GARDENING FOR THE WEEK

Evening Star, Issue 17637, 16 April 1921, Page 11

GARDENING FOR THE WEEK

Our contributor, a well-known gardener, will be glad to .ansioer questions, which must he received not later than Tuesday 0} each week. EOCK GARDENS. As promised, I now write a, few words upon the construction and planting of a rockery, this being a good time for the work. The position should not be near walls, nor very near a house, but in an open situation. Walls or houses have a tendency to become too hot and dry. An open situation gives light and air, and catches all moisture that is going. Shade or the shelter of trees should also be avoided, for if there is'one thing rock plants do not like it is the drip from trees, and the roots of trees find their way into the rockery and rob the plants both of light and moisture. No matter how well a rockery is built, if the plants are un- ’ healthy and poor the scheme must be a failure. Failures occur also not only through the bad situation or bad placing of the rocks, but from a had foundation—perhaps from a hard undisturbed *clay bank. If it is desired to utilise a clay bank for a rockery, let the foundation be tv all worked or loosened np, both for the proper bedding -of the rocks and so that the roots of plants may get down among the stones and the water can have free escape. No lodgment of water should be federated. If the soil is poor, it must be made up with rich soil, including a dressing of bone meal, which should be added before the rocks are placed or be-* fore the fine soils are filled into the pockets. As to the stone to be used, the best is rough sandstone, in the form of gritty stones. Eock plants love to cling to these. But any large rocks will do, the more rugged the better. Avoid rotten rock, which is likely to crumble away. The rooks should be so set as not to look formal, but built to form pockets, tiie bases buried in the ground. Seams should not be visible. Where a vertical or oblique eeam occurs, it should bo crammed full of soil, and plants put in will quickly hide the seam. Horizontal fissures should be avoided as much as possible. No vacuum should exist beneath the surface of the soil or surface stone. Broken stones or grit should be so disposed of that there are no hollows. Where elevations of any kind are desired . the true way is to obtain them by a mass of soil suitable to the plants, putting in rocks here and there, some on edge, some on their sides, and some flat, in each case suited to the purpose. If walks or steps are desired, let them be rough, rugged, or stony, so that stonecropa, rockfoite, and such-like plants may he planted to ramble through crevices and over the stones, and thus create a natural appearance. In small rockeries such paths or steps cannot be thought of, and the proprietor must bo content with placing the stones to form pockets fySre and there to suit the situation and the plants. In planting, _ consideration should be given to position for certain kinds. , Always plant creeping or trailing varieties in places where they can creep or trail over the face of rocks, not obscured from view or from the light by taller kinds. The larger the plants are the farther back or higher up they should be placed. • It is not essential to got expensive alpine plants to ensure a pleasing effect in a rockery. Various shades of violas, primroses, pansies, auriculas, alyssums, arabis, aubretia, campanulas, corn us, crocus, hellebores, oxalis, phloxes of the dwarf trailing kinds, polyanthus, potentilla, saxafrages of sorts, and many others, including bulbous plants such as,narcissus of kinds,* tulips, hyacinths, Crown Imperials, with rammculas and anemones, and such-like plants—all these and many more are showy and effective for rockery gardens. To get the best effect care should l*o taken to keep colors separate as nearly as possible, particularly such plants as violas. Pockets of blues, others of yellows, whites, creams, lavenders, and so forth are effective. If anyone wishes to plant more expensive alpine plants he may write, and I will, answer. ANSWERS. “J.J.”—The causes of scab in potatoes may be various. _ Tubers that have been grown in sour soil or where lime, cinders, ashes, or farmyard manure have been used in excess are almost sure to be affected more or less. It is also caused by a disease of bacterial origin (Micrococcus pillucidus). In any case, to clear the ground of it a change of seed (clean seed) should bo secured, also a change of crop. Sourness of the soil will also cause scab. In the latter case have the ground deeply dug or trenched and manured early, and leave the surface as rough as possible for the winter frosts to operate upon. Where scab is persistent it is well to dip all sets in corrosive sublimate; but a change of sets and crops will bo better. “Carisbrook” and “ M.G.”—Each sends one apple for naming in separate covers. I do not know which is which, but fortunately they are both one variety, grown under somewhat different conditions. The name of the apple is Emperor Alexander. “ Puzzled.”—l do not recognise the shrub from tire small twig forwaroed. Leave it for a time to allow a flower, then tend again. “Stafford.” —The name of the apfilo forwarded is Scarlet Pcarmain.

“ Peninsula. It was inadvertently stated that the crop of Jersey Benners potato was 17 tons per acre. Fifteen tons was the correct weight. “ M.H.”—Sorry that yo'ur crop of cauliflower is going with the clubroot. Your gardener friend was somewhat astray when he told you thaj, he thought your cauliflower plants were grown near a tree that had clubroot. Trees do not have club-

root, but plants grown or starved under a tree may develop clubroot very quickly. Exhaustion of any- kind from want of nourishment or moisture will soon bring it

on. J. Hislop asks the best time to sow scede and plant (such forest trees as bluegurn, stringy bark, jarrah, and cedar gem, and the proper time to plant pines oaks, and trees that would be suitable

for planting on waste land on a farm. —For I ( your district I advise yon to delay sowing < the seeds of the above trees until early J spring. Early autnmn is also a good 1 time to sow. Gums, jarrah, and suchlike are best planted in spring, after heavy float is past. This gives them a chance to get established before the nest winter. Oaks and pines may be planted ahy time ' from June to September, preferably | August. Sow the seeds in. a well prepared, sunny, warm border, with shelter and good soil. Make the surface of the beds fine and smooth. Sow seeds, and rake them in, not too deeply. Smooth off the siir- ; face with the back of, the rake or spade, j Keep the bed clean. In the early spring , lift the seedlings and lino them out in j drills for planting the following season. Scrim stretched over a frame and placed over the seed beds will help to protect and , bring up the'young seedlings. I "H.R.S.”—Removing your • rhubaro necessitates not pulling the stalks the . season of removal. It is not the sir.e. j To induce spindle trees to tney i should have a rather warm, dry soil nod situation. Cold, clay subsoils give soft, unripe wood. “Valley.”—Ladr Hcnnikcr (d), Alhngton Pippin (d). Alfriston (e). and Emperor Alexander (c) are excellent apples, winch should suit you. Olearia cuttings may be got in from now onward for a few weeks and in early spring. “J.A.P.”—The proper way to prune l loganberries is to prune out old wood and replace with the new where there is not sufficient new wood to replace tnc old; , then prune back the small shoots that j | have previously borne fruity to the near , main stem. The. old wood is that which | has borne fruit the previous season ; the ; new is the long, strong shoots of the j same season which-have not fnuted. Remove small or surplus shoots where a sufficiency of strong growth is at hand. The best time to do the work is immediately after fruiting is past or now. The proper time to graft pears ami apples is just as the sap is on the move in carl} spring. Budding is done in summer. T shall be touching both subjects in their proper season. H.O.