Gardening Notes

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 36, 11 August 1923, Page 19

Gardening Notes

(By "Experience.")

THE VEGETABLE GARDEN.

What may be sown: Peas, broad beans, turnips, carrots, onions, beet, celery, cuoumbers, parsnips, spinach, lettuce, Tadish, tomato, parsley, and other herbs. Plant rhubarb, onions, shallots, garlic, chives, aßparagus, cabbage, cauliflower, . nerbs.- . *

Rhubarb is so useful that every garden should contain at least a small bed. To get the best from it requires a, knowledge of its habit of growth and development. i lne very large underground rootstook of rhubarb is familiar to everyone. These growths are usually regarded as roots, but are not really roots, but true roots proceed from them. Stools increase in size by the' formation of new crowns on the outside of the stools, so that a stool is continually increasing in width. Every new crown has its own set of roots, and is quite independent of the older roots; it may, in fact, be regarded as a separate plant. The I mass of the old root-stock displaces soil, and tie result is the centre of a large 6tool [ becomes weakened, because each new growth forms a new set of roots, which, as they proceed from the neck o£ the orown, can get little sustenance from the soil, the old root-stock being in the way. Not only this, but the outside new crowns are also deprived of root-room, on the inner side, and so make less growth, than they should. For these reasons growers who understand the plant never leave them more than three years without lifting and cutting them up. Roots carrying a number of crowns have recently been, exposed for 6ale. These are quite good, but it would be a mistake to plant them as they are. These roots should be I ohopped up into as many pieces as can be secured with crowns. A eingle crown is sufficient for eaoh division, but as a rule one or more weaker ones will be found near a. good one, but belonging to the ?ame crown. In the cutting-up the greater part of the old root 6 will be discarded, as they not only are useless, but would actually be in the way. The crowns may be planted about two feet apart. Barely cover them with soil, which should be firmly pressed around the roots before giving the final covering. PLANTING FRUIT TREES. Although there is now.not much time to lose, the present time and the next two or three weeks is a better time for plantins; than earlier. Growth will soon be starting and consequently there is less chance of roots rotting. Small fruit being the first to start should be planted first. All damaged roots should be freshly cut with a sharp knife or seccateurs. Broken roots. are sure to die back some distance, and that is bad. The hole for a tree or bush should be made -p(jde enough to tako the roots, and deep enough to allow of planting to the same depth as pafore. Two handfuls of a mixture of superphosphate and bonedust should be dub into the bottom of the hole. The tree being in tliK hole, cover the roots out of sight" with top spit soil, then give a good shake, at the same time lifting the tree a bit. This will cause the soil to silt among the roots. Throw in a little more soil, and then tread it firmly ovor the roots, finish by filling the hole with loose soil. The treatment of the top growth is a matter of great importance. A mistake may result in a tree being permanently stunted, made usoless, in fact, or it may only result in delaying progress for a year or two. The first objective should be to promote wood-growth. The only way to do it is by a drastic shortening of the shoots present.

Some h"> fine currant bushes are at im-esent on sale at the different seed shops. These show strong, healthy growth. Their value Trill, however, be destroyed tf these fine shoots are left. The value lies in fine response they will make to .'cutting back. If they are planted as they are, or with only a slight'shortening, in a year's time the bushes will be but little bigger than they arc now. and the next year will eeo the same result. This will be boeauso the roots being disturbed and curtailed, they will not be able to support all tho present branches, and at the same time make new shoots of any useful strength. The next thing that happens' is the production of a lot of fruit buds and possibly poor fruit. When tins happens the growth of wood is still further checked. This .applies to fruit trees as well as bushes, and it is this mistake that accounts for the failures so common in small gardens. A good top growth is valuable on a young tree or bush, but it is only because it is evidence of the plant's ability to break strongly after cutting back. There need be no reluctance to cut back, for it is quite certain that by the end of the season a cut back will be a much larger bush or tree than a similar one not so cut. The shoots of the beforementioned currant bushes should be cut back to leave only two or three buds at their base. Then, if other conditions are suitable, by the end of the season' they will be fine bushes. The same applies to other bushes and trees.

Loganberries are among the most profitable fruits, and are well adapted to planting in small gardens. The fruit is bprn on long rods, which are'every year produced in sufficient numbers to allow for cutting out the rods that have borne fruit, and that is the usual custom in commercial plantations, where the rods are trained to wires stretched on posts. In : a small garden they may be trained alongside a. path or other suitable position. In that case they will require wires and annual renewal of the rods, or the rods may be trained to a sunny fence or the wall of an .outbuilding; in that position the rods may be allowed to fruit two years before being renewed. The sole object when planting; is the encouragement of new rods, whioh Ctftne from buds just below the surface of the soil. In this respect the young plants may.be com- ; pared with ; the currant bushes noticed above, in that strong shoots are a guarantee of strong , buds; they are no more use, and when planted should be cut down to the ground line, and strong growth Will follow. ■;.,..., STERILISING SOIL. Those who have extensive dealings" in horticultural matters are aware that soil troubles caused by animal life and diseases of various kinds are increasing, and are in many cases making it difficult to grow plants, particularly some species. Eelworms cause great damage, and, owing to their small size—some can only be seen by the aid of a powerful miscrosccpe—remain undetected, except by the initiated. There is also the "Mack leg" disease that causes the sudden death of asters, tomatoes,, etc., and the bacillus that causes Bweet pea strip© disease, tomato black stripe, etc.; also* the Botrytis disease that, if unchecked, develops into a formidable sclerotia, which attacks many plants. Most nurserymen have long since installed steam sterilisers, which enable them to kill eelworms and all soil insects, as well as the spores of fungus diseases and weed seeds. This is, of course, above the means and the necessities of the small grower, but more modest means can bo made to serve the purpose. If suspedted soil can be brought to a heat near burning point, all pests will be destroyed. This can be done by making a fire under a sheet of galvanised iron or tin which holds the soil; very little fire and a very short time is sufficient for a small amount of soil. Quite a, lot can be treated with a fire in a kerosene tin prepared with holes as plumbers use them to heat EoJdering-irons. Soil in the open ground, wners asters have died, can be t Sterilised with formalin, one pint of commercial formalin in twenty gallons of water, using one gallon of the mixture to each square foot of surface. Formalin must be applied two or three weeks before planting to give it time to evaporate "f^ would kill plants. Formalin does not kill insects or eelworms. For these carbon bisulphide is effective. The method oE usmgr it is to make small holes four i inches deep and two feet apart; pour in each hole half a fluid ounce of the chemil cal and at once fill the hole and tread it firm.