GARDEN NOTES

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24600, 23 June 1945, Page 5

GARDEN NOTES

(Specially Written tor "The Press") [By T. D. LENNIE, F.1.H., N.Z.] FLOWER GARDEN Plant lilies six Inches deep In good soil. Nerines and amaryllis require shallow planting. , , Stir soil round growing spring, bulbs. Borders should be tidied up and dug over. Paeonles can be lifted, divided, and replanted. 1 , Climbing plants should be thinned out. Plant polyanthus. Canterbury, bells, poppies, pansies, and antirrhinums. Plant roses and all kinds of ornamental shrubs. VEGETABLE GARDEN Broad beans and ’early peas can be Ground for early potatoes should be Pr |haflots and garlic may be planted. Plant rhubarb in heavily-manured soil. Dig deeply all vacant plots for winter weathering. FRUIT GARDEN Plant fruit trees and bushes. Spray all stone fruits with lime sulphur at winter strength, 1 in 10. Apples, pears, loganberries, and gooseberries should be sprayed with red oil at the rate of one in 10. • Pruning should' also be attended to. Walnuts should be Included in the lime sulphur class. By this time most of the fallen leaves will have' either been dug in or composted, and good cultivation calls for the same procedure under the fruit trees once spraying' and - pruning have- been completed. What makes this so important is that. It lessens the chance of infection continuing on spring growth. Disease spores rest over the winter on dormant buds and mummied fruits, and the latter, with dead twigs, should be pruned off and gathered up. Then when the ground under and round the trees is turned over, the cycle Is broken, ahd the prospect of infection is reduced to a minimum. By law, we are all expected to control these • orchard pests,- and It Is decidedly in the home gardener’s own Interests that good crops.of clean fruit should be harvested, Efficient spraying.and pruning go a Jong, way towards attaining this end. ■ Walnuts . Many ■ growers are • concerned ■ by- the damage done to their nut crop by what can- be called the walnut disease. This Is a fungoid disease affecting leaves and fruit, and almost ruins the latter by a premature decay. It is becoming Increasingly common and threatens all walnut trees. Control is best attempted by means of lime sulphur emulsion, and should be applied when treating the stone fruit trees. Winter spraying is needed to control the dormant bud spores, with a second application as soon as the leaves show green in early spring, followed by a third soon after the catkins fall and the nuts nave formed. The two latter sprays are at reduced strengths, of course, as for the stone-fruits. Uncommon Vegetables There seems to be a general reluctance to adopt and use some of the lesser known vegetables much used in other countries not as well favoured climatically as New Zealand. Celeriac, the turnip-rooted celery, is one of these. It requires very little skill in growing. The root grows a fair size, does not require blanching, and has the defeired celery flavour. Kohl rabl. the turnip-rooted cabbage, is another vegetable that is much in favour in Northern Europe. When grown under good soil conditions from springsown seed, it makes a good change vegetable for-autumn and winter. Then there is'the perennial leek, which, planted In holes in the spring from the parent clump, will blanch and moKe excellent size by winter. Rhubarb Although perhaps not used In every home, rhubarb finds a place In most vegetable gardens, and is of great commercial importance. There are many acres in this crop round Christchurch, where suitable heavy lands exist, for rhubarb likes a deep soil with, plenty Of feeding and moisture. In-these . conditions It Is possible to have the vegetable almost all the year round,.- The summer varieties, Early Albert Mould’s Crimson, Hogan’s Shlllelah. and Crimson, King, are the best kinds, but for sweet- flavour they are-not superior "to what are known. as the winter rhubarbs, Topp’s Winter, and the newer Wilson’s Winter. These are the kinds on display and in- at the present time, and most-gardens should have a root or two to prolong the season. , Shrub Pruning .Most, people,, women especially, have a tender regard for their favourite shrubs and hesitate to prune them as severely as they should be pruned. Hydrangeas are allowed to develop into a mass of shoots from the base; brooms and Ericas are not trimmed after flowering; as they should be; Forsythias are often pruned In the winter, and so lose some of their spring effect, as their habit Is naturally pendant. These mistakes arise from a pardonable want of knowledge perhaps, which can best be remedied by observing the rule that all spring flowering shrubs should be pruned soon after the blossoms .fall, This goes for so many of-the spring beauties—cherry, apple, prunus, forsythla, cydonia. erica, boronla, daphne, and brooms—that October should be marked as a suitable time to attend to most of them. Even then, drastic pruning Is not often required, as removal of the top flowering stems and outside growths-is generally sufficient to regulate shape. The reason for this early pruning is that the seasons subsequent growth is required to produce flowering wood for the following spring s d other hand, most summer and autumn displays are made on spring growths, so that Winter pruning Is done to leave iplants with the necessary bud wood for development. This applies to roses, hvdrangeas. abulilons. spindle tree, silver birch, and most berrying shrubs. One of the very best of flowering evergreen shrubs is arbutus unedo, the Irish strawberry trefe, at present in flower with its hanging clusters of blossoms resembling lilv of the valley.' Later it will be festooned with those red strawberry-like fruits, which give the plant its name. Although fairly common, the arbutus is one of the best of garden shrubs. It is t very hardy and seems to thrive in almost any position, while Its habit, so rteat and erect, seems to call for little attention It ts not generally knowa that Its fruit Is quite edible and can be used In preserves;

Compost notes

[By HUMUS.]

The Importance of a thriving earthworm population in building up soil fertility is well known. What is not so well known is tlt« difference accruing in actual results between one worm species and another under the changing condlttOM WTougM by man. Details of origin, hablte, and ¥ life history generally are left to the one of the Compost Club members secured for the benefit of the ctub; from a Wanganui worm breeder (Mr R O. Montgomerie), two good spade sSti or turfs - (if ■ one may measure worms to vwy) ol a br«W; of worta* he is