IN THE GARDEN.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20898, 4 July 1933, Page 5

IN THE GARDEN.

WORK FOR THE WEEK. (si'CrIALLI WKITI'SN ?<->=: TUf, I'RESS.) [By J. T. SINCLAIR.j ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. Orari.—-Y»u can kill grans ffrti brt in yi>ur I.t.vm 1> y using (juarler pint, nf Kestnr Urass-grub Kxtorniinator to tliri-ii palInns nf water to each f-'Ju;iro yard. This must bt* waslicd in with a not li »■ r K.-jlions of clear water immediately afterwards. Sometimes after an applica! ion some of the grasses brown a little, but tliey soon recover. Direction.* are given with each package. A.M.15. —Von ask when you should purchase gloxinia bulbs for growing in your cold greenhouse. My advice is; I)o not buy thorn at nil. You cannot grow them successfully without heat. You cm, if you lik« procure (1 started bulb in a pot from a nurseryman next December. You vill get a few bloouis, hut the plants flower well only when afforded a higher temperature than that in a cold greenhouse.

l'each.— Ho not prune your peach trees until August. Severe, weather may cause some of the buds to drop. Sometimes, also, during hard weather sparrows tako toll of some of the buds. When pruning is left until spring if is easy to seo if any damage has been dono to tho buds, and prune accordingly. An annual thinning is necessary, cutting out as much of the old wood as possible, leaving plenty of young bearing shoots, (reraldirie.—Grease bands should be put on about tho beginning of April. These bands are put on to trap tho winter moth, but grubs of tho codlin moth r.ro srnivt i mes CJMisht. Oilod pap»»r .should be UM.-d and r:m he made about. sixinches wide. and phould be long enough to overlap whrn placed round the st<'ni. If the stem is rough it is well to srrapu off all loose bark. Tin; bunds should bo tied top and bottom in such a manner that nothing can pass between the bands and the stem. Place them just below the brunches. The bands should be smeared over with motor grease. A s exposure to tins air tends to dry up the grease after a certain time, the bands should be looked over at regular intervals, and fresh supplies of crease put on Avhen that is required

Kedcliffs.— (1) Lime is good for strawberries when the soil is inclined to be sour. (2) Cow manure should be well rotted, or well mixed with straw if it is going to be used as a mulch for strawberries, and should be put on early. Tt should be at least hMf rotted if going to be lightly forked in. This can be done now. (3) Iceland poppies will grow well in any ordinary garden soil which has been well cultivated.

CURRENT WORK. Where cauliflower plants are growing in a frame for early supplies, attention should be given them occasionally by stirring up the soil between the plants to encourage growth. Place on the glass at night, taking off again in *he morning when the weather is suitable; prop up with a block of wood if raining. These plants should be ready for use by the time the latest broccoli are finished in November. If one is fortunate enough to have a quantity of stable manure or other material suitable for dressing the ground, nothing could be than getting on with the wheeling of this on to the different quarters of the garden while the ground is hard with frost. . Where box edging is going to be laid or old edgings lifted and relaid the present is a good time to undertake the work, providing the weather is suitable. If the plants that were taken up are of great length, it will be necessary to split them up and trim them. The young plants should be five or six inches in length. If not already done, the final clearance of the herbaceous borders should be attended to at once, cutting down all plants where the tops are quite brown. All this rubbish, with the addition of fruit tree prunings, and so on, should be burnt at once. When all is burnt, carefully save all ashes, also any charcoal that may be found. The ashes should be stored in some dry place before getting wet, as in that state they are not of as much value as when dry.

If there is any suspicion in the greenhouse of greenfly, fumigate it at once. It is very partial to calceolorias, cinerarias, and chrysanthemums at this season. As soon as the grape vines are pruned, clear off the loose bark on the rods, also examine closely about the spurs, especially if there is any suspicion of mealy bug. If bug has been bad make up a stiff paint of seven parts pug clay, one part fresh cow dung, and one part coal tar. Use a stiff brush, working well around the spurs, but use care not to injure the eyes or buds. Afterwards wash the whole house down with hot soapy water and paint the vines with pure kerosene. Lime-wash any brickwork. This will also kill red spider and mildew.

VEGETABLES

Digging—Digging the vegetable garden should be undertaken as soon as possible now. Adverse weather conditions, and especially a superabundance of rain, will considerably delay the preparation of the soil. That being so, it behoves us all to let not a single opportunity slip by in which we may get the ground ready. Ho portion of the kitchen garden should be allowed to lie fallow throughout the winter. Dig and trench, trench and dig were the watchwords of old gardeners. The reward of such industry will be apparent in the bounteous yield of crops during the coming season, particularly if it is remembered that the cheapest fertilisers cost next to nothing considering how far they go. Atmospheric influences enrich the soil, while frost and snow, by assisting to pulverise the ground, help to fertilise it more than is sometimes realised. When you dig during winter, leave the surface of the ground so that light and air may get through it, and winter rains, frosts, and snow exercise their beneficent influence upon it. Even so, the fertilising of the soil by artificial means should not be neglected where the need for it is apparent. A certain amount of natural manure is essential in the culture of vegetables. One of its most important functions is to supply humus or organic matter, without which the soil becomes difficult to work, and the crops suffer unduly from the extremes of cither drought or wet. It is held by some tiiat the action of stahie manure is mechanical rather than chemical. At any rate, it has been found that the mechanical effect can be obtained with quite moderate dressings of manure, while the actual plant foods arc more cheaply supplied in the form of chemical fertilisers. Th •• : a fault as overfeeding the ground, so that it. becomes clogged with rich elements that cannot be absorbed. Many a good garden soil, i which has been well cultivated and manured for years, is blocked with accumulations of organic matter, and would be capable of growing good crops of vegetab l "" several seasons with the help of chemical fertilisers alone. For th- ' use on these soils, and on heavy land in general, basic slag is a valuable manure. Besides supplying phosphates, it contains some free lime, which liberates the potash that is sure to be locked in such land. Slag can be used at the rate of 3oz or 4oz a square yard. Bone meal <- another excdlent slow-acting phosphatic manure, and can be used at 2oz to the square yard. When soil is light—that is to say, sandy and porous—the introduction of some "binding" element is necessary. This may take the form of cow or pig manure and garden rubbish. If you want to stiffen light soil, you cannot do better than dig in all the accumulation of garbage that otherwise you would reserve for the garden fire, the precaution beforehand, how-

ever, of purifying it and hastening its decay by sprinkling it with lime. Use the lime freely as you turn over the heap, in order that it may do iis work well and efficiently. Superphosphate is the best fertiliser for light land, but should not be put on before spring, when it can be forked into the ground which has previously been dug. An excellent mixture to apply in spring to light land, and even heavy ones that are net in good condition, is made up from the following: Threeparts superphosphate, two parts sulphate of ammonia, and one part of saltpetre (nitrate of potash). This mixture must be repeatedly turned over, so that the ingredients are thoroughly mixed. It can be used at the rate of two ounces or three ounces a square yard. This is excellent for tomatoes. While we cannot refrain from emphasising the advantages of working the ground two spades deep, we must say at the same time that a plot worked one foot down will be a great asset to the average family. Plants, other than roots with the strength of a shrub, can only root so deeply as the ground is disturbed. With simple digging you cannot be successful with the long varieties of tap-root crops. You must be content with globe beet, stump-rooted carrots, and deformed parsnips. Obviously there is more nutriment in two spits of soil than in one; therefore double digging is likely to bring the produce nearer the standard of perfection pictured on the highly-coloured seed packets. Double digging wet land effectively drains it. The less robust winter green crops succumb to wetness far -more often than to the hardest frost. Moreover, double digging during the winter months lets the rain into the earth, and this water is but slowly given up and lasts the occupants far into the summer. With simple digging the water rests upon the top of the second spit, and is quickly evaporated. The least laborious method of double digging is to dig out a trench at one end of the plot a spade deep. Wheel the soil to the other end. Invert the second spit in the opening. Next remove the top spit from the adjoining strip of your plot and turn it into the first trench dug. Dig over the bottom of the second trench and proceed to the end of the section: all the soil will then be moved two spades deep. To preserve the level of the whole plot, make each trench of similar width. The same method oC removing the soil may be practised with simple digging. You wiU see that there is only one trench full of soil to wheel from one end of the plot to the other end. A further advantage with double digging is that you can do without any manuring for twelve months cr more. With simple digging you will have to manure the wiles for certain crops or enrich Ihem with some fertilisers. It would well repay the trouble to collect all combustible material that is not required for the refuse heap, in order to obtain the ash, which contains a considerable amount of potash. This plant food is very scarce. The main supplies in years past have been drawn from Germany. Moreover, potash is one of the best fertilisers for potatoes, tomatoes, and rhubarb, and a liberal dressing of the rows with wood ash—as the residue of the garden fires is termed—will increase the crop considerably. Other crops, too, will benefit by wood ash, so that its value cannot be overestimated.