GARDEN NOTES WINTER TIDYING OF BEDS SHOULD BE UNDERTAKEN

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27669, 27 May 1955, Page 6

GARDEN NOTES WINTER TIDYING OF BEDS SHOULD BE UNDERTAKEN

[Specially Written for “The Press’*]

[By

T. D. LENNIE,

N.Z.]

Friday, May 27, 1955. A continuance of the recent spell of cold wet weather will not be condu-

cive to enthusiasm for garden work, but there are jobs to be done where one is looking for them. The old job of tidying up can always be relied on, and it will be found that the work is. there all right. Polyanthus and ariculas are showing growth, and division of over-big clumps can be done to extend the lines if needed.

Many plants can have the old tops removed. This applies to Ester Read daisy, rudbeckia, selinium and montbretia. Removal of a lot of spreading foliage of red hot poker, some iris, and michaelmas daisy will improve things. Dahlias have had it for the season, and stems can be cut off six inches above the ground, and the roots covered with a thick layer of strawy manure or loose compost. They can then be left in the ground for a month or so. If desired, the roots can be lifted for stowing under cover, or replanted close together under the shelter of a fence facing north or east. A similar thick covering will keep off the frost and damp until the roots are needed for replanting in spring. Gladiolus should be lifted annually. They are all the better for the dryingoff of the corms, and also a thinning out of the generous bulk of cormlets produced.

Narcissus, tulips, and hyacinths should be planted four to six inches deep. In dry, hot soils shallower planting is not advisable, for the bulbs resent being baked, in the dormant season. Tulips especially fall a victim to fire disease under these conditions. & Anemone and ranunculus are indispensable and can be safely planted now, either in clumps of half a dozen bulbs, or six inches apart in rows for massing. Lilies can be planted. Though it is fascinating to possess all the possible varieties, make a start with reliable sorts such as regale, pardalinum, Davidi, Henryi, speciosums, pink and white, longiflorum, and the tigrinum single and double. Auratum is perhaps the best of all but needs a shaded cool position. Mark the positions of all bulbs with labels carrying the name.

Old clumps of lily of the valley can be improved by spading out centre clumps and filling in with good composted or manured soils. Where violets have developed pale spotted leaves, it will be caused by red spider. These little pests will cover the undersides of the leaves, and cannot easily be reached with a contact spray; therefore a simple remedy is to cut off all foliage with edging shears, gather it up, and bury it. Then a spray will be effective on the stools. ’

Another job that can be given attention is that of trimming shrubs that are geting crpwded. It is safe to*begin by removing unruly branches to curtail spread and height. Where the shrub is overcrowded, the most effective way is to saw out branches carrying a lot of middle shoots. Those left will do all the better for the space given them.

Leave alone shrubs such as pyrus japonica, forsythia and guelder rose which flower in early spring. VEGETABLE GARDEN The compost bins should quickly fifi ■with garden ~ refuse. Add a good sprinkling of lime to this matter then a soil covering and some cow manure or blood and bone to activate the heap. Grass clippings are good, put on in thin layers, and can be hidden from flies by an inch covering of sawdust and lime.

In general it will be found best to bum a lot of the woody stems and also walnut leaves. Making compost without adding a manure, either farm or blood and bone, will not give best results, for the bacterial response to these gives a profound impulse to the

breaking down of the organic material, and encourages the worm population so necessary for good compost. All potatoes should now be dug, graded and stored under cover. Of

course only first quality tubers should be reserved for keeping. Autumn sown onions should be hand weeded, and the soil between rows kept open by hoeing. Then sprinkle two inches of sawdust along the rows to prevent the soil lifting. Early cabbage, lettuce and cauliflower can be planted, and a row of broad beans sown.

Tomato and runner bean remains can be disposed of for composting dr burning, of course saving seeds of the latter which have a selling value. Conditioning of the asparagus bed is opportune. This means cutting off all growths at ground level, weeding the bed, and covering it with a good layer of poultry manure and sawdust, or as alternative a three to four inch spread of good compost. FRUIT GARDEN Pruning can be begun on. fruit trees when leaves have falen. Gooseberries and currants should be taken first. With the former, shaping is all important, which means pruning to give each branch room to operate. All pendant and low growths should be removed with a good deal of the small shoots which diutter up the bush. Black currants make long shoots each season, and these should be cut back to three or four eyes and as much old wood as possible removed. Red and white currants fruit on old wood; therefore with these it is necessary to leave the best of the old branches and shorten the new ones as w#ll. Longanberries and boysdnberries fruit on wood made this season. The old growths, probably bad with white scale, should be removed entirely and burnt for new canes to be fastened ir their place. With all these fruits wher the pruning is finished, spray with red oil at the winter strength of one in 10 Plant strawberries, using young well-rooted runners. ' The old root? broken up are not much good. A bed six feet by 18 feet long will provide for three rows of plants IJft with lift between rows, a total of 48 plants. Spread the roots out well when planting. ANSWER TO CORRESPONDENT “Gore Bay”, Cheviot.—l presume you mean that pumpkin-like fruit, sent down from the North Island and sold sold in fruit shops. If so, it is a semi-tropical fruit requiring a warm, frost-free position. Keep your seedlings 'warm in the meantime—plant out m August. You may manage to grow the fruit.