GARDEN NOTES

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27190, 6 November 1953, Page 6

GARDEN NOTES

(Specially Written for "The Press.“) [By T. D. LENNIE, AJLRJJL, NJ!.] Friday, November 6, 1953. FLOWER GARDEN Conditions have been very favourable lately for planting to ensure a good summer and autumn display, and with the added incentive of the Royal visit, the work has compensations. Therefore most kinds of bedding plants .should now be put out, and inroads on the compost bin or manure bag are advisable to help growth. These plants divide themselves into several categories—back-row plants of fair height and size, generally useful for cut flowers; front-row kinds of dwarf and compact nature that fit into the picture; and the spreading sorts that are well suited to mass planting in beds by themselves. Lobelia, violas, parusus, dwarf French marigolds, tagetes, and agera•tum are splendid front-row plants. For a good result in the third section, Phlox drummondi, verbenas, Iceland .poppy, carnation, asters, petunias in ‘all their charming colour, and dwarf i beauty stocks are all suitable.

That leaves good things for the main border—asters, African marigolds, i salvia bonfire, zinneas, antirrhinum, pentstemon, and salpiglossis, with geraniums as a most useful ally.

• Dahlias are now due for planting. They cannot be left out of any garden scheme. They should be planted as ’back-row flowers, and will give good service right into winter.

. Sow’ all kinds of flower seed, W'hether for quick display on the > borders, or seeds of the many perennials that will ensure plenty of young stock for an autumn planting. Watch for signs of mildrew on roses. ! If growth shows silvery, spray with ; colloidal sulphur at one ounce to four i gallons. Green fly and aphis are prevalent now, and call for a spraying with nicotine sulphate, kattakilla, Gishurst compound, and D.D.T. Pot-grown plants of abutilon, camellia, acacia, chianthus, and flowering gums are still to be planted to fill any gaps.

Fuchsias that were wintered under glass can now be planted out for summer display. Climbing plants should be examined and fastened to supports, cutting out surplus shoots. Chrysanthemums can be planted. Care in the choice of site is important, as, because of their flowering in winter, all the shelter possible should be given them. For hardiness and cutting value for the house, the small flowered or pompon section, the singles and the anemone centred are much the best.

VEGETABLE GARDEN This is surely tomato planting time. Plant without delay. The sites should be well manured and provided with a good stout stake for later use. As variants on the regular favourites, there are the golden or yellow fruited, the Russian atomic with its prodigious clusters of small fruits, and the dwarf Australian tomato, which needs no tying up.

Sweet corn should be sown, also dwarf and runner beans, vegetable marrow, pumpkin, squash, and cucumI ber. All these need a warm, good, I healthy soil.

It is important now to sow the Bras- ; sica tribe for winter use—savoy, curled kale, Brussel sprouts, broccoli, kohl rabi; also celery, leeks and celeriac. Broccoli can be had in season from July to November, but that means sowing two or three kinds for succession, Adam’s Early, Knights Protection, and Sutton’s Late Queen will give the succession required.

Salsify is another useful root vegetable that should be sown now. So should New Zealand spinach—a rambling native plant that gives a fine harvest of succulent greens.

I Plant out lettuce and cabbage plants, and sow lettuce and other salad varieties, radish, cress, and parsley. All areas available may now be filled with a good main crop variety of potatoes. It is unnecessary to emphasise the importance of this crop to the average householder, especially on normal moisture-holding soils. FRUIT GARDEN Care of fruiting trees and bushes is extremely important. It is realised that, left to nature alone, fruit trees cannot mature healthy growth. Consequently, regular applications of pest controls must be administered to assist nature. Orchardists know from experience the necessity and value of spraying to a regular programme to get results. But the more occasional home gardener may do something or nothing about it and risks his crops and often his t trees in consequence. The present is a very critical time in fruit tree care, for neglect to spray now is foolish. Stone fruits generally promise abundant crops this season and are worth protecting. Whether bad with leaf curl or not, they should be ‘sprayed again with Bordeaux or lime ; sulphur. Where you find badly affected leaves showing reddish, warty clusters, pick these off, and burn them to stop further spore infection. Spray raspberries with arsenate to • control the small green grubs now hatching and making for the buds to enter the stems. Many barren canes sre evidence of the damage done by them last season, so be wise.

Apples and pears will need the arsenate of lead spraying to control codlin moth when the small fruits are the size of pea-nuts. Mildew may show on the tips as spindly silvered leaves. In this case. Bordeaux is the best control This trouble affects the vine also.

It will be advisable to thin out vine foliage by removing laterals not carrying a bunch, and nipping back the bearing ones to one eye past the bunch. As an added precaution, it is advisable to add a spreader to the liquid spray, otherwise much of the spraying agent runs off the leaves. There are several of these stickers on the market. WINDOW BOXES With the Royal visit in view, there is need to brighten up dull buildings, and window boxes can help so far as city business fronts are concerned. They need not be expensive either, apart from the tin or wooden containers, and the necessary frequent watering. Seeds of the pretty double gleam nasturtium would furnish a nice show; so would plants of Rosy Morn petunia. If something more substantial is desired, plants of geranium, fuchsia, redleaved begonia, heliotrope and some rockery plants with suitable dwarf conifers would be quite satisfactory. SILVER BLIGHT Since last week’s note, I have had from readers several specimens Showing the desease to be prevalent in gardens. Its presence is often unsuspected. All stone fruit growers should watch out for the dread evidence of silvered foliage on plum, cherry, peach or nectarine trees. If only a small branch shows it, pruning this out well down may stop the spread of the disease in the sap stream, but where big limbs are affected pruning has been delayed to long, and the whole tree should be rooted out and burned to stop other trees from being infected.