GARDENING NOTES

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 1, 2 January 1915, Page 11

GARDENING NOTES

(By "Experience.") THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. Things to sow : Poos, French beans, lettuce, spinach, silver beet, radish, onions, golden cress. To plant : Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, savoy, loMuco, celery, Brussels sprouts. A small quantity of a dwarf variety of pea- may b& sown; tho extent of its usefulness will depend on a variety of circumstances, of which the weather will b& the most important. Watering 1 can never have tho samo benetioial effect as rain. Rain affects tho whole of the surroundings, the atmosphere as woll as the soil, and refreshes everything. A showory season is favourable to vegetable growing, and makes a success that no amount of watering can produce- French beaiw are sown as a matter of course; they may be expected to do well if conditions arc normal. Lettuco will do well enough if sown in the manner previously indicated, whereas if transplanted they might bo difficult to establish, or slow in. growth When seedlings are left to grow where sown the taproot is not disturbed. This strikes straight down, and gets below the quickly dryirfg surface soil. Onion* may be sown if wanted for salading. They are useful through autumn. ■ Silver beet should be sown where it is to grow. It will transplant, but this causes a check. Thin to about twelve inches apart. Transplanting may be useful when ground is not available at tlie j time wanted, but it is as well to wait a few weeks in preference. Undisturbed seedlings arrow much faster than, thoso transplanted. Golden Cross may bo sown alongside a patoh or any convenient place between other crops. It comes into use about as quickly ag radishes Planting broccoli and all kindred plant? should bo expedited as much as possible, for it is important to get them out at once. In places fully exposed to the eun all day planting may be left several weeks later, but even in t,uch places plants put out after the first week in February will bo of litfclo use, and after the middle of January they will be only partial successes^ Cauliflowers are an important crop at this time. Tho ycomo in after peas ahd French beans are Oast, and before broccoli. Celery— Now is the latest date at which it is advisable to plant. After this tim# celery will not have time to make much growth; at tho same time, it may be also considered as the best time to plant Celery does not make really good growth Until the "turn of the days," whon weather conditions alter, and usually become more humid with a. lowering thermometer still warm enough to promote growth. Celpry requires much moisture and rich soil. Though the strongest growth will not take plaoe till March and April, it ia absolutely necessary to have the plants well advanced by that time, or they will not attain to a proper size THE FLOWER GARDEN. / Layering oarnations may be undertaken as soon as the main blow is over. It ib not_ convenient nor advisable to layer while the plants are in flower, but the work should be done as soon as possible. Tho early layers are the best, and most certain to root woll. It is eomewhat singular that, though pipings will root late in autumn, layers will not do 60, and layers are better than pipings. The layers make a. stronger plant, and with much less attention, as practically nothing need bo done uftor layering until they are rooted sufficiently to take them off, which will be in from six to eight weeks. If tho weather should bo very dry it will be advisable to water lhe_ layers, as it will help them to root quickly. Sow wallflowers at once for flowering in 6pring. A very fine display of these old favouiitce oan be had in spring by proper management The- term old favourites is used advisedly, for there are many new forms or colours, and a judicious selection of colours should be made. To get the best results it is not advisable to grow the plants in boxes ail the time. The seed t Bhould be raised in boxes, and the seedlings be pricked off into other boxes, because it is easier to supply them with the necessary moisture in boxes than it would bo in the open ground But by the time the pricked out plants have filled the soil in the boxes > with roote the Boil in tho open ground will be in a more moist condition ; j the plants should then bo transferred to nurse beds in the open ground, where the plants^ will iuoreafce in size, and be in fine condition for lifting later on. Anemones sown in the open ground should be thinned out if crowded , it is no sacrifice to throw away plants if by so doing those left are given room to develop properly. If rightly treated these seedling 1 anemones are more valuable than tho old tubers, because they flower earlier Tho reason for this is very plain — old tubers go to rest soon after tho seed would have been sown. October was tho time advised, and as the seedlings grow continuously till they flower, they grow while the tubers are resting. Consequently the seedlings flower first; but this i« naturally contingent on proper progress being made, which they will not make if Orowdod. If the soil is harsh, inclined to bake or crack, a good covering of a mixture of sand and leaf mould or very old mariure would prove beneficial. A similar dressing may be given with advantage +o clumps or border* of lily of the valley Work it ifi well among the foliage, so as to cover all the surface, Whatever the nature of the soil may be this dressing will do good to lily of the Valley. Keep the soil loose by frequent Working wherever there is room for it. Where planting is too ciose to admit of working the 6011, and the ground is not of very free character, mulching Bhould bo done wher* ever practicable. It is not always desirable or practicable to mulch with manure. Road sand is very suitable for pUrpOse; tho cleaner and more gritty it is tho better it will be. THE GREENHOtJSE. Look well after plants stood outside to harden. Pelargoniums have to ripen their buds and wood. On tho manner in which they do thin wit! the quality of growth next 60&fcon depend. S6O that they ; haVe sufficient water to keep them growing steadily. Azaleas, if allowed to become dry, will be attacked by thrips, a difficult insect to get rid of. If a plant should by inadvertence become very dry, stand it in a tub of water till air bubbles cease to rico, for any amount of top watering may fail to moisten all the soil; the ball of necessity becomeD very hard, being a mass of fine roots, ahd saturation is very difficult if they become bonedry ex* cept by the means described Camellias ore similar in (his respect Primula* may up to now have been g^'-?n in boxes, If so, pftt them up at rrlv,©. Use pets that will just nicely take tho roots and no mote. A suitable Boil at this stage will be half-and-half good iodm and leaf mould, with plenty o? sand, and a very little bone meal, a Bix-inch potful to a barrowful of soil. Never put blood manure in the soil; it causes rO6t fungus. Coleus are handsome plants if properly treated. Stopping the shoots IS hecessary in most instances to cause the plant to branch, and is necessary if large plants are. grown, but if only small plants are desired nover pinch. The finest foliage' grows on unstopped plants. A muchbranched plant in a email pot will have but sinaii leaves.