Garden Notes

Horowhenua Chronicle, 24 September 1927, Page 2

Garden Notes

A few balmy >pring-like days have helped the garden womienully, and lie boils and ooniers are waiting to be vveedeo. Avon waere this has a 'ciu 1 y been none, the surface oil will need loosening to admit air and sunshine. In most soils, heavy rain has a tendency to leave the surface crusted and hard. A light dressing of sand, lime, or wood ashes helps to overcome this tendency. Many of the liliums are throwing up strong, sturdy shoots, and these will benefit considerably if a top-dressing of manure is applied. They are also fond of leaf mould. Help the seedlings along as much as possible by pricking them out into other boxes as soon as the second leaves appear. If this is not done it is necessary to set cut the plants while they are very small or else they get too spindly. Then they need careful watching or they vanish entirely from the garden. Sowings may be made of most half-hardy as well as hardy annuals, and plants of most species may be safely set but in the borders if care is taken to safeguard them from slugs. Trees and shrubs may still be planted and will succeed if care is taken during their first summer. If the weather sets in hot and dry these late-planted trees will need to be supplied with moisture. If planting any of the rhododendron family, be very generous when making a hole. All this extra space should then bo filled in with material of a turfy nature, also adding a liberal amount of leaf mould, and sot your plant firmly but not too deeply. A dressing of decayed farmyard manure just under the surface soil will also help wonderfully. In the woodland garden the starry white flowers of the clematis are rambling rampantly over and among the evergreen trees. Those are o f teif removed to the home garden while in their flowering stage with good success. The golden kowhai will soon be at their best, the drooping pendant blooms showing to advantage against a background of evergreens. Vegetable Culture.

All town dwellers arc aware of the scarcity of manure, but we should never lose sight of the fact that in order to grow good vegetables both manure and labour are necessary. Deep cultivation of the soil means labour, and when undertaken on a largo scale it becomes expensive, yet the expense is justified by the enhanced results. While manure is scarce and dear we ought to remember that a good deal of very valuable manure compost can be manufactured at home. All the waste substance of house and garden ought to be retained; there is far too much ‘ wheeling-out done in most gardens. At this season when weeds are commencing to grow luxuriantly and a general tidying up is undertaken all refuse, including the trimmings of lawns should be collected and placed in a heap. A sprinkling of lime and soot will bo beneficial, and the heap should be turned from time to time. When well rotted this compost, is of considerable manurial value. It costs but little Save the time involved in handling it, and it supplements the too scanty ration of manure, which, uuifertunateiy, is now the rule in the majority of gardens. Asparagus Culture,

There are, I find, two reasons why so many do not grow asparagus. Borne labour under the impression that it ts of difficult culture, and a good many are unwilling to wait several years before they get any return for labour and time expended. It is, however, a fact that few vegetables are,, in the long run, more economically grown. An asparagus bed will, if well made, last at least 20 years in good bearing condition, the only labour necessary being the destruction of weeds and top-dres-sing annually. In preparing the bed it is necessary to remember that asparagus thrusts its roots deeply into the soil, which should be trenched fully two feet deep. Good drainage must be provided as asparagus cannot live happily in a rooting medium that becomes close and sour. The roots are fleshy and suffer much from excess ■of moisture. On heavy soil raised bods are an advantage, but on light soils the raised bed is productive of more harm than good. When in full growth asparagus, like other vegetables, enjoys r full <• ’pply of moisture at the roots, and suffers more or less when the soil becomes very dry. The bed should bo liberally manured to a depth of two feet, as in the course of a couple of seasons the roots will penetrate over a foot. When farm yard manure is not available some form of concentrated manure must be used. To stock the bod, the cheapest way is to sow seeds. If plants are used ,the one-year-old arc best, as they grow more freely than older plants. The bod should be live or six feet wide, the rows eight inches apart and a space of a foot between each plant. Keep dotvu weeds and manure annually, and a bed made in this way will yield well for a quarter of a century.

The Bearded Iris. If the tall bearded iris regaled us with flowers throughout the summer,, it would rank but little below the very first flight of popular flowers in our gardens. It has commanding stature, lovely flowers of delicious scent formed on classic lines of elegant contour, and it is one of the easiest and most accommodating plants in the world. Its colours, too, ranging far through every conceivable tone of purple, lavender, blue, bronze, yellow, pinkish shades and white can, with a little adroit design,

be used as colour foils for the glaring reds and -carlcts so plenteous in early

.summer. In mentioning the extreme ease with which the iris may be cultivated, never the less, there are one or two points regarding culture with which'the novice should be acquainted. The matter of soil is not one of vital moment, as equally line plants are to be seen growing in the lightest of sandy loams and in unmitigated clay laud. In the former, leaf growth is strong, line and clean, with medium height flower stems, while in the latter the • spikes are tall and majestic, but the foliage is often affected with leaf spot, unless special care is taken to secure free drainage. The site chosen for bearded irises should be exposed to sun as much as possible as in full sunshine they always bloom freely. If the soil is heavy and indifferently drained, the bod should be raised a few inches above the general level, A sloping bank facing south or west is nn excellent position. They are also lime lovers, ami should be liberally supplied with an annual dressing. The bearded iris is often grown on the top of walls. The colours of the iris family never dasli with other flowers, and massed as fringes to shrubberies, terrace walks, or grouped along the banks of ponds or streams, the glorious beauty of the iris produces a wonderful effect. In height they vary greatly, some being of quite a dwarfish growth, while others are three to throe and a-half feet high. For those who are not familiar with the different types of the iris family the name bearded iris may cause confusion. There are irises that love an excess of moisture and will grow on the edge of ponds whore the water Japs their roots; others are bulbous growing from spring onwards and drying off dnrihg the summer months. The bearded iris is distinguished by its petals, which have a raised hairy blotch on each, hence the name ‘ bearded.’ Also, Its loaves arc wide, and sword-like, and stand stiff and erect, a soft glaucous grey in colour. Groups of this family arc very suitable for the herbaceous border where their soft grey foliage brings into relief the gay colours of other flowers. -When planting, do not. cover the rhizome entirely, as they like to protrude a little, above the soil.