GARDENING FOR THE WEEK

Evening Star, Issue 16257, 28 October 1916, Page 9

GARDENING FOR THE WEEK

Our contributor, a well-known gardener, will he glad lo answer questions, which must be received not later than Tuesday c I each week. —The Vegetable Garden.— Continue the work as previously advised, such as thinning, hoeing, weeding, and sowing succession crops. —The Flower Garden.— I believe that the best time of all 'for bedding out is about the last week of October and the first week of November. Even now I do not advise plunging directly into the work irrespective of weather conditions. Dp not put out plants during a scorching, windy day. Choose a dull day, and after or during showery weather. A great deal depends upon a good start. It is a settled point with experienced men, concerning the flower border or garden, that the majority of the plants now used for long continued masses of bloom are as exhausting to the soil, and require to have as good a foundation laid for their culture, as many or most of our vegetables; and I think it a matter of great importance that the principles of good cultivation, in f. O far as the preparation of the beds is concerned, should be specially noticed. ■ There is reason to fear that the miserable appearance of niafiy of our small gardens—especially the flower plots—owes its origin to the idea that our present flower garden plants do not require careful cultivation, such as would be expected to produce good crops of vegetables. Deep digging and deep manuring are essential points in the success of flower culture. An accumulation of water about a bed of flowers is productive of evils which will thwart the efforts of good management.

Jho extent to which manure is to be applied must be regulated by the nature of the soil and its thy ness or wetness. When the soil is naturally shallow or light or sandy it is greatly improved by having a quantity of heavy loam incorporated with il. The best manures for sandy or light loams are old cow manure or old hot-bed manure. All rank or partly-decomposed manures should bo avoided unless trenched down very deep in the autumn or beginning of winter. Where animal manures "are available, trench deep and rely upon artificial manures and liquid feeding later on. heavy and wet soils, trench deeply, and use either good stable manure cr artificial. In every case put the manure well down. At planting make the surface fairly firm, but not hard. The class of plants k) be used must depend upon the condition or circumstances of each individual.

, Tor those who can get them in quantity few things surpass for a brilliant display such things as lobelia, ivy-leafed and scarlet geraniums, pelargoniums, pyre thrums, golden feather, and such like. The order should bo something like this : Blue lobelia as an edging, then golden feather, ivy-leafed geranium, scarlet geranium, with strong-growing pelargoniums at the back. Annuals and biennials now occupy a veiy subordinate position in gardens compared with former times. Though they cannot be compared to the previouslymentioned plants, it cannot bo denied that many of the leading annuals of to-dav are strikingly beautiful, and in airy gracefulness far surpass many of our ornaments of the parterre, although they lack the solidity of habit and the coloring which make the pelargoniums and their associates so surpassingly eective for artistic decorations.

In bedding out annuals, aa with other plants, care must be taken in the arrangement of the plants according to heidit. lliis is more important than 'the arrangcraent of color. For instance, to nlant tailgrowing plants directly in front* of dwarf growers is to disorganise the whole bed. haoh and all should bo placed in order of height and, if desired, color may bo studied. Ihe lobelia is, without doubt, best as an edging or front-row plant foi a bed 6f annuals. Something after the todowing manes an effective bed- Thirst lobelia, then nemesia, next dianthus anc. dwarf stocks and asters, with such plants as coreopsis as a background, ihiox Drummondi and verbenas beta ma.ke excellent second-row plants. There are beautiful 61- annUaJß of sterl ing merit, and —Answers.— Kufus” writes: “I wish to grow chrysanthemums for decorative purposes, i-18 position is a sunny one. I have sevcdoz®n plants in eight different colc-rs. these I cut down at the end of June. v<ow they have sent up quantises of young growth shoots. Would it be right to divide up the old roots, breaking off each separate shoot, and planting the same at tins season i Last year I struck a lot whirV, C - llt^ ng l’ i alld Wollld liks to know which is the better method. Can ‘mums’ be grown successfully in pots in a home where no gas is used, and, if so. do they require any special treatment?”— Dividing old plants into single shoots is right, enough for ordinary purposes if the dividing takes place in early spring. The gmvth woidd be too long 1 for treating m this tasluou now. If you can separate some of the side nieces „-itb P I o+f u j A pieces with roots and Boil attached they may come on all right, buu tais should be done in cool, showery weather, as it is very late. It i s also too late to commence striking cuttings. Looter, cuttings are much the best “if rly i n the s&ason > and the earlier b ' wken required for quantity of bloom, ihe best time to root these is as soon as the young shoots appear after lowering ceases. I should advise you to kaie the old stools intact, unless vou can secure a few from them as advised above, and procure a lew young plants at tmee. Make the surface of the ground quite firm, and <hjy. out little holer, in a Low Ht m depth and Ift in width, and fill them up with good fresh turn- loam, sand, and a Rusting of bone meal. Put the plants in this and make the soil quits firm; stake and- tie the voung plant s irH pinch out the extreme points in a we->k or so alter planting, this causing them to break out at once and make nice bushy plants. If you use parts of the -old plants do not top them until they have made a good jstart. About 2ft in the row 3ft from row to row is the right distance. I will advise vou about the flowering buds later on. As to growing ‘‘mums ’ in pots m a dwelling, this would not be a success. But they mnv be grown in pots outside and taken into a Light, au-v room, such as a large hay window, to flower- But they reams careful ksndl

Hug. 7 have seen very fine show blooms grown In. this manner. If you contemplate trying them in pots, start with good young plants, which have been .rooted and grown m small pofc. You wilT'require a warm, well sheltered, and sunny situation to grow them successfully. If you wish to grow then in pots, drop me another line, and I will give you full particulars, as I cannot find room for it all in this week's notes. In the meantime yon can secure the plants and pot them up into Sin pots, using good turfy loam three parts, sharp sand half a part, and half a part of fresh horse dropping, all well mixed. Use clean pots, with |in of broken crooks for drainage ; over this place a little of the turfy parts, then place the plants in and fill up with the mixture, making it fairly firm. Water carefully, and place them in a cold frame or sheltered position. “ Anxious ” wants to know what has gone wrong with his cabbage plants. They have all gone to seed. They were planted out in early autumn, and they seemed to get. on well, but when the spring came they all ran to seed, with not a sign of heart. What is the proper time to sow tlie seed to get cabbage in early spring?— Cabbages have been the.wromr sort and sown at the wrong time. Many varieties will not heart in spring, no matter when sown. Again, they must not be sown too early, or the plants will get too large before winter sets in, and when spring growth, starts they um to seed. The varieties I recommend for this sowing are Imperial, Flower of Spring, and Harbinger. The time to sow the seed for these for cutting in the spring is about the end of February or the first week in March H.C.