GARDEN DUTIES FOR SEPTEMBER.

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 301, 15 September 1933, Page 2

GARDEN DUTIES FOR SEPTEMBER.

Cinerarias, primulas and calceolarias can be sown in puns or boxes now for flowering next spring. Use very line sifted soil. The seedlings need protection from strong sunlight and should be transplanted when large enough to handle. If you have not already made your new asparagus bed, do so without delay. Set the plants two feet apart and allow three feet between the rows.

Prune honeysuckle by cutting out old wood, or heading back the flowering wood. Cuttings of many varieties strike readily in sandy soil. Large clumps Of perennial phlox are greatly improved if the shoots are cut away now. Extra big clumps should be divided. Clematis can be layered this month. Gladioli can be planted in all districts, dahlias in positions free from frosts.

irosts. , CORRESPONDENCE

Soli for Exhibition Cnrrols.—Make holes, 2| to 3£t. deep, and.4ln. wide at the top, tapering to the base; a crowbar Is the best implement for the purpose. The holes may be a foot ilpart all Ways, or 9ln. asunder In the rows, and the rows 18lu. between. Prepare a mixture of equal parts good garden soil, leaf-mould, road grit, ut coarse sand, nnd well-decayed manure. I’aSs through a fine sieve, and to each bushel add a pint of bonemeal. Fill the holes with this compost, pressing firmly with a Stick as the filling proceeds. Sow three or four seeds over each bole, reducing the seedlings to one later.--(“Vegetables,’’ Kilblrnie). Uses of Soot. —(1) Is soot applied as a liquid manure, equally efficacious as in the dry state? (2) IE so, what plants—trees, shrubs, fruit or flowers—-respond best to its application? (3) To make soot water, what proportion of soot to water should there be?—(1) Yes, as a plant food; applied dry In spring, it Is a slug deterrent as well. (2) Flowering plants respond best, and small crops In the vegetable garden, especially onions, (3) Put a peck in a Inoselymade sack, and steep in 30 gallons of Wrttef for four days, then use undiluted.--(“Amateur," Levin). Liming Flower Beds nnd Borders.—ls it advisable to fork lime Into flower beds containing perennials nt this time of the year? The soil was treated last year with stable manure. —Yes; you may both safely and to advantage dust the surface of the soli with lime —say, a quarter-pound to the square yard—and lightly fork or Dutch-hoe iu.— ("Enquirer,” Lower Hutt). Wood Ashes for Vegetables.—Wood ashes contribute potash to tlie soli In the form of carbonate; It is easily lost by exposure to rain, so the ashes should be stored In n dry shed. If limited, apply tlie ashes to such crops as potatoes, turnips, carrots, parsnips, peas, and beans ar tlie rate of 4 to Boz. per square yard, just prior to sowing or planting.—(E.R.E., Wellington). To Improve Sandy Soil.—Dig in all the decayed vegetable refuse—lawn mowings, soft hedge cuttings, roadside trlffimlngi, soft seedless weeds, Spent brewers’ hops, autumn tree leaves, etc. If you can get pig or cow manure use them freely.—(lLL A., Lyall Bay). Transplanting Heaths.—Heaths transplant easily from pots, but tire difficult to transplant from the open ground. August, September, April, nnd May are good iuoutbs to plant out from pots. They must have well-drained ground, and plnnis from 4in. to flln. high have a much better chance of growing than, larger plants.— (“Moor,” Wellington).

. Staking Made Easy Just at ttiis time of the year, the timely and careful staking of plants will make all the difference Between a neat and an untidy border. Once let a plant straggle, and it cannot be properly straightened again. Supporting plants with sticks and raffia is costly and tedious work: those of a bushy habit of growth require at least three stakes each to allow them to grow naturally, and to display their flowers to the best advantage, also the stakes require renewing every few years. A much easier and more effective way ’ of supporting medium and tall-growing plants is by using galvanised wire bent 'in such a way as to support the plants, and to allow them to display their flowers in a natural manner. Follow these instructions and make your supports to the size of your own requirements:— Buy two or three pounds of galvanised wire 12 gauge—cut off a Iftigth of about 30 inches and with the pliers bend one end (Fig. 1). Then form a circle with all but about t> inches of the straight which is bent out at right angles to the circle (Fig. 2). The hooked end will easily engage in the second bend. ■

Now place the circle on the lawn, and put a flat piece of wood over the circle as close to the straight end as possible (Fig. 3). Take a stick or old brass stair-rod and place it against the end of wire and push it a few inches- into the lawn (Fig. 4). Stand .on the board and twist the end spirally round the rod or stick. Withdraw the rod or stick, and ever so slightly bend the spiraj out of the straight; it will then grip the rod just tight enough to hold, at the same time be loose enough to allow its being adjusted by sliding to any part of the rod. You now have a support, which enables a plant to grow naturally. These wire supports are everlasting

and require the use of one stake only per plant, whereas In the old method three stakes at least were necessary to support, for instance, a clump of Lupins. In these days of labour-saving devices, the old brass stair-rods have given place to wooden rods; the former make very good stakes on which to mount the wire rings, and I have found them excellent for the proper support of various plants. Success With Leeks Leeks are among the most wholesome and easily-grown vegetables, being subject to few diseases, and, when planted out in suitable ground, need less attention than other food crops in the garden. It is difficult to understand why so many amateurs are content with indifferent crops, Or fail to give the leeks the cultural attention that they deserve. The secret of success is a deep, rich soil. To obtain fine specimens, a generous provision of nourishment is eS-' sential. It is scarcely possible to make the ground too rich in the lower spit? Seedlings should be planted Out during October for pulling next winter. For spring planting seedlings can be raised .by sowing in February Outdoors. Wet ground is the Ohly likely, cause of loss, but oh a high seed bed the young plants will not suffer in this way. The mound may be as much as a foot high on waterlogged plots. Seeds may be sown in the Open ground in November for pulling at the end of the following spring. Sow the seeds an inch deep. Cover lightly with fine mould, avoiding lumps of earth. Thin the seedlings to four inches apart, and transplant when they are the thickness of an ordinary lead pencil. They will then be nearly a foot long. Study the Hydrangeas Mulch the beds where the smaller hydrangea plants are making ready to step out and get on with their Work. Much food and Water are necessary to keep these willing workers satisfied. If you intend planting new stock this season, make your purchases as early as possible. There Is always a scramble for good hydrangeas. Buy the plants on their names rather than on their colours and reputations, and trust to luck. Oile has to fiddle too much with the fancy lines to secure the deep, rosy pink shades where the blues ate usually prominent, or the blues and purples in soils which turn', almost every hydrangea flower pink or flesh colour All the following are excellent:— F. Mathes, Helge, La Marne, Launcelot, Peer Gynt, Ruhls, Rhinegold, Triumph, Satinetfe, Elmar, Goliath, and Parsifal. Some of these can be made to produce differently coloured blossoms. One hydrangea that is being overlooked is the shrubby form which flowers later than the ordinary sort, and makes up a cone-llke bunch of blossoms. It is named Paniculata. Those who are content to own a shrub garden should seek out this flue thing. It grows quite as readily as any of the relations, and is much hardier than .the more popular class Plant Azaleas Now Only at this time of year is it wise to make an extensive planting of azaleas. Azaleas take a long time to begin work after being moved from their nursery quartets. A fill! year is hardly enough to see them through what they have to do in the way of making limbs and leaves in readiness for the 1931 delivery. They only flower in the springtime. All the rest of the year the plants just die away their days. It is unwise to ask them to do more. Such splendid dressers should be left to theif own devices. Buy now and bed out the new possessions in the best soil possible, selecting a morning sun position, or a halfsheltered one, where the eold winter

winds will not have too much play. Ih an exposed place the delicate flowers are spoiled rather too early. The ideal place for azaleas is one that is cool in summer nnd warm in Winter. While tlie buds are being made ready tor opening is the time to protect the plants. A rich, tree soil should bp made ready for the plants Use no Ihiffi. in any mixture Intended for azaleas. Old manure, peaty stuff, well rotted leaf mould, light loam, and sand make au acceptable medium for the plants, which like all their food to be somewhat near the surface, where they carry masses of fibrous feeding roots. Hard, clayey soils are not fit for such good-hearted plants If you cahhot make the soil right do not attempt to grow azaleas. SOU means more than 'sjluation.