THE GARDEN

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 102, 30 March 1929, Page 11

THE GARDEN

Notes are published weekly unde: in gardening are invited to send in ( they wish expert advice; answers will b

ROSES. The time has come when it is necessary to ' consider the making of new rose beds and renovating old ones. The best time of the year for planting roses is about May as it gives them a chance to root into the ground before the wet and cold weather comes on. Where the ground has been properly prepared and drained they can be planted at any time during the four months following May, but we consider May is the best month of all. Rose 9 are so universally ‘ grown that it is almost impossible to find a garden of any kind where there are not some specimens of them. One thing that makes them so popular is the length of their blooming season and the use to which they can be put. There are large growing plants that can be used as shrubs and require very little pruning. There are others that make good low hedges as divisions in a garden. There are climbers that will cover immense spaces or semi-climbers for low fences and pergolas. Pillar roses are most effective plants and can be used to break up the flatness of rose gardens. Dwarf roses are there for edgings and roses for beds and borders of all kinds. These are some of the things that make them so popular. Without roses our gardens always seem lacking in something they should have.

SOIL AND SITUATION. It is quite an exploded theory that roses cannot be grown almost anywhere. Tho.se with sandy soils can grow them i£ they are really wanting to do so by heavy manuring and adding material that will help to keep the moisture in the soil, This can be done by using plenty of green stuff and manure from cowyards for preference and mixing it up well'with the .subsoils. In any case the more the subsoil can be broken up and manured the less chance there is of large air pockets being formed in it. If some heavy soil can be got and added to the sand the "whole lot will be strengthened, but it must be well mixed in. Heavy clay soils with a hard pan underneath must be drained so that the surplus moisture can get away fairly quickly. More mischief is caused by stagnant water than most people think, but as long as it can be kept moving there is little fear that it will do any damage. When such soils are drained the drains should always be put below the greatest" depth to which it is intended to w;ork the soil. If these drains are put in when the clay is in a fairly dry state there is no fear of the clay running together again and becoming puggy, but when they are put down in wet weather and tlie clay is wet plenty of straw and leaves should be mixed to keep it open. Unfortunately, the depth of the drains depend a lot on the outlet, but there are very few cases where an outlet of some kind cannot bo found. Open ditches or holes dug in the ground until gravel is reached are all good. When working heavy soils it is necessary to break the lower spits up as finely as possible and to mix plenty of manure with them at the same time. The kind does not matter so much as long as there is plenty of it. The breaking up and mixing must be well done or air pockets or holes are formed in it which are not good for the plants. The top soil can be dug over and left in a fairly! rough state to settle down. The surface workings where the plants are to be set out will be enough for the surface. The situation should be one that is sunny but sheltered from heavy winds, and it must not be subject to drips from overhanging trees. 'Hie further away from large trees the better because roots of largo trees soon rob the beds of all moisture and without moisture manure cannot do its work. Low hedges are the best protection that rose beds can have, and if these , can be arranged so that there is no back draught from them the situation should be an ideal one.

PLANTING. When the bushes arrive and the soil is in a fit condition to work, they should be planted at once. If the soil is too wet to work, “heel” the plants in some convenient place and leave them there until the soil is dry enough. To plant, mark out the bed in rows, or wherever the plants are to go, and then on each spot dig a bole wide enough to take the roots .at their widest expanse, and also deep enough to cover the bud union on the stock about a couple of inches. This may seem a little deep, but the soil will sink away and they should be about right. Tramp the bottom of the hole firmly and then put in a little loose earth for the roots to rest on. Next,

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put the plant in the hole .and spread its roots out to their fullest extent and cbver with some more fine soil and tramp down firmly. Some more soil can be put on, but the surface must be left loose and fine. When roses are planted early in the season, it is not necessary to prune them, but leave this work until August. When rose plants are sent out from a nursery they are not pruned, but merely trimmed to facilitate the work of handling them. If they are pruned too early in the season they will be excited into early growth and winds and gales of all kinds will catch the blooms before they are ready to open. Keeping the names of the varieties planted is a good plan. The best way is to "make a plan of the bed and to mark each spot occupied and to write the name of each variety against it. This plan is better than putting in pegs as they are so liable to get dug out. and lost when the garden is being dug or hoed. Having the names to go by simplifies the work of pruning later on .and, also, it helps you to increase the varieties later on. Another thing about keeping the names is that you can talk with your rose-growing friends when they come to see you.

CLEARING BEDS. As soon ns any crop of flowering plants has finished its season’s flowering, remove it to the rubbish heap or dig it straight into the soil, where it will make manure for another crop to follow. Where any plants begin to ripen seeds they are taking more out of the soil than the whole of the growth has done before. The crop that is to follow should be of as different a nature as possible, and the same plant should not grown in the same bed. in consecutive seasons.

Dahlias are about the only plants we know of that can be treated to the same soil they were growing in last year without ” showing any troubles. Even with these plants, they will deteriorate if the soil is not well broken up and manured and limed. When a bed has been cleared of a crop, dig the soil over at once and allow the 6un and air to sweeten it. The more soils are stirred up when they are dry, the better it 1 will be for the crop of plants to follow. If the same crop has to follow, the best plan is to remove the top six inches of a bed and to replace it with six inches from elsewhere—the vegetable garden for preference. THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. Turnips for winter Use should be sown now, choosing one of the yellowfleshed varieties for preference. Sow the seed thinly in the drills and press the soil well down over them; then, in the cool of the evening, give the bed a good watering. It is .a good plan to give the seed a light sprinkling or kerosene or turpentine and to rub it together before sowing it, as this helps to keep birds and the turnip fly away. As soon as the young plants come up thin them out to four inches apart and keep the surface soil well cultivated. It will be found an advantage if a little superphosphate is sown with this crop to give it a good start. Any vacant soil that has not had cabbages or such plants in it can be planted with them or cauliflowers now. Give each plant a handful of basic slag in the hole the roots are put into. It is a slow acting manure in most cases, but it is wonderful wlrat it will do. for these plants. Some of the potato crops are ready for digging now and this should bedone while the fine weather lasts. When dug, store them away in some shed where they can be kept away from the light and where they can be covered to stop the moth that lays its egg in them from operating. Potatoes are likely to be a good price this year and all that can be saved should ,be carefully looked after. To have parsley for winter use some seed should be sown now in well manured soil that has been deeplyworked and the seed bed should be kept moist until the young seedlings appear. A dozen plants are all that are needed and if these are well grown they will give all the leaves required for a large family. When artichokes have flowered cut their tops down to within two feet of the ground and burn them. They are too hard and woody to make good compost. This will cause the tubers to swell much quicker than when their tops are left on. Next month is the time to sow onion seed for early spring planting. The kinds generally are the larger ones such as Giant Rocca, or Ailsa Craig, but it will be found that Brown Spanish or any of the keeping onions are equally good.