GARDENING FOR THE WEEK

Evening Star, Issue 17365, 29 May 1920, Page 5

GARDENING FOR THE WEEK

I Our contributor, a well-known gardener, \ will be ,jiad to answer questions, which | must be received not later than Tuesday ; •'> each week y : ROSES. In my notes some time aeo I gave advice ••s. to preparing or trenching the ground In lO T eB- thid Iwd'alreadV been ; ; regard to planum?- | Procure your phnts from vour nurseryRet them, send m your order, for late orders invariably prove unsatisfactorythe sorts you want are sold out and vou have to take the leavings. Do not buy rubbish. Bad ones take just as much look~- : nig a.ter as good ones, to say nothing 0 f U;e disappointments. i The digging up of the plants in the nursery ana the planting of them should be ' done as expeditiously as possible. Ye,r S ! of experience have taught me that quick! • flfld caretul planting j la . s much to do \ vi th the success of the fust year's blooming and also the permanent well-being of the plants. ° Some people, and not beginners either .hmk that so long as the plants are got in, ' and perhaps half killed in the process : i there.is no harm done. I repeat that thev I : never make successful roses. On re- ! reiving the bundle of iosk. should the ' weather be wot and unfit to plant, onen the bundle and line them out in trenches. . Cover them carefully and make firm. On no account should they be heeled in in iiundhs. If properly heeled in thev will teen for weeks, if the plants are drv and show signs of shrivelling through delay in transfer, open a trench and lav them* flat flown, and cover them, tops "and roots, tor a few_ aavs. This will bring them ba'k to their normal condition. Let ns suppose the rose-: have arrived m the_ ripht condition. If the tcoU are dry, dip them in a tub of water and cover them with a wet sack. Trim the roots with a sharp knife, and see that all are properly labelled. Proceed than to dif the holes, which should be about lOin "deep ,-nd l2in to 18m wide, according to the •uzc or length of the roots, and rather higher in the centre than the eldest, so !n, at th ? root * nnve a downward tendency. Lae holes should have a laver of manure at the bottom, with a thin coverin- of soil to prevent tho roots comino: into direct contact with the manure, place the rose hush _in the hole at the depth to allow the umctinn of stock and scion to be about 2in below tlie level of the surface. Spread out the roots evenly and cover them'with p. coit'ntr of fine soil. Thev vill be fjreat'y henelitted by a" good dusting of coarse bone dust. Over this cover with the remaining soil. If the soil is light and drv, tread it firmly; but if it is of a heavy or wet and atiekv nature, merely firm it "with a slight pressure of the foot. Level up and let it ' settle down on its own accord, which it will do. The danger of treading wet Vr.ik firmly at- planting would be to cause the rrround to cake, and in the heat of summer it, would harden and crack. Care must be taken not io plant too deep. Thonrrh about lOin is given above to dig the holes, discretion must be used, bearing : n mind the nature of the soil. The lighter j the soil the deeper should bo the planting. ' I'iiaht inches is the extreme and'Ain the! least. A haprv medium nra-t he struck, i As io the distance apart to plant, I am a creat believer in close nlantbiL'. and I have various reasons for this. Firstly, in close planting the one bush protect-} the other from extremea of heat and wind. Again, thev have a verv much better appearance. With wide 'planting thev no ; too much exposed to both sun and 'wind. In nine cases out of ten people rarelv prune their hushe; hard onousrh. which means poor blooms and the earlv ageing :of Ihe plants. They never but so lons as haid-nruned bushes do, for the reason that as old word is cut away new wood is ; made. i

To keep ro.-es up to anything Jike exhibition standard the plants'should be lifted, trimmed, and replanted, with the ground j well worked up afresh every " nr or five I year.*. One is loth to part' with some of ! the good old favorites, hnt it will be : found on lifting some that they reallv arc not worth replanting. In such "eases throw them out and replace with others, rather than struggle on year after vear to induce them to give good flowers, "in lifting old bushescaro should be taken to lift with plenty of root, so as to preserve as many of the small fibrous roots as possible. They are_ required to support the old wood until such time as new roots are made. The planting: should be done in a similar manner to that advised above. Planting, may be done any Jjme f ronl about the Ist of May up to" the and of August, but the sooner it takes place in , Hay the better the result. j ANSWERS. i "Raven" writes: "I have bought a pia-ce which has practically run wild. The grass has been growing "undisturbed for years, and is a mat about 6in thick. I intend going in for poultry, but I would like to utilise, a lot of the "land for gooseberries, currants, and apules. There is a gully at the bottom I thought to plant blackberries in on a fence. There is also the face of a quarry with good soil at the foot. I was wondering if peaches and apricots or soma fruit of that sort would 2TOW there. There is also a large lied of Ettersburgh strawberries. I have cut off all the runners. The whole lies well to the sun. Kindly advise as to what I should do. also the varieties of apples, pears, currants, .gooseberries, and blackberries which would likely do with me. I quite recognise that trenching is necessary. I should also like to know whether stable manure would be necessary. I intend to dress the strawberries with superphosphate and bonedust in the spring." The old turfy ground you speak of would he well suited for growing various kinds of fruit treee, but ths peaches and apricots I am not eo sure of, unless I saw the situation. I am not quite sure if it is quito on the flat or not. Water at the roots is what I am afraid of. I know the locality well enough, but not the particular spot. I advise you to dig your ground deeply, just enough to bury all weeds and rubbish ; but do not bring up the sandy bottom. If it is clay, dig deeper, but still keep the clay down. Stable manure will not be necessary with such thick turf. The ground that is to be reserved for poultry 1 should not adviae von. to dig up. A good dressing of fairly fresh stable manure on the surface of your etrawberrv bed would be preferable to superphosphate, as it would act as a stimulant and keep the roots cool and clean in summer. Logan berries would be better for your situation than, blackberries. I recommend these apples—Cox's Orange, Jonathan, Lady Henniker, Alfrieton, Eunnette du - Canada, and Munroe'a favorite; goose-

berries—Crown Bob, Lord Carew, Roaring Lion, White Lion, Whinam's Industry, and Leveller • black currants—American Champion, Bang Up, or Boscape Giant; peach —Briggs's Red May and Royal George; apricot. Moorpark. •'RavensHourne'' -«ri'es—"l *.avo t-vo rcs-v (Madame E. Herriott) that have not done well this season. Would you advise lifting them and cleaning their"roots and planting them in different soil?" The rose mentioned i s one of the very best, and a good grower. If it was only planted last season I should give it another chance. Probably the situation does not suit it. In that case I should lift it and do as you suggest "Rockery" writes:—"l havo a smal' rockery in which the plants grow a.V right, but most of them die down in winter, which makes things look very bare. Please tell me four or six plants that would not lie down in winter and would grow from 4in to ]oin or 12in in height." —Such plants as the following wouFd, 1 think. suit you :—Alvesum (vellow), Arabas (white), Aubret'ia (blue)i' phlos. (dwarlj, Saxifraga of sorts, Sedum. and our native senicios and ice plants. "Kaikorai" writes:—"l have a lavender tree *hich has always flowered well, but is now getting very scraggy and woody. Can I plant cuttings from, it or should I cut the tree ba'jk to induce fresh shouts?"— You mv.r root fresh plants or clip the old' one back, but wheal tliev get old it is best to root fresh cuttings. They may be rooted by large pieces in autumn or spring, inserted in sandy eoil, or by young shoots from new trrowth put under gln.?s covers. The latte? make the best and most sturdy plants. Thev can be also grown from seed, ureferablv sown in seed boxes. ' H.C.