THE GARDEN.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 120, 20 April 1934, Page 9

THE GARDEN.

Notes are published under this beading, and readers interested in gardening are invited to send in questions relating to matters upon which they wish expert advice; answers will be published with the weekly note*-

THE FLOWER GARDEN. In almost every garden there are some alterations which are going to be made in the winter, and preparations should l>e begun now. It may be some shrub that has become overcrowded and has to be moved, or it may be an extension. No matter what it is, the new places should be marked out and the shrubs prepared by “wrenching,” that is, cutting their roots with a good sharp spade some months in advance of the work being done. After the roots have -been cut, leave the shrub in its place until the roots have callused over and new ones are being sent out. In the meantime the new site for it can be prepared by digging and working in some manure suitable for it. If a new piece of ground has to be taken in, this can be trenched and manured in readiness for the shrubs that are to be put into it. There is hardly any kind of garden soil that does not respond to deep working, and those that are liable to dry out very quickly will get a lot of benefit from some heavy manure like that from a cowshed or pigsty being mixed up with the sub-soil. Such manures act as a sponge to hold the moisture and the roots soon find this.

Anyone wishing to make a bed of primroses or polyanthas should lose no time now in getting the plants into their places. Seedling plants of these old favourites can be planted as soon as they are ready. The situation they like best is a semi-shaded one where the soil has been well worked and manured. Make the new bed wide enough so that it can be worked from either side without walking on it. The surface must be kept as light as possible, but never worked when the soil is wet or it will work down very hard in the summer time. This applies to practically all kinds of land and crops, and is one of the main things to avoid during the wet weather.

All seedling perennial and biennial plants can be put iii their permanent positions now. If they are growing in a box. give the box a good watering a few hours and then they can be lifted with a good ball of earth. A little water can be given to settle them into the soil, and they should be .ready lor growing. They may not make very rapid strides during the winter, but will be ready to grow as soon as the warm weather comes on again. Antirrhinums always make a good show in the garden, but to get the best out of them they should be planted in large clumps. That is to say, from a dozen or more plants spaced out properly you will get a nuiclr finer show that from'one plant here and there. Canterbury bells are the same. The annual varieties of this plant, which have come to the' fore lately, can be kept until the spring before they are planted out. Pansies and violas should be put in where the situation is an open and sunny one. These plants become too straggly if they are planted where they j can get too much shade. Clean up i the violet bed and remove any dead j and dying leaves. A little blood and! bone worked into the soil between the i plants is a great help to them when I they are flowering. It is a good plan to take advantage of the dry soil to work up as much as possible of the flower I garden and put it in trim for the win- 1 ter. There are a certain number of weeds which grow in the winter time, but if the garden is cleaned up now it will be easy enough to keep them in check by forking them under later on. Winter weeds are hard to kill and hoeing them is not enough; they must be turned under or they will grow again. THE LAWN. Much of the charm of a garden is often due to the lawn which it encloses. A well made and well kept lawn is a thing of great beauty. A lawn may be of any size or shape but generally speaking the larger it is the better the effect, and it may be either sloping or level, but in every case it is the upkeep that counts. Careful preparation of the ground is essential and unless this is done properly no subsequent work will correct it later on. Autumn is the best time of the year to do the work, but for all that it can be done during the winter and early, spring if the weather is suitable. Soil that is heavy and clayey can be brought into a fit state for grass seed by laying drains every fifteen feet or so. Some soils do not need draining at all, for the sandy, gravelly, or shingly nature of tire ground ensures a free passage for all surface water. When drainage has been completed the surface is then carefully dug over in the usual way and at the same time any stones or other foreign material are removed and all lumps are broken up as small as possible. Very light soils can be improved for sowing grass seed by adding clay as the work proceeds. Heavy clayey soils would be all the better for burnt earth, ashes, and sand worked into the surface which will make it more porous and easier to work when the time comes for finishing it off. In these days of animal manure shortage it is better to keep all this kind of thing for the vegetable garden. Artificial manures and lime will bo found enough to give a good body to a grass sward. \Viiile digging make sure that the larger weeds are removed and burnt. When the digging has been finished ■ leave the soil to settle for a few weeks; this is better done when it has had j several heavy showers on it. Lime , can be sown on the surface and left , for the rain to wash in. It will get well mixed with the surface in any ; case when the preliminary levelling ' work is done. When preparing the ; surface for sowing grass seed the sur- ' face should be first gone over with a hoe and worked to an even depth ; then it can be raked and all hard lumps and stones removed. It can then be rolled to consolidate the soil and in this work any faulty parts will soon be discovered. If the lawn is to be used for games the whole of the playing area must be made as level as possible with a spirit level. The best plan is to peg it in ten feet squares and to level each square as the work proceeds, rolling and raking it until the whole has been reduced to a fino tilth. When a good surface has been secured the seed can be sown, blit it is tetter to sow it on a lightly raked surface than o.n a rolled on. For playing areas an ounce of seed is used to the square yard; for lawns other than playing areas half this quantity would do; but thin sowing is false economy. After the seed lias been sown rake it in to a depth of a quarter of an inch and leave it alone. The only trouble occurs when the weather becomes very dry after the seed has been sown and then a good watering may be necessary to get it to germinate. It is a good plan to make the first cutting with a good sharp scythe, but the grass must be allowed to grow to four or five inches before this can he done. Rake the cut grass away and roll the lawn two or three times. The next cutting can be made with the mower, hut it should not he set too low until the grass gets well established.

FILLING BLANK IN THE ROSEBED. When a rose is found to be unsatisfactory or has died altogether, it is a common practice to dig it up and plant another in its place as soon as it comes to hand. The result is that a fresh vigorous plant is put in a more or less impoverished place which has been growing roses for a long time. Now, there is usually something or another which has caused the busli to fail and tire principal cause is lack of suitable food to nourish the plant. The gardener will find that the new plant will not do any better. However, there is a way in which this impoverished soil can be removed and replaced with good fresh loam which roses like. Dig out a hole about two feet square and a foot in depth, and then fill this with fresh turfy loam. The top spit cut from a pasture, grass and all, is as good as anything you can get. Put the sods in with the grass side down and then chop up with the spade and tramp the whole lot down firmly. The" new plant can be set in this and will receive the benefit of the new soil. Healthy conditions at the root of a plant are the essence of success. Shallow dug soil is highly conducive to weajj growth, and weak growth means mildew and other troubles to which the rose is heir.

There is a reverse case, aiid sometimes a plant \vill produce too much wood where flowers are wanted. These plants can be dug up and have their roots shortened before being replanted ; but fresh compost should be put in while the work is being done or the bush may fail to grow satisfactorily. We have found various shrubs and trees will answer to the same kind of treatment and when a tree fails lo respond to this treatment it would he better to throw it away and get another, especially if it is a valued asset to the garden. MANURES AND MANURING. This time of the year is a very suitable one lor working manure into the j soil. If it can be utig in now it will ! be well incorporated through the earth ’by tile time growth begins in the spring. If you look upon the soil as I a meuium lo hold plant lood you will I soon realise the necessity lor h eding lit so that one particular pit id cannot I draw all the goodness away from, it; but at the same time it is quite possible to manure land so heavily tiiat it becomes sour and sick and then some material of. a corrective nature lias to be used. Lime ior tnis purpose is supreme. We have come to the conclusion that lime i,s one of the most important ingredients we can have in our soil. Without it there tare very few vegetables that will do any good and shrubs and trees of all kinds like to have some. Such plants as those which are bog lovers do not require it, but they must have plenty of water.

Some experiments carried out with sulphate of magnesia (Epsom salts) have proved very interesting and roses and other shrubs which have been treated to it have shown that when the soil is well worked about an ounce to the square yard will help them considerably. Sulphate of iron was used, but its effect was not so noticeable as that from sulphate of potash. No doubt where there is plenty in the soil plants would grow and do well, but the wise gardener will not leave anything to chance. When Ire saves up leaves and weeds and stacks them together lie is putting by a manure which to all intents and purposes should be fairly complete, but he will find that it pays, and pays well, to mix some of the chemical manures such as superphosphate with them. Farmyard manure is not complete by itself, but if it is dug into the soil there are elements in the soil that work upon it and bring it to a better state than it was in originally. The question that is often asked by gardeners is: “How soon do you think it will be before I get any benefit from the manure I have put in the ground?” This can be answered in some cases “Almost at once,” but then again this would only happen when the climatic conditions were right. The ground must be moist and warm before it will rot down.

Slieep manure is at its best a year after it lias been dug into the land, as it is then beginning to rot and when rotting takes place the soil water is absorbing the plant food it contains. Some manures are inclined to make soils heavy and others have the opposite effect, and gardeners knowing this always advise cow and pig manure for light land and horse for heavy clay land. Time also has the effect of making _ heavy land lighter, but never mix lime and farmyard manure when putting it on the soil. Dig the manure in first and then sow the lime on the surface and leave it to be washed or worked in as the soil is prepared for planting or sowing. Sowing a cover crop to dig in is economically a sound.proposition. It replaces the lost humus and gives back to the soil more than it takes from it, but it should be dug in some weeks before the land is wanted for use, otherwise it is liable to create air pockets in the soil which make it dry out very quickly. THE VEGETABLE GARDEN.

Sow onion seed now for transplanting in the spring. The ted should be well dug and the surface raked to a nice tilth for the seed to go in. Any onion seed can bo sown, but the general favourite is Cranston’s Excelsior, a large onion of very mild flavour. Cabbage and cauliflower seed can also be sown, but the ground should be well limed before, and we have found that it is better to use slaked lime for this purpose. Sow the lime at

tlie rate of a pound to the square yard, and then sow the seed in drills. Clear away any crops that have finished their period of usefulness and get the ground ready to sow down in a cover crop to dig" in as .green manure. Any crops that are likely to bo spoilt by frosts, and the like should bo gathered and put under cover. Those that are unripe can be used at once. When the crops ba.ve been gathered the tops can be put in a heap and burnt. Generally speaking, they are too old and woody for the compost heap. There is generally a lot of work to do at this time of the year to get hedges in trim for the winter, and they can be cut now and the clippings burnt. All the ashes are valuable on the vegetable garden or around fruit trees which require a good deal of potash during the growing season. Spread lime on the vegetable garden this month. It may not be a manure in the actual sense of the word, but there is a need of it wherever vegetables are being grown and little can be done to keep the soil in good heart without using it. After the first application a little and often is the general rule and a safe one to follow.