GARDENING NOTES

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 7, 8 July 1922, Page 17

GARDENING NOTES

(By "Experience.")

THE VEGETABLE GARDEN.

Things to sow: Peas, onions, carrots, lettuce, radish, cabbage, celery, parsley, and other herbs. To plant: Cabbage, cauliflower, rhubarb, lettuce, herbs. The currency of a crop of peas is about two weeks; consequently to maintain a constant supply throughout the season, it is necessary to sow every fortnight. At the first sowing two kinds should be put in, viz., a true dwarf, and a taller sort. The true dwarfs come quickest into use. Both pods and peas are smaller than those of taller kinds, and for this reason it is usual to make only one sowing of a dwarf. The taller varieties being a little longer coming into use, there would be a gap unless a sowing is made at. the some time as the dwarf. The next sowing should be made as- soon as those iirst sown are well through the ground. This may bo about three weeks; it depends on weather and situation. Further sowings should be at intervals of a fortnight. In many oases suburban gardens are too small to keep a family supplied with vegetables. It is then wise to consider what crop will produce most. If the produce of the garden has to be supplemented by purchase, the crop that saves most spending of money is the best to grow. The mostexpensive crop of all to grow is peas. Ground space that will produce about half a dozen cookings of peas would give thirty or forty of cabbages. As the market price for a dish of pea_ is at most not more than twice that for cabbage, the advantage for the cabbage crop is evident. _ Onions should be sown as early as possible. Of courso there is bound to be a difference in the time when the soil is in a fit state, as conditions of soil and amount of sunshine vary greatly. Where the soil is well drained, it should, however, be possible to sow some time in July. So far as concerns the suburbs of Wellington after the middle of July is late, and the first week in August is very late for sowing! Late sowing is responsible for the very poor specimens of onions usually seen at suburban shows. Transplanting, autumn-sown onions should also be done as soon as _ possible. The chief purpose for sowing in autumn is lo get large bulbs, and this is - impossible except by early planting. Iv former days' onions weighing from two and a-half, to three pounds were common at Wellington flower shows, but they are rarely seen anything like that weight nowadays. In England Ailsa Craig is often reported weighing four pounds, so "something is wrong here. ' Lettuces should be planted, and a little more seed sown. As this salad is in constant request, the best plan is to sow a little seed at frequent intervals, so .as to always have plants on hand. They can be set out in any odd place that may b» available, here an dthere. ■ ; Parsley and other herbs- are in daily demand. JEvery garden should have a row of parsley, a clump of mint, a few plants of sage, thyme (lemon thyme is best, being- more leafy and more succulent than is common thyme), winter savoury, and marjoram. PaT&ley must be <»va every year. It will sow itself if a plant of a. good strain is left to flower and ripen its. seeds. Sel_sown seedlings can be lifted and planted about eight inches apart. Good fronds cannot be got from crowded plant.. Mint should be planted now in a spot that keeps fairly moist through summer. Sage and thyme get woody and stunted'in about two years. They should then be taken lip, torn in pieces, and the fresher division, be replanted. Now is a good time to do it. Either plant can be raised from seeds, or by cuttings, in a glass structure. The easiest way is to buy a small clump, as it increases _in size very quickly. Winter savoury is rather a misnomer. It merely serves to distinguish it - from another species that is only an annual, and a very scraggy plant at that. Winter savoury is in use all the time, and is a distinct improvement to flavour when used with thyme. The same,is true of marjoram; the species known as sweet, or knotted marjoram, is the one wanted. Knotted refers to peculiar appearance of the infloresoens. Both these herbs are increased in the same way- as thyme, and need the same attention in the way of dividing now and again. - Celery, if wanted early, should be sown at onoe in boxes under glass. For early use, Henderson's White Plume is the best variety. If want of space restriots the number of heads grown, then the early crop should be left out. Celery has a dual use; it may be used raw as m salad, or cooked as a vegetable, which over use it is put to. It is most valuable in winter, when tomatoes, lettuce, etc., are scarce; also, the late orop is easiest to grow, for celery thrives best in cool and moist weather; in foot, it is not'until the days begin to shorten that it grows really well. Six weeks heno* is soon enough to grow for winter use. Potatoes may be--planted at onoe in frost-free places.-^ The sets for later planting should be placed rose end up, in shallow boxes, in a situation sheltered from frost and rain, but exposed to light and air, to develop the sprouts. Sprouted sets are a great advantage in small plantings, because it enables the planting of inone but good sets, the character of the sprouts being an infallible guide. Plant none that have weak sprouts; they never give a crop. THE VINERY. Give the border a dressing of lime— half-a-pound of ground carbonate, or a quarter-pound of slaked quicklime to each square yard; fork it lightly in. Also, two ounces per square yard of bonedust or superphosphate. Keep the house well ventilated, as the cooler it is kept the better. It is best to keep the vines back until the coldest weather is past, and warm weather likely to continue. Where it is convenient to do so, the vine rods should be tied along the front of the house. If posts or other obstructions prevent this being done, then let the upper part of the rods hang loose to that the ends bow down as far as is convenient. The reason for doing this is because if the vines are left in their proper position, the buds on the upper part start first, and the lower, buds are inclined to hold back, and to start., weakly. The bud in the rod arrests the upward flow of sap, and the buds break'more together. The rods aro not to be tied to their proper positions until the shoots . have made _ few inches of growth. THE FRUIT GARDEN. Planting fruit trees or bushes will be in order for the next six weeks. It is wise, however, to secure the trees in good time. They can be heeled in for a time if it is not convenient to plant at onco. Pruning small fruits should be attended to at once—there is plenty of time yet for fruit tree pruning. Raspberries boar fruit next season on young canes made the past season. Tlie canas die after fruiting, therefore a plantation at: the present time contains dead canes th_t should be cut out; young canes, of which about half a dozen are wanted at each stool for fruiting, and a surplus to be cut out. The canes left require a little shortening—just a few inches of the thin ends being, cut off. Loganberries may be trained on the wall of a building, or on wires supported by posts, which is the plan where they l are grown on a commercial scale. . Plants should not be set nearer each other than eight feet; if the soil is good they will fill ! that space, if it is not good it is useless to plant them. In the first place, a young plant is cut hard back. Close down to the ground there will be one or more strong buds. These buds should develop into long and strong rods or canes. These rods bear fruit the following season. In commercial plantations it is customary to renew the- rods every year. They will bear a full ci-op of fruit two years, and where they aro trained on a wall it is best to keop them for two years. In any other circumstance it is best to renew them every year. In such cases all that is required now is to cut out the old rods and tie tho new in place. Thoso can be cut back if they extend further than tho space allotted to them. Rods trained on walls and that have borne a crop of fruit will now be fumished\with numerous side-growths, these being the laterals that bore the fruit. Al! these side shoots must bo cut back so as to leave one, or not more than two, buds; i Abes., roll break into fruiting laterals, A