THE GARDEN.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 100, 28 March 1925, Page 11

THE GARDEN.

I otes are published weekly under this hei ding, and readers interested in gardening are invited to send in questions relat ng to matters upoa which they wish exj ort advice; answers will bo published wil h the weekly notes. ROSES IN SANDY SOILS. • hat roses can be grown in sandy soi s is well known, but there are few wli i care to study the subject sufficien ly to overcome the difficulties. Sa idy soils lire so porous that manure puinto them generally gets washed tin ough them and down far beyond the de >ths to which the roots penetrate. Ce tainly good cow manure will last it sin rt time, but it will eventually go un ess there are some means of keeping it there. In two or tlireei successful liei ls wo know of the sandy soil has be. ii taken out fo a depth of about th: ee feet and a coating of clay has be. n put over the bottom to a depth of sis inches or so, and then the sand has be' n put back again mixed with plenty of good fresh cow manure, and the wide iot well limed. Such a soil will ua urally remain hungry and will requ re constant feeding and watering, lm it is ono that will grow many varietie of,roses to perfection. One thing vc y important when dealing with soils of this class is to plant as firmly as po sible and a little deeper than would be employed in heavier soils. Then wo co; ne to soils which are neither sandy no heavy, just the happy medium sucii as a vegetable gardener loves for his pa snips and carrots. These soils are to< light for the best roses, but they ca i be improved by the use of cow manure and lime to such an extent that rotes can be successfully grown in ill. in. The. effect of lime on sandy soils is to make them heavier. The process is naturally slow, but it is sure all the same, and, as long as cow iniiiiure is used, there will be something going into the soil which 'will help to keep the moisture there. It must be always remembered that when making a rose bed you aro doing something wf ich you expect to last for a number of years, and once the plants are put in the ground it will be impossible to go over the ground again and trench unless you lift the plants out, and this is a thing you want to avoid as much as possible. Manure can be worked up with the surface in after years and will supply a lot of toed that is necessary for tho plants to have, but unless the foundation of tho bed is well and truly laid tho plants cannot be expected to last for a great length of time. If new plants are to be set out in an old bed it is always a good plan to take away the soil where the old plant was growing and to put in fresh soil that has never been used for roses. It is only by doing this that you can expect to establish them quickly. THE FLOWER GARDEN. Time is rapidly drawing to a close when all kinds of bulbs should be in tlio ground. If you have any that you want to plant get them in as soon us you can or it will soon be too late. Those that were planted early in the season should be cleaned before tho ground gets too wet. The best way to treat bulb beds is to fork the ground over lightly, taking care not to go deep enough to injure the bulbs in any way. It sometimes happens that, when bulbs, have been in tho ground for a few years, they increase so much as to push some of the smaller ones up near the surface, and in these cases you must be careful.

The sowing of sweet pea seeds will be general next month, and it is always a good plan to prepare the ground some weeks in advance if it can possibly be done. Some growers like to sow their seeds in pots and transplant them out into the bed when large enough, but there are plenty of others who prefer to sow in the open ground where they aro to grow, and they claim that they get better results from doing this than those who plant out from pots. Last season we asked several prize winners how they treated their peas—whether they planted out from pots or sowed an the open ground, and tliey all said that they preferred to sow m the open ground if it was possible, but as one pointed out this was not always possible because the weather was a great factor in the work und had to be taken into account. One man went as far as to say that he never had much success in the years when he sowed in boxes or pots, as compared with the times w,hen lio could plant out in the open. He said his flowers were always much better and finer when the seed was sown where thei plants were to grow than when transplanted. This is a good time of the year to plant put stocks and pansies in the vacant parts of the borders. The pansies will do for the front and the stocks for the back. Stocks are so sweetly scented that, even if they are nearly all doubles or singles, they are worth growing for an early crop of bloom. Advantage should be taken of the fine weather to get the borders in trim for the winter. As soon as the first shower of ruin comes along now the weeds on the surface of tiie- soil will begin to grow very fast. if you examine the soil now you will find that if is covered with very tiny seedlings, which are easily killed at this time ol the year by hoeing.

THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. The vegetable garden at this time of the year is liable to get sadly neglected, which is a state of things that should not be, because it is one ol the most important parts of the garden. There are btans to bo kept picked, and the celery and leeks want some attention in the way of liquid manuring and earthing up as required. Some of the crops ot potatoes will bo ready for lifting now, and this is work that should be attended to before anything else, because it is quite likely that some of them will get badly blighted when the rain comes. Cab Cage and cauliflower seed should be sown now to get a supply of plants for setting cut in the early spring months. Give the ground the seed is sown in a good dressing oi soot to keep vermin away, and the plants should be able to take care of themselves. It is a gooil plan to earth up all plants of the cabbage and cauliflower tamily that are being kept for the winter. Sow onion seed of the larger kinds for transplanting in the spring. This seed should be sown in good fresh soil where these plants have not been grown before, in case there are any spores of onion mildew about. This is a most troublesome disease, which should be kept in check as much an possible, and when once the ground guts affected it is very hard to control it,. Carrots sown now will come in for winter and eaily spring, but they will not be very large; however, that does n>t matter when vegetables are scarce. A s soon as the tops of asparagus begin to turn yellow cut them off. You will find that if you allow the seed to ripen and fall you will have endless work getting it out of the ground. It is a wood plan to give the bed a good clean up before cutting the tops away, and then you will be able to give the plants as much as they want and are able to see where they are. Rhubarb wants a coating of manure now if it can be spared. Silver beet is one of the most

useful stand-byes that can be grown for winter crops, and il seed is sown now in well manured ground you will liud that it will come along very quickly and will prove quite tender, harvest all ripe mats of pumpkins and marrows now and store them away in a dry place, such as under a macrocarpa hedge or in a dry shed. Lettuce may also be sown now in a warm corner and will come in useful. It is a pity that the old fashioned endive is not more grown, as this is one of the best winter saladings that we have and can be used as a boiled vegetable.