The Home Garden

Hutt News, Volume 18, Issue 1, 7 June 1944, Page 7

The Home Garden

<g> (I3y D. K. Pritchard, Instructor of Vegetable Culture, N.Z. Department of Agriculture, who writes for the Home Gardeners' column in the "N.Z. Journal of Agriculture.") LOOKING AHEAD In most districts whore vegetables are produced, June is the month .hen "anticipations forward point he view," and in this respect it is ! to look around for work it may >e convenient to do while the conlit ion of the soil will not permit the use of digging tools. Following are some matters which may he attended 10: -- SOI Si KTEKI IjIS.-VHON The strict, meaning of this term is partial soil sterilisation, because no soil after being treated is completely sterile. In the June, issue, a cheap, practical, and efficient method of sterilising small quantities of soil was described. This may be reviewed and advantage taken of opportunities as they occur to prepare the necessary quantity of soil which it. is estimated may be required for next season's seed-sowing and plant-grow-ing operations. .Many gardens visited during the past season showed unmistakable evidence of neglect' of this very desirable practice. To sterilise the necessary quantity of soil in which may be grown sufficient plants for „one's own garden requirements is not difficult or expensive, if the methods are adopted as set out in the issue referred to above. Plants grown in treated soil, provided the operation is carried out properly, will always have a better chance of reaching maturity through vigorous, healthy development than those propagated in the ordinary untreated garden soil. CLKAMXU I P Till: UAKDISX This is a matter which calls for exacting attention at any time, but particularly in what, by some gardeners, is termed the ''off season, Quite properly, in gardening however, this term does not apply. Live hedges should be trimmed back and the Lender cuttings place in the compost heap or dug into the garden, a practice which, unfortunately, is too often entirely neglected. To destroy | these tender green hedge trimmings by burning and then to allow the ashes to remain on the site of the fire until the valuable plant-ash content is washed into a small part of the garden soil is poor gardening practice. versation with a home gardener who ! ture Division of' the Department oi i Agriculture had the following con- ! versation with a home gasdener who 'was cutting his hedge and throwing the trimmings on an adjoining roadway. Officer: "Trimming things up la bit?" Gardener: "Yes, I never |allow the hedge to get out of hand." Officer: "Why are you throwing cut tings. 011 to the roadway, and why don't, you either put them on your compost heap or dig them into the garden."' Gardener: "Well, my neighbour told me they were 110 good for either purpose." And this was a hedge of Escallonia pendula, the tender trimmings of which would, it utilised iu either of the ways suggested, have decomposed in a very short, time. Perhaps the following suggestion may not. be out of place. Hedge cuttings when young, if not utilised a. suggested for enriching the garden soil, should be distributed close into the bottom of the hedge and as near as possible to the rooting system of !.}:<■> plants This ultimately forms a valuable compost manure which is utilised by the hedge. In this way a'l the plant food taken from thb soil is returned after decomposition. Garden weed's should not be Permitted to grow and, particularly r(\er allowed to seed. A garden, or any part of it where vegetables are noi growing and on which weeds are flourishing, soon becomes a breeding ground for pests which are more or less certain to attack and probably destroy crops which may be planted later. In addition many weeds are convenient hosts which provide food for insect pests during a period when vegetable crops are not available. The necessity, then, for keeping the garden free of weeds is Very important. <;aki>kn paths Paris of the garden area which may have been used as paths between beds of plants should be dug, thrown up roughly, thereby having the maximum surface exposed to "weathering." This will result in its being more easily workable in the spiing. In addition to the above old seedling boxes may be repaired and new ones made. It should, however, be remembered that timber is scaice and that no new boxes should be made while old ones can be made ser ivceable. Tools can be cleaned, sharpened, and repaired. All these matters, if attended to now, will result in a saving of valuable time when the busy season starts, as start it surely will when the family demand for vegetable supplies becomes insistent. POTATOES To this vegetable pride of place should be given. Where the area of the garden is such as to allow of its prediction to an e::tent which may entirely meet, the full demands of the average household this ought to be utilised. As the: Hon. Minister of Agriculture! is asking for maximum potato production this year, to meet e\ceptional demands, it is the duly . and responsibility of every home gar

dener, whatever the extent of the area being cultivated, to ease \vaa L may later develop into an acute situation. In respect to the utilisation of soed, a lew observations heie may be appropriate. As has been previously stated only sound tubers, speci ally selected l'rom disease-free stock, should be used for planting. But this is not enough. When the see., has been chosen, it should be properly taken care of by placing 'it. in seedling boxes with the "rose" end up and where there is plenty of light. Good air circulation is also essential. The short, vigorous shoots on the tubers, which are so necessary at planting time, can be secured only these provisions are complied with. A brief reference to an experiment which was carried oui at • -w dens, England, in 1 !)-!•"> may be of interest to show how seed potatoes can be used in different ways, Majestic being the name of the variety with wiiich tire experiment was made. Gross Crop: Normal Seed UK!A lb; Chats (small size) 474 Jibs; "Eyes" .")2iilbs. Marketable Crop: Normal Seed .">s lbs; Chats (small size) 41 U lbs; " Eyes" si!()lbs. (Note particularly that all potatoes produced by the "eyes" were marketable). The same experimental conditions applied equally to the three ineliiu.i. of testing the productive capacity 0 each. The evidence obtained from this reliable experiment —and anvt.hing from Kew Gardens can be taken as reliable, without question—suggests that threequarters of the seed tubers may be used as food. This, in fu; aggregate, would represent a considerable saving of potatoes for consumption. After the outbreak of war with Germany it was the adoption of this practice which saved thousands of tons of potatoes for consumption by the Russian people, and at the same time enabled vast quantities of seed to be ecojiomically transported to other parts ot Russia for production purposes.