it. Laurestinus makes a good fence when planted Uffc apart. Privet . .makes a neat fence,' and can be' planted 18in apart.- Matipo also makes a neat fence and should be planted the same distance apart as privet. Holly and laurel would ,be . too slow growing for your purpQse. You will have to plant at once if you are going to do it this' season. ■ W.D.B.—Neither superphosphates nor lime causes greening in potatoes. Exposure to light, especially sunlight, is the usual cause. The potatoes will get green even in the sacks which contain them, - if the. latter' are exposed to sunlight' lor some time. This has happened with several field crops last season. Another -point ; is that- in a -hot dry period, such as last autumn was, potatoes near the surface, although slightly covered with . Soil, become greened, although the change is not notioed in the. skin at lifting, time. This is probably what happened to yours. I have not known it to occur when cool conditions obtain. Amateur.—-To kill the old tree stumps make a number of fairly deep holes slanting downwards, a little above ground level, with a good-sized -auger—one used for blasting stumps is a good. size. Fill the holes with oil—old oil from a car crankcasc will do. Refill when , oil has soaked away; The larger the stump 3 the more holes should be made.

VEGETABLES. Gardens, as a rule, are behind the calendar this season, and from no fault of their owners, especially on low-lying and ill-drained ground. But whatever the character of the garden, there is every likelihood that" seedrsowing is still- behind what is. usual in a normal year, and-now that really good weather can be expected ,we sliali do well to give our individual attention to getting the necessary seeds into the ground,, and in getting the ground in readiness for future crops.

FLOWERS. j Hardy Annuals.—lf we except a select few, such as the sweet peas, the shirley poppies, mignonette, and so on, hardy annuals are not infrequently looked upon as little better • than common weeds, and in nine cases out of ten they receive the minimum of care, either in sowing or afterwards; in fact, they are tco often treated as the Cinderellas of the flower garden.

This is not, however, at it should be, for many of them are of great beauty, as well as being extremely useful in cases of emergency, such as for the making of an immediate display in a newly-formed garden or flower border, for supplementing herbaceous perennials or other plants in order to prolong the floral display, or for sowing in beds and borders devoted to springflowering bulbs. Many of them, such as scabious, poppies, cornflower, sweet sultans, and

so on, are also excellent as cut flowers for the decoration, of the home. ' But , porhaps their greatest claim to recognition is that'they require no special or e expensive cultivation. Good, deeply f dug soil, thin sowing, and drastic thins ning out of the seedlings before they ■J become drawn, are the secrets ot success. There is no trouble in their a raising, as in the case of half-hardy t annuals, and by making successive ® sowings a continuation of flowers may be obtained, which is impossible in t the case of half-hardy varieties with--5 out a considerable amount of trouble. Hardy annuals can be sown now, and f a fine day should be chosen for the 5 work provided the ground has been prei viously well prepared for the purpose. > Annuals are rapid-growing plants, finish- I ' ing theil- course in four to six months, ■ and have no time to waste. It is, therefore, essential to success with them that 1 the soil should be in good condition, other-wise starved, weedy plants Tesult 1 which are quickly over, and leave ' behind them only a sense of dissatisfaction. Therefore, dig the soil at least a foot deep, incorporate a little decayed manure or leaf soil if possible, and break the whole up finely,. - especially the surface, which should bo smooth and level. A good general rule as to tlife depth at which annuals should be sown will be to aim at covering the seed to its own depth or a little more. Large i seeds, such as sweet peas or nasturtiums require, of course, a deeper distance, but , for all fine seeds the* above practice

will be found reliable. . In many cases this will mean that the seeds will hardly bear more than a light pressure with the rake over the surface of the patch on which they have been spread. When sowing, keep the hand near the ground, and aim at as thin and as even a distributionof the seed as is possible. It is quite improbable that the spring sowing of annuals will be accompanied by any need for artificial watering. The only duties, therefore, ~of the ardent [ gardener during the first stages of growth will consist in early thinning, and, incidentally, in doing his best tliat slugs and other pests do not anticipate his efforts in this direction. The timehonoured . use of lime and soot as a surface dressing will be found distasteful to the tribe. Spraying with some approved insecticide will be helpful, bran saucers, may be utilised, and traps fashioned of scoopcd-out orange peel or potato rind. . The distance to which various annuals may with advantage be trimmed is a moot question, and no hard-and-fast rule can be laid down. Few, if any, of

the dwarf edging plants should stand less than three inches apart, while taller' subjects, such as clarkia, godetia, cornflower and so on, will enjoy a distance of eight or nine inches, or. even a foot, so long as the region of their growth appears to justify the treatment. • Hardy annuals which may be used for climbing over arches, fences, and so on, include the tall-growing nasturtiums (Tropceolum majus, and T. Lobbianum). of which there are many varieties, the canary creeper (Tropceolum ad« ncum), morning glory (ipomoca purpurea), a packet of mixed seed of this beautiful convolvulus gives excellent results. A splendid climber for covering unsightly objects, although its flowers are inconspicuous, is the

t Japanese hop (huniulus japonicus), of ■ which there is a variegated kind. The following hardy annuals are well adapted to rock garden uses, and they ■ are very useful for filling blanks caused by deaths among the permanent plants: pheasant's eye (adonis aestivalis), violet cress (ionopsiduim acaule), rock jasmine (androsace lactiflora), prophet flower (aruebia cornuta and a giifl&thii), venus's navelwort (omplialodes linifolio) rock purslane (calandrinea, grandiflora), catclifly (silene . pendula), and bellflowers (campanula attica, C. loreyi, and C. niacrostyla). Of the; dwarf-growing annuals suitable for, edgings and for the carpeting of beds or borders, the following are those most generally used: —sweet alyssum (alyssum maritimum), Californian bluebell

(nemophila, insignis), limnanthes doug lasii and silene pendula. The Lawn. . New lawns can be laid down, bui before doing so the ground should be well prepared and freed from all perennial weeds. The soil should be made level and perfectly firm by treading and rolling. Choose a calm, dry day foi sowing. The seed as soon as sown should be well raised into the soil. One pound of seed will sow about 20 square- yards, but it wise to -be generous and allow a little more. Established lawns can be rolled now and again. Pass the rolled over it both lengthways and crosswise. This treatment will promote a close and compact growth of the grassland will also help to keep the lawn smooth and level. Edgings will probably be found_ to be irregular, and the use of the edging iron will therefore be necessary. Great care 'should,' however, be taken' not to take off more of the edge than is absolutely needful to make it straight and tidy, since both the lawn and the path are spoiled if great slices are taken from the edge.-