GARDEN NOTES

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25448, 20 March 1948, Page 5

GARDEN NOTES

(Specially Written for "The Press.") [By T. D. LENNIE. FJ.H. O N.ZJ FLOWER GARDEN This is definitely bulb-planting time, and that means also the time for any attention to those occupying more or less permanent positions. Too often these bulbs get lost during the summer and only reveal themselves when growth takes place. The careful grower marks their position in some way and can work through the borders with some precision. Then all is well and he can lift, divide, and replant when necessary. This should be done every third or fourth year in the case of most spring flowering bulbs, because crowded bulb clumps mean inferior flowers.

Anemones and ranunculi are especially favoured for mass planting and the ground now occupied by such as antirrhinums or petunia can be cleared for the purpose when these plants have passed their best. Various types of amaryllis, although now flowering, can be lifted or planted. These include the kerines or spider lilies, Valetta or Scarborough lily, Sternbergia lutea, the yellow autumn crocus, and the white type zephranthes. These are lovely for spaces on the rockery or for a hot border facing

Certain varieties of bedding plants can be. put out for winter flowering. Iceland poppy, 10 weeks and beauty stocks, antirrhinums, wallflower, and Canterbury bells are all suitable.

Where broad-leaved weeds in the lawn were eliminated by the spraying of a hormone liquid, empty spaces will be visible. These can now be filled with a little fine soil, and lawn seed sown which will soon germinate. New lawns can be sown, allowing 1 to IJoz of seed to the square yard. Where a crop of potatoes had been planted, sowing can be deferred till next month, but not any longer than

Polyanthus and auricula clumps can be broken up and replanted in the borders. It is advisable to dig in compost or manure in this case. Cuttings of many plants will root now in a sandy shaded position. Fuchsias, geranium, lavender, pentstemon. hydrangea, and calceolaria can all be propogated in this way. but the cuttings should not be too soft.

Where greenhouse space is available for flowering them in the winter, some bulbs should be potted up now and plunged outside. Narcissus, hyacinths, freezias, lachenalia, and some lilies are excellent.

VEGETABLE GARDEN Winter cabbages are now growing apace. Grub attacks should be anticipated and either Derris or an arsenate spray applied. It is important to treat the plants before they get large. This is onion sowing times. Types of Spanish onion are best where a hard keeping bulb is required. This is the onion favoured by Pukekohe and Marshland growers. The home gardener looking for a large softer bulb will sow Giant Rocca or Ailsa Craig, but these do not keep so well. Silver beet can be sown, also prickly spinach for winter and perpetual for next spring and summer. Parsley and broad beans, early cabbage, and lettuce sown now will give nice plants to put out liefore winter, and be ready for use in early summer, All onions, shallots and garlic should now be harvested and stored under cover. Areas from which crops have been taken should be lightly dug or forked over and sown in barley or lupin. This, when dug in later, will prove a valuable compost base for spring sowings.

/ CATERPILLAR TIME Butterflies and moths flying about are both beautiful and in themselves harmless but the next or larval stage can be quite the opposite. The eggs laid hatch into grubs which pursue their ravenous way,- often, unseen and unsuspected. The damage done will then be apparent by ruined apples and perforated leaves. Two or these caterpillars are working overtime just now. The leaves of geranium, showing numerous circular holes, . will betray the marauders, and if youf tomato foliage is being stripped off to almost bare ribs, it is time to make an examination. In these cases the grubs will be found on the undersides. They are of a pale green colour, an inch to two inches long, and fitting in so well to the stalks as to be hard to detect. A little practice will make it easy to hand pick them into a jar for destruction, or the foliage can be well sprayed with arsenate of lead. Runner beans suffer from the attacks of the looper grub, which should be treated in the same way. This id a smaller caterpillar, with its well known looping traction, and is usually about an inch long. ANSWER TO CORRESPONDENT Geraldine.—The spotting of the leaves on apple trees may be due to several causes:—(l) Summer heat and dryness of the soil, with a consequent lack of nitrogen. (2) Leaf hoppers, the small yellow aphis very prevalent on some varieties. Spraying with an insecticide on the undersides of the leaves will destroy these. In seasons such as this, the possibility of trees being short of moisture is not always realised. Maturing a crop of fruit is quite a big job, and a copious watering now and then would be repaid by a crop bigger and better.