THE GARDEN

Evening Star, Issue 18045, 12 August 1922, Page 12

THE GARDEN

Work lor the Week. Our contributor, a well-known gardener, will It glad to answer questions, which must he received not later than luesday <5/ each week . VEGETABLES. During this month, tie great operations of tie year ax° commenced and most of the principal crop got in. Asparagus should be planted in. properly prepared beds, or it may be planted in rows on well-manured aid deeply-trenched ground. Whichever way is adopted, let trenches be dug, 9in deep and l2in wide, with the centre of the trench slightly rounded so that the roots may fall down on either side, and the crowns bo about 6in below the surface, the rows to bo 18in apart and the plants 15in in the rows. Those who live near the soa coast should avail themselves of the chance to procure seaward, which is the best and most natural food for asparagus. Seed may also he sown now and the young seedlings thinned out when they are sin high to 12in or 15in apart. Rhubarb roots should! he planted on well-trenched ■ ground. Globe artichokes are not nearly so much used as they deserve. They are now making young side shoots, which should ho dug out from the parent plant for propagation. They require deeply-dug ground. The plants should he sft or 4ft apart. Jerusalem artichokes should ho planted as soon as possible now. The ground should be deeply worked. Hie tubers should be planted lOin or 12in deep, 2ft apart, and sft from row to row. If they are well cultivated they give a great num,ber to the root. No other treatment is required than, to keep the ground well stirred and free from weeds. The ground for Chinese artichokes should he rich and well cultivated, but not freshly manured. Ground! that was dug up and manured last autumn or that which has .had a previous crop will suit them well Do not plant this variety so deep nor so far apart as Jerusalem artichokes 5 3in or 4in in depth and 12in to Min apart will suit. In cold districts the end of the month will he early enough to plant. Sow peas of the early dwarf marrowfat kinds. The ground must be rich and well worked, and if cteSpient in lime it should be applied, for good results cannot follow where there is no lime. If you wish to find out, put a little soil in a cup, make it wet, then add a tablespoonful' of muriatic acid (spirits of salts). Stir it up. If it fizzes well, lime is present; if no 'effervescence shows, the soil is sick, or deficient in the chemical food that peas require. Lettuce, radish, and mustard and cress for eeluding should! he sown on a rich, warm, sunny border. ROSES. Planting should be brought to a conclusion as soon as possible now. Although roses may he planted during the ..whole of this month, the sooner they are in the better. Commence pruning as soon as convenient, as advised in my last week’s notes. , FRUIT. Continue the planting of young fruit trees. This work should bo got off hand as expeditiously as possible. Pruning should he gone on with, and the sooner this work is completed fho better, particularly with the stone fruit. Apples may be left to the last. THE TOMATO-HOUSE, All preparations should be made where it is intended to plant early tomatoes, if heat is available. Fresh soil should) be wheeled in, or the old soil well worked np and artificial manure applied. Superphosphates and potash are suitable manure, particularly on'light sandy soils. Burnt wood ashes and burnt garden rubbish are excellent material for working in the top soil of stiff, heavy loam. Use no fresh animal manure. What suits tomatoes the best is a rich, sharp, sandy turf, well chopped and worked up, and wade firm. FLOWERS. A good display of bloom may bo had from divided or‘single old stools of chrysanthemums by cutting down the old plants after flowering, and as soon as the younv base shoots have made two or three inches of growth, lift them carefully, and transplant single stems, with a few shoots at the base of the plant, in wellworked fresh soil. If the soil has beer.

well cultivated they will require no manure excepting a little bone meal worked into the soil. The ground should bo made fairly firm, providing, the soil is "free and open.'' When {the growth .has reached to about Sin, pinch out the points. This will check tho upward tendency and induce the' growths to increase in number and become more bushy. But as soon as this second growth is an inch long rub out all but three shoots ou each stem. When they have made five inches of growth pinch them out again. By this means yon can get fine bushy plants, and if disbudding is attended) to decent-sized flowers will mature quite, large Nmigh for decorative purposes. Avoid loose soil. Wake it firm. Such plants are very useful for growing in tins to give quantities of cut flowers and decoration in the greenhouse. For large ’.dooms one must resort to cuttings, from' Which the largest blooms are grown. Cuttings for this purpose should be got in without edlay. _ If a very little bottom heat, can be given they root much faster: but they will root readily in a cold frame, either in small pots or pricked out into shallow boxes. Sharp sandy loam is host for rooting cuttings in. Keep the frame dose and slightly shaded until the roots are formed; then pot up intixsrnall pots, keeping the frame dose for al time and slightlv shaded until the roots have got a good hold of the soil; then increase the any and expose them to as much light as possible. Attend carefully to watering. ANSWERS. *'Belladonna."--It will all depend upon circumstances whether you should plant your belladonna lilies in the ground 1 or pot them up for greenhouse decoration. In either case, unless treated right, they do not flower satisfactorily. For instance, they will not flower if ’potted singly in largo pots; neither will they flower if planted in a cold, damp border free from sunlight. For outside growing give them a warm, sunny border. If the soil is heavy make it light, and rich. Dig a hole and fill it with soil composed of good loam, sand, and leaf mould or well-rot ted manure. Farther north they flower very freely in any open, free soil, but I have not seen them do well here outside, except under such conditions as above stated. They do well that way with me. January is the best month to plant them, just after they have flowered, before the top growth appears. Unfortuntaely they ripen off their leaves before showing flower. If you have the bulbs out of the ground plant them out or pot them up at once. They will flower well only if they arc encouraged to make good growth. Ripen them off well in the summer by putting the pots out in the full sun. Six-inch pot is the size for one bulb to start with, or three large bulbs in a 9in pot. Use turfy loam, rather lumpy, made open with sharp sand and a little leaf mould. The bulbs should be about three parts covered in pots and points just visible in the open border. H.C. THE DESERT FLOWERS OF EGYPT. So much is written of the scorching sun nf Egypt, and tho interminable stretches of burning sand, that it comes as a surprise In many to know of tho wnmlrrlul wild flowers which grow there. Among the _ desert flowers are minute marigolds, poppies, prickly white thistles, vetches, and those small blue and pink flowers which children call “ soldiers and sailors.” and which arc seen so much in English rock gardens. Pink and white sea campions grow in luxurious clumps on the cliffs above the seashore, and the salt and sandy soil gives them long stems and fine flowers. 'Uie night-scented stock grows for miles along the coast. When it opens out its purple and white flowers at sunset the scent is so strong that it becomes a source of complaint from the residents close by. Many of the desert plants have thick leaves* in which are stored a supply of water—collected during the heavy night, dews—which make them independent of other moisture for many days. When the sun is shining on them, tho plants glisten as if they were hung with hundreds of large diamonds. Tho change from bareness to green is very rapid in Egypt. One week there is nothing to be seen for miles but dry sand. Then comes the welcome rain, and in a few days the ground is as if some magician of Arabian Nights fame had spread over it a wonderful carpet of verdure, patterned with flowers of every color. The desert flowers grow mostly on the waste land near the towns and villages, and to look at tho soil in which they grow it seems a miracle that they find in it any nourishment at all.

But the flowers are at their best in the more remote places, and grow in masses among the fields of barley which tho Bedouins cultivate. The barley is worldfamed, and is sold to firms where only the best spirit is distilled. But, though the barley is refreshing to see, stretching away as it does in a sea of bright green, it is the spring flowers which grow among it that ar ® sa ch a delight. The narcissi appear as soon as the rains have penetrated tho thirsty soil and wakened tho bulbs into life. Jonquils bloom at tho same time. They grow packed together, where they have been for years, and their flowers bear comparison with cultivated ones both in size and smell. Tho bulbs become so deeply planted, owing to the continual drifting of tho sand from the desert, that they often have a foot and a-half of soil to pierce before their green points can reach the sunshine.

A miniature iris grows in bright blue patches, giving the effect of small pools of water lying about, in which the blueness of the sky is reflected. Rock roses, poppies, purple mallows; a cornflower so small and perfect that it would grace a. fairy garden, scarlet and blue pimpernels, star of Bethlehem, wild mignonette, vetch, and buglos are but few of the many flowers “ bom of sunshine and showers.” They quickly cover themselves in a. profusion of blossoms, for tho flowering season is a, short one, and there must be no delay if seed is to he formed to continue their species.

Tho grape hyacinth adds another tone of blue to the tapestry of flowers which covers the fields. Even the insignificant wild arum and stonecrop find places in the designs of Mother Nature’s weaving. The .natural rock gardens, where the seeds have been planted by the winds, or borne there by the many migrant birds which visit Egypt, arc wonderfully formed, and give variety to _ tho landscape. Not that variety is lacking, for besides tho masses of wild flowers growino- closely together, the pink, mauve, and wiiite anemones are there by tho acre, and scarlet and gold ranunculi color the fields much as the poppies do in England. Before the barley is many inches high the ridges which tho shallow ploughs of the Bedouins form across the 'fields are thick with these flowers, though they grow in the furrows as well. Summer chrysanthemums give another vivid color to the countryside, and when tho sun shines on these golden flowers—which can be seen for miles, and seem only to end at the foot of the distant hills—the effect is dazzling. The asphodels, with their bunches of delicate mauve-pink bells hanging round a .i t - [ u m ’ Soßm Afferent to the soil in winch they grow, and are everywhere. They stand erect and graceful in the yellow sand, among tho green of the growing barley, or where tho rain -has caused the grass to spring up and cover tho desert places. In spit© of such profusion, they never seem to weary tho eve. Their attractiveness, however, appeals to the sight only, as, when gathered, their smell is> very offensive. In some districts they grow so thickly that, from tho distinctplants growing i n fine clumps in the foreground tfiev spread away into the distance until tho fields end in a haze of tender mauve. They seem to dominate the entire landscape, to the exclusion of the more modest flower's. The Bedouin children act as goatherds and shepherds to tiro flocks which r o’d on the coarse grass growing between the asphodels. Clad in graceful but tattered robes, and wearing colored handkerchiefs on their beads, these brown-skinned children of the desert add a picturesqueness to the scene, as they tend their kngcoated goats and sheep among such beautiful surroundings. The Bedouins are the

true gypsies of the would, primitive as tho animals under their care, uneducated and unwashed, but as attractive as the flowered fields among which they live. .. The children know which flowers; are most pleasing to'visitors, and as sum as they,are sighted they rush, to where the windflowers and ranunculi grow, and armfuls am quickly gathered. They offer the flowers shyly, ’ at the same time holding out grimy little hands for “ baksheesh.’ This inagio word is perhaps the first cue the children learn, and ,is certainly the first word of Arabic with which the traveller in Egypt becomes acquainted ! In spite of tho flowery language and surroundings, and the romantic appearance of the desert dwellers, their tempers are as uncontrolled ,as the life they had. If the supply of flowers is too groat for the demand—which is frequently the case —tho children show their disappointment by angrily tearing the unwanted flowers into pieces and throwing them at those who refuse them. There may be some stone-throwing, or the Bedouin women will order the strangers off the fields, and accuse them of trespassing. But such storms are soon over, and a courteous remark iu their own language will usually put these field workers in a good temper again, especially if accompanied by a little “baksheesh.” Tho spring flowers last so short a time in Egypt. The sun withers them almost as quickly as the magic rains bring them forth from the parched ground. Only the hardiest can flourish under such conditions ; the weak ones stand little chance of growing at all. This survival of the fittest may account for tho beauty in which those “lilies of the field” are arrayed. It may ho that among them are some of the descendants of those very lilies of which it was said that with them oven the glory of tho great Solomon could not compare.