GARDEN NOTES DROUGHT COUNTERED BY USE OF LIQUID MANURE

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27634, 15 April 1955, Page 8

GARDEN NOTES DROUGHT COUNTERED BY USE OF LIQUID MANURE

i Specially Written for ‘The

IBy

T. D. LENNIE,

A.H.R IU., N.Z.J

Friday. l5, 1955. The continuance of dry weather will make necessary the watering of some plants, with diluted animal manure for preference. The more quibkly a plant can produce, in reason, the better the results; hence the help of the manure is advisable. With all growing crops, weeding and and hoeing between the rows should not be neglected. It is vitally important now to prevent weeds from seeding, and their removal is a comparatively easy job in hot weather, with dry ground. Although little new work is now required or necessary, routine maintenance jobs are more easily handled now than in the rush of the season. These include repairing pea or strawberry covers, soaking the ends of stakes in oil or creosote as they become available, and giving the wheelbarrow a coat of paint. These jobs are always there, and more often than not, are not found till the articles are wanted next season, when lime is the all-important factor. Do them now while time is available. Tomatoes need attention, and with the colder nights, it would pay to pick the fruit as they colour, to finish ripening under cover inside. Tying the vines up inside a shed will serve the same purpose. Growing cabbage and broccoli should be dusted With derris or lindane, or sprayed with D.D.T. emulsion or arsenate of lead to control the butterfly grub and aphis. With the arsentate of lead, add a teaspoon of nicotine sulphate to half a gallon of the mixture. The asparagus bed can now be trimmed up by cutting off all growths just above the ground. The tops can be burned. Then weed and loosen up the surface between the plants. Add a good layer of strawy manure or old compost. This in itself helps to keep the weeds under control. The rhubarb bed would benefit from a mulch likewise. Make a sowing of seasonal vegetable seeds. Most important perhaps are onions, for there is no doubt of the wisdom of autumn sowing. A good open soil is best and a trail of super or bone manure should be laid along the row but an inch or two under the seeds. Other crops for present sowing are beet, carrot, spinach, turnip, parsley, and silver beet. An early sowing of longpod beans sh’oud be made. Artichokes develop very tall heavy top growths, and if digging is not yet contemplated, the tops can be cut off at two to three feet high to hasten maturity. Digging should be carefully done, so as to remove the small ones, which may prove a nuisance to a following spring crop. FLOWER GARDEN During the Easter holidays, a great deal of useful work should have been done in tidying and cleaning up garden spaces and removing both weeds and spent growths. The weather was perfect. At this time of year all sorts of odd jobs call for attention if the desired attractiveness is to be maintained. It is marvellous how weeds multiply and mature under autumn conditions, and it does not pay to sit down and watch them grow to the seeding stage. They can. be added to the compost heap or bins. There should be no difficulty in building up big stocks of compost material at this time of the year, when autumn leaves are falling and much spent growth is available.

Grass clippings, sawdust, lime and some sort of animal manure are other necessary ingredients, and none is difficult to procure. Do not overlook the value of house refuse, and if care is taken to cover these with a thin layer of soil, there will be no danger of a fly nuisance. Blighty material such as potato haulms, tomato vines, hollyhock leaves, and cucumber, marrow and pumpkin vines should be burnt, not put in the compost. Border plants scheduled for reduction include perennial phlox, Michaelmas daisies, rudbeckias. These should be cut down to just above ground level. Gladioli can be cut down to two or three inches above ground, left for a w’hile to ripen or dug, to be put away in boxes to dry off. Drying may take two or three weeks. If you have named varieties, make sure the labels are attached.

Polyanthus and auriculas are beginning to move and any dividing of the clumps can be done now. They can be left in the reserve garden or planted out in their permanent positions. Hollyhocks should have their flowering stalks cut off, otherwise their prolific seeding will cause confusion later. Seed of a good strain can be sown for next season, as also can dianthus, stock, carnation, pansy, polyanthus, and delphinium. Trim up straggling edges of aubretia, dianthus, and ajuga, tq keep them bushy for next spring. • Cinerarias, geraniums, early growing lachenalias, and dahlias should be dusted with derris or lindane to control the grubs. Chrysanthemums should be sprayed with hexone or D.D.T. emulsion to control black fly. Disbud, leaving the top or crown bud, if big flowers are wanted. A weekly dressing with a liquid manure will work wonders. Most bulbs, once planted, will go on flowerings and multiplying for years, but anemonps and ranunculi are best treated as annuals by replanting each season.

Spring is ushered in by snowdrops, crocus, glory of the snow, and freezias, followed by hyacinths, tulips, narcissi, sparaxis, and scillas finishing up with watsonfas, tritonias, ixias, babianas, morphixias, iris, and antholiza. Some of the varieties should be more widely used than they are, and in these can be included ixias, babianas, sparaxis s iris, and tritonias. Layered carnations should not go short of water. A handful of lawn clippings over the roots will keep them cool. Mildew is, very prevalent on roses, showing as a white film on new foliage and buds. Cosan is a good control sprayed on at a strength of 1| teaspoons to the gallon of water. WATER LILIES There is a feeling that water lilies of the Nymphea type are not hardy, but they can be grown successfully in South Island districts from Invercargill northwards. For success and appearance it is necessary to have water movement, otherwise stagnation and scum follow, so that an overflow outlet or pipe should exist. A depth of water of 18 to 24 inches is best, and the bottom, if concreted, should contain at least six inches of black soil. It is not advisable to crowd the plants. In a circular or oval pool, 10 feet or so in diameter, three or four plants could be accommodated for some years, or until the stronger type of N. Alba toqk possession. Of the varieties favoured, a choice of colour is possible. N. Alba (white), Marliaca Cornea (pink), Chromatella (yellow), and Conqueror (red) are good to begin with. The lily pond is often the centre of attraction in a well-laid-out garden, but there is no reason why it should not be installed anywhere where a water supply permits. FRUIT GARDEN Prepare for planting strawberries. They must have a warm, sunny, welldrained position, with good manure or compost. Most apples and pears can now be picked and stored. There need be no hurry with late sorts such as Wolseley or Sturmer apples or Winter Cole or Nelis pears, except in extra dry soils where the fruit is dropping. Grease banding of apple and pear trees may be a little trouble, but will catch many wingless grubs ascending the trunk on their way to winter quarters. This is a practice much favoured in other countries. The raspberry bed can be cleaned up. Take out all this season’s fruiting canes and the short, young canes round the outside of the bases. Leave six to eight of the best of this season’s growth to form the fruiting canes for next season. Burn the cut-put canes and spray the others with arsenate of lead.

ANSWER TO CORRESPONDENT L.B.M.—A good deal will depend on how the coming winter frosts treat your passion fruit plant. Grown plants, by establishing hard wood, can resist frosts if in a well-sheltered, warm position, and everything will depend on those points. Therefore give all the protection possible during the winter. The position you describe seems very favourable. I have known of fruiting plants in both Rakaia and Christchurch.