SEASONABLE WORK

Evening Star, Issue 21784, 28 July 1934, Page 23

SEASONABLE WORK

THE VECEtAIU lAIBEH Much. will depend now upon the weather as to what prugu’ss cuii be made by way of sowing seed and getting in crops generally. Ae stated belore. locality and siiualiou must be considered. for it would be lolly. 10 rush things in .without couaiiitu avion in tins way, but in the majority ol places, it ' should be quite sale to get lii some ol •our main crops providing ground aud weather conditions are favourable. Asparagus beds should be made clean and top-dressed with fresh stable manure or seaweed. Plant cabbages and cauliflowers, and make a first sowing of seed of both kjnds, giving the latter rich and wellprepared groimtl. Potatoes: Early varieties of these way be got in—both kidneys and round, Epicure being one of the best ol: the latter—giving them good, free, open soil and warm situation. Plant artichokes, both Jerusalem and globe kinds. Sow peas of the early dwarf kind, such as Blue Bantam, William Hurst, and M'Lean’s Little Gem. Sow also broad beans, aud make a ; sowing of early Shorthorn carrots; Snowball turnips, and a small sowing o£ lettuce, giving the latter a rich, . warm bed. - Plant sea kale crowns, also rhubarb roots, in rich:and well-prepared ground. These may also be forced, Os previously advised. THE FRUIT CARDER Complete the work of pruning as speedily as possible, also planting. The sooner this work is off hand the better. Bake up and burn all clippings, and - carry on the work of spraying, as previously advised. ■ ■ Carry on the work of digging—particularly among small fruits such as currants . find gooseberries, but it*, is not advisable to (Jig deeply close around the roots of gooseberries and currants -—only sufficiently to cover or Bury weeds, or, better still, hoe and rake the •weeds from under the bushes and dig them in between the rows. V Dig up all suckers ol raspberries and top-dress the crow Us or clumps with short, stable manure. THE Mil 6AMER Carry on the work of planting rose?. The sooner these aid in the better prospects of a successful season of ,-f|oweripg. ;Late spring planting does dot give tljem a fajr fchance to prodifce good ....pippins' the first season, and as 'August is the-month ifor phoning foses-1 wjl) touch briefly updn this subject. # J have been often asked the best time to prune roses. If I could, te|J when the last severe frost Was going to appear, then I cotjld say exactly when in prune. It would Be about a week or so before

this took place—usually, I think, about the first weak in August, and from that onward, When the buds down on the ripe wood near tho base of last season’s growth are plump, so that one can see exactly where to prune to is the best time of all. Often top growth starts and grows away rapidly quite early in the season, and is very deceptive to those who do not understand. Where this occurs, it is not wise to defer pruning too long, for this has to be removed, consequently is wasted energy on tho part of the plant. Some people may ask: Why prune at all? We prune to "keep oiir buslics young, vigorous, and shapely. So long as we keep them in that condition you may depend upon a good return of bloom. On the other band, if we did not prune for a year or two, bushes would probably show a lot of bloom and perhaps some good ones; .but each year after that the bushes would become aged, the wbod hard and straggly, and the blooms smaller and of much poorer quality, and the bushes confused in growth and much weaker. Often one will find an extra strong shoot or two push up, to the detriment of the rest of the growth, consequently the branches are made weaker and weaker each wear. In pruning there are long primingshort or hard pruning, and medium pruning. The nature of pruning must to a great extent depend Upon the kind of lose one has to prune. For instance, to prune roses like Hugh Dickson. F, H. Veitch, and Madame Isaac Perrier hard as one would prune many others Would mean all wood and little or no flowers. To get over this difficulty, a good practice is to bind and peg down long stems with wooden hooks or bant pieces of wire. Bring these strong - shoots down to . about ,12in of the ground and cut back to near the hook. They will then give a fine display of bloom and make the bed look more uniform. If there is not room then prune .down to about 9in or lain, according to strength of the growth. With regard to pruning climbers, there is very little to be said. A.ll that •Is necesgary is .to cut away the old last season’s wood and tie in the last season's ripe shoots, giving them about 6in apart, so that they have room and plenty of light aud air. Short or Bard Pruning.—lt depends a go'od deal upon the quality of blooms required. There is one point never to be lost sight of, and that is that each shoot should be pruned according to its strength. Long or strong loading shoots may be left 6in in length, but side shoots should be pruned b at 'h to one or two eyes, and in all cases to an outside eye tor pointing outward).

The first thing to do is to cast your eye over the whole bush and cut out ail dead wood, cross shoots, or shoots pointing inward, and surplus shoots. Overcrowding 'must be avoided if good blooms are the object, for it is impossible to> get exhibition or show flowers fmi) long, thin, poor shoots. To get real show flowers a great deal of thinning out nmst_ be dope, leaving only about six or eight of the best placed shoots, lit cases where quantity of bloom, regardless of quality, is wanted pruning is an easy matter. Then medium pruning is resorted to—that is, leaving the shoots longer dud more of them, though I think there is nipre pleasure to be derived out of a few really gbod blooms than a basketful of inferior ones. In the case of pruning standards it all depends upon the kind of rose that is worked upon the stock. In the case of dwarfs or hush roses they should hq pruned in a -way similar to those oil the border bush roses. On the other hand, where climbing, weeping, or drooping kinds are worked upon the stocks, nothing but a little thinning out, removing dead wood, and shortening back the leading shoots will be necessary. The object in pruning standards is to get a missive or showy appea'rance. When dealing with weeping or trailipg kinds, such as the Dorothy Perkins class, it is a good practice to clip off batches of faded flowers as they appear, or they cast their blooms over the lawns or gardens and give a very untidv appearance. It is also rfnuch better for the plant. ANSWERS “ Peony.”—You do not say if it is the tree peony or the dwarf or bush kjlid yop wish ‘to transplant. _ If it Is the' Utter you may lift, divide, or separate the crowns any time after they have Ibst their leavep. The sooner they are lifted and transplanted now the better. Popniep take a season tjo recover themselves properly after dividing or breaking up their chimps. ' H.C.