GARDEN NOTES

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26395, 13 April 1951, Page 5

GARDEN NOTES

(Specially Written for "The Press") [By T. D. LENNIE, A.H.R.1.H., N.Z.J Friday, April 13, 1951. FLOWER GARDEN The weather this summer has rather upset the usual routine for ciose-to-the ground work, so that gardens may have assumed an untidy appearance rather foreign to the time of year. Some of these odd jobs can be done before winter. Weeding is perhaps the most important job, for maturity of weeds now will mean extra work in the weeks to come. Much cleaning up of the borders can be done. Spent stems of Michaelmas daisy, perennial phlox and border annuals should be cleared away. This will give room to fill spaces with suitable flowering plants or bulbs, and as many showy borders are filled for the summer mainly with annuals, the planting of suitable spring bulbs becomes a natural sequence. Beds given over to massed anemones, ranunculus, tulips, hyacinths, narcissus, crocus, etc, emphasise the beauty and charm of each flower much better than when the bulbs are planted in clumps. For growing in grassland or under deciduous trees, the best are narcissus, scillas, crocuses, snowdrops, lily of the valley and sparaxis, with primroses, violets, or auriculas. Lilies can be planted. A suitable position would be open, a bit sheltered, but not to dry, for most lilies come from cold climates and should not be coddled. Give the rockery a look over, removing straggling growths, and refilling pockets with good compost soil. Some seasonal bulbs for the rockery include autumn crocus or colchicum, narcissi, bulbocodiuin, coloured freesias, sparaxis, and snowdrops. Gladioli are now ready for lifting, cleaning, and storing. This stage will be marked by the foliage beginning to yellow. It is not wise to leave the corms in the ground over winter.

Hardy flower seeds can be sown outside for flowering in early spring. Sweet peas appeal most but many hardy annuals such as larkspur, calendula, godetia, linaria, viscaria. linum, and clarkia, will brighten up the borders effectively. Lawn sowing or top-dressing should not now be delayed. While a wet autumn may be favourable to seed germination, the ground cannot be capably worked while wet, so the work should be pushed

It is somewhat of an anomaly that, while it is usual to plant spring flowering bulbs in April or May, the same time is applicable for many of the autumn flowering section, such as perines or spider lily, colchicums (autumn crocus) amaryllis and belladonnas, crocus species, etc. These lend a distinctive appearance to the garden. If dahlia blooms are being chewed away as they open look for a large grey grub of the winter moth. It is astonishing how much damage one of these grubs will do to a flower. ..... 7 VEGETABLE GARDEN

Runner beans should be heavily or regularly picked, and foliage and shoots thinned out. In the process, many green looper grubs may be found and destroyed. This is caterpillar time, and holed leaves on many plants will indicate their presence. Spraying arsenate of lead is the best remedy. Winter cabbage plants are growing apace and must be included in the above syllabus or dusted with derris. Bottom leaves can be removed as they yellow, the ground around kept free of weeds, and the surface hoed.

Plant cabbage, cauliflower, and lettuce. Sow onions, early cabbage, carrot, beet, broad beans, spinach, and parsley. Onions and shallots should now be drying under cover, while sizeable marrows and pumpkins should also be cut and put in the shed. Asparagus foliage can be cut off just above the ground. The surface of the bed should be stirred up and weeded, before placing a twoinch covering of manure or compost as a winter mulch. Sweet corn is now a regular crop in many gardens and has much to recommend it. The cobs can be left on the stalks for use as required, or pulled off when the tassel withers for storing under cover. Tomatoes have given of their best this season and the average of 51b a plant was easily reached in many gardens. The customary cluster of five or six good fruits indicates a good crop, but the unusual sight of clusters of from 50 to 100 fruits must be seen to be believed. True, they were smaller than usual—about the size of big walnuts —but there was no doubt about the number and size of the clusters. Called the plum tomato, the plants were growing in the garden ot the officer at the Phillipstown Police Station. These tomatoes serve to emphasise the distinct value of hybridising to raise the productiveness of our ordinary market tomatoes. FRUIT GARDEN The raspberry bed should be renovated. Fork or pull out all small canes and cut out the old ones, leaving six or eight of the best vearlings as the nucleus for next season. A new strawberry bed can be made, using only the best of the new young plants. All others shoud be removed to leave the older rows complete with their individual clumps. Lightly fork over the ground between them and apply a dressing of fowl or light strawy m Gather up fallen apples and diseased walnuts. These are potential disease carriers for next season. Woolly or white aphis is another autumn pest an apple branches. It is spreading out now. It can best be controlled bv using a small stiff brush dipped in methylated spirits, white oil. or nicotine water. The aphis is very partial to some varieties growing in a warm position. Colonies will be found on stump prunings and in the leaf axils.