Seasonable Gardening Notes

Hutt News, Volume XXI, Issue 49, 2 June 1948, Page 6

Seasonable Gardening Notes

(By "HORTI.")

The pa9t week; has given most gardeners a hint that winter is just around the corner and lias brought to a standstill many gardening jobs that ought to have been done before the soil became too wet and heavy. However there is no need to light up the fire and get out the armchair for at this season of the year there are still many important jobs, to do. when it is not possible to work the soil.

Pruning of Small Fruits,

Most gardeners find space ia their sections for some of the small fruits such as gooseberries, raspberries, red and black currants, and there is no denying that, properly grown, they are well worth the space allotted to them. Unfortunately many gardeners purchase or acquire these plants and leave them more or less to their 'own devices, with the result that in fertile soil the plants rapidly become a thick mass of interlacing shoo is that, even should they bear fruit, much of it will never ripen and picking is made most difficult.

Gooseberries are usually grown on their own roots —roots are being struck from cuttings during the autumn and cut back the following year to if orm bushes. The . ideal bush is one grown on a clean stem. Spiny shoots springing up from the roots are a nuisance and can be avoided by rubbing out the lower buds from the cuttings. It is a double advantage to keep the bushes Well open when they reach the fruiting stage. Larger berries are produced and they can be gathered more easily. This end can be gained by restricting the number of main branches to seven or eight, and shortening the young side shoots to these branches. Gooseberries will fruit on practically all healthy wood. All the old and a good deal of the young wood will bear, the latter bearing the larger berries.

Raspberries.

Raspberries can be grown""7j-dite successfully in this district. Its nature is to spread at the root by underground suckers near the surface and to throw up long slender shoots bearing leaves. These shoots produce small fruiting clusters the following year and sometimes the same year. If young suckers are taken from the old stools in autumn and planted in well-prepared soil about one foot apart they may then be tied to horizontal wires three or, four feet high where they will become quickly established*

Pruning: The fruiting shoots of the previous year may be cut away to within 6 inches of the ground level and only the top few. inches of the new wood removed in order to induce the plants to send out strong lateral growths upon which the fruit is borne. Black; Currants. Most varieties are vigorous growers and should be planted at least six feet apart. Pruning:. A black currant must never be cleared of young wood because that bears the best fruit. On the contrary, old wood should be kept in subjection, only portions which sustain young fruiting wood teing kept. Red Currants: The red currant is little, if any, less useful than the black and as it grows in olcser form and bears on the old wood it needs less room, while yielding just as heavily. Pruning consists of shortening the young wood and cutting out all spindly growth. y DISEASE ATTACKING VEGETABLE CROPS. Plants, like animals, when well nourished and in a healthy growing condition, will tend to ward off many diseases with perhaps the exception oi infection starting through bacteria entering a wound or gaining access to the interior of the plant.

All diseases are the result of a special disease organism, but their appearances differ from eacff*'other Some commonly called leaf spot or leaf blight attack the leaves'- of plants. Others attack or inhabit the inside of the stem, causing rot or wilting. Many of these diseases gain access to the plant through the root, from infected soils, and when an internal di&ease has once'gained access to Ore inside of a plant it is practically useless trying to" save the plant from destruction.

Probably the most common of the internal diseases met with by the home gardener is wilt. Many of you will have observed it, particularly among tomatoes and in the flower garden among poppies, asters,, stocks, etc. Wilt is usually caused by a fungus or bacterial growth. The •eery small roots of this disease will inhabit the ducts carrying -*±Tiant juices from the roots to the stems and leaves, eventually cutting off the food supply to the plant with faUl re&ults.

Other plant diseases will attack the outside of the main stem, especially near the ground surface, while others commonly called rots v;Tn attack fife roots. The root rots are partialy controlled by thorough preparations of the soil, soil loose and well aerated, produc-

ing a condition where the soil will rot remain damp for too long a period folowing heavy rain. Much can be accomplished by all gardeners in the control of these diseases by the practice of keeping plants in a~ healthy condition and thereby making them less liable to attack by these diseases. The following points will assist you and aso help to deTelo?- good cultural practices:

1. Garden soils must be well drained. The soil must be put in such a condition that water will not be allowed to remain on the surface for any length of time. Drains, planting on raised beds, trenching or de'ep digging may be needed according to your locality. Remember plant roots must have oxygen and air; they will not grow where they have wet feet, 2. The soil must bo provided with an abundance of plant nutrients, so that the plants may be kept growing continuously, thereby keeping them in a healthy condition. 3. Rotate crops in the garden—

Do not plant cabbage in the same row in which cabbage was planted a year or two previously. The same applies to the majority of other crops, because soil-inhabiting diseases in many instanecs will live throughout the winter and re-infect the crop the following year. 4. Do not plant too close. This includes both the distance between the rows and the distance between the plants in the'row. Plant all garden crops .far enough apart co allow for a free circulation of air around the plants and to prevent damp air pockets forming. Excessive moisture and high temperatures are ideal for many plant diseases.

5. Allow for all the sunlight possible because sunlight will de-strdy'-'many bacteria. It. will - also dry off the Surface of the ground. Avoid "shading- from: large trees, buildings, or other obstructions. O. Control insects. Many insects are known to carry disease from one plant to another. 7. Stay out of the garden while the plants aare wet. Eoth fungi and* bacteria will crhig to clothing and diseases are often spread from one plant along the row in this manner. Ranunculus. This is a flower that retains a large measure of popularity among gardeners, but many growers "do not get the most satisfactory results from their efforts. I think that a large number of failures are due to too early planting. The claw-like tubers are usually on sale in the early autumn and are purchased and planted immediately, many in, badly-drained plots, where the wet conditions are most unfavourable to the growth of these plants. June and July are early enough to commence planting. The soil can scarcely be made too rich, though evertyhing in the nature of manure, etc., which is dug in must be very sweet. Nothing rank should ever be permitted to come near the roots. Dig the ground deeply, and this is a point which cannot be too greatly stressed when planting any bulbous or tuberous plant.

Give the soil time to settle, then plant. If one plants soon after digging the consolidation of the ground takes place with the tubers in it and they are carried down to a greater depth than they should be. These ranunculi are sun-lovers, so that an open position should be given them. Plant each tuber with the points of the claws downwards, at a depth of about two inches and six to nine inches apart. Each tuber should have a little coarse sand shaken round it at the time of planting and if the soil is at all dry growth is hastened by soaking the tubers in water for 24 hours before planting. Make the soil fairly firm to finish and then leave alone until the plants are well through the ground, after which they should be thoroughly hoed and growth will be fairly rapid and a good show of blooms that are both durable and decorative will be expected in September and October.