THE GARDEN.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 49, 25 January 1935, Page 9

THE GARDEN.

Notes are published under this heading, 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 notes.

THIS FLOWER GARDEN. A start should us made now with plants lor a display or blooms in too v.inter and cany spring. Primula iuaiacoicies should be isown now, Keeping tiie soil lamy damp and pricking tim young plants out ns soon as they are large enougn to Handle. They Ime a .senu-sliaded bolder tiiat lias been wed dug and manured. Get Iceland poppies wen lorward so that they can ue planted a« soon as tbo soil is moist enough, it wm ram some uay. i'repare tne ground, lor sowing sweet pea seed in march, ll it is sown now it might begin to Mower in tbo early winter and this would spoil the spring blooming. Winter llowcring sweet peas can be sown now hut the potation lor them should he .a sheltered one iv he re they can get as much sun as possible and where trusts are not too severe, .seeds of stocks, Iceland poppies, carnations, delphiniums, sweet william, and wallflower can be sown now. Put the boxes the seed is sown in either under glass or under the lee oi r a wall and keep them shaded until the _seeds begin to germinate. The moisture problem is a very serious one during January and it would be a help if a tub of' water was kept handy so that the can could bo dipped into it as required. If this tub is kept under glass the water will be warmer than that from the mains and is better lor watering seedlings than the icy cold water from taps. One gardener told us recently that there was a fortnight’s difference between seedlings watered in this way and those watered straight from the main. When the ground does get really moist there will be a busy time ahead for those gardeners , who want to have a good display, so get everything going that you can now. Fork over the rose beds now and give them a dressing of superpho.spate at the rate of two ounces per square yard and water this in thoroughly. There is no need to infringe the water bylaws, hut a good watering gi\en now and the beds hoed over again as soon as the surface is dry will keep the' ground moist for a lortnight. In a lew days’ time, after applying the super, give a dressing of one ounce of smphate of ammonia per .square yard. In about a fortnight’s time the plants, will be covered with new shoots. A good crop of beautiful blooms will 1 01-, low and probably last until the winter. I Dahl as and chrysanthemums arc mak-j ing goad growth in most places, but i some growers are complaining about; thrips doubling lip the leaves ol the j daluiae. This nest is generally worse I in dry weather than in wet but it is j fairly easy to control. Spray til® plants well with “Black Leaf 40” and] after a day or two give them a good j watering. In a very short time tney will begin to make Ucsli growth, j Plants that are overcrowded should i have some of the superfluous shoots removed, Stake the branches carefully so that they are not blown down. Chrysanthemums should be staked now with stakes lung enough to carry the flowers when they are growing. It is soon enough to begin giving chrysanthemums liquid manure after the bud lias been selected, but dahlias will be all the better for liquid manure from now on. The liquid should not be very strong at first, but can be strengthened later on as the flowers develop. Give as many changes as pos-j sible when making liquid manure for any plants. They do not like the samel thing all the time. J STRAW FOR .MANURING. Tlie following is taken from the report ol the Clieshuiit Experimental •■station and should prove pood reading to those who can get wheat or oat straw very cheaply to use as manure in their gardens: “To get the full benefit from tlic straw it should not be laid horizontally in the trenches, but should be placed more or less vertically in bands or layers about two inches in thickness. The introduction of the straw may be easily done during the work of bastard trenching. Of the soil taken out to a depth of two spits, enough is replaced at the beginning of a trench tu give a slight slope, against which the straw is packed in lengths of twenty inches or so. The straw need not be cut hut can bo bent over on itself. The bottom and top spit are then replaced in their order lor a distance of ten inches or so and then the exposed surface of the trench is given a slight batter and another sloping layer of straw put on the whole width of the trench and so on until the whole ground lias been dug. The straw used in this way appears to act advantageously in several ways. Aeration and drainage are both considerably improved. Strawed soils should contain more oxygen and should be warmer than soils in tlveir natural state. Roots appear to develop better, perhaps because of the better aeration. The straw! ng of the soil affects also the activity of the soil bacteria. The supply of carbohydrate materials provided by the straw provides the soil bacteria with food. They, no doubt, increase and multiply and in doing so lock up a good deal of soil nitrogen. This being so, care must be taken to supply the soil with some additional nitrogen which may easily be done by topdressing with a nitingen fertiliser. There are many directions in which an enterprising gardener who finds a difficulty m getting an adequate supply of farmyard manure might experiment with this method of so'il improvement. Grass clippings can be mixed with more stem my material such as straw. lhis could be put in the kitchen garden in

the autumn for the spring planting. Ground used for small fruits could be prepared in this wav before the bushes were planted. Where the straw method lias been used in glasshouses copious waterings have been necessary before tomato planting can lw done, but m the garden the winter rains have been found sufficient. Any part of the garden can l>e treated in this way. Jho lily garden has .been found to respond to this treatment to a marked degree. Primroses and primulas have received a. lot of assistance from the straw. Decaying straw passing slowly into humus will hold wider to a marked extent.

We have made use of straw in land that required manuring, perhaps not exactly in the same way ae noted about, but we have always found that the soil treated with it would produce more growth and better crops than that untreated and when the clay was broken up and short straw or chaff was nr.xed with it that it helped considerably to deepen the amount of available soil. | It is said that soil bacteria will work 'as deeply as the a.ir leacbcfi and there- ; lore any method which will admit air deeper is surely a good thing to bring about. In this district many stacks of i straw are burnt every year which con’d be bad almost for carting away. If I this waste could be stopped and the straw put to a iii-eful purpose it would •be better for everybody. Try a. patch this autumn and see what results you i can get. 1 A REQUEST. A secretary says: “The members of our society have taken a vote on what they consider tbo best twelve roses of , to-day. They are as follow:. Shot Silk, Betty Upriehard, Golden Dawn, Hawlmark Crimson, Lady Hillingdon, Frau ‘Karl Druschki, Mine. Butterfly, Mrs G. A. van Rossein. Talisman, Airs Sam AleGredy, Angele Peruet. Etuiie de Hollande, in the order named. V.'ould you kindly criticise them lor us. .1 know, there are many interested.” The selection is a very good one for general purposes. Shot Silk is in its right place at tiie top of the list, Golden Dawn should have been next. \Ye do not think we would put B. Upriehard in alall as she is not altogether a tree bloomer. Daily .Mail scented should come next and tins would also cut out Hawlmark Crimson. Angele Peruet is a good rose and is well worth a place. . Ktoiie de Hollande is also good, w hite ! roses must still have plenty of ad- ' miters for Frau Karl to be included, j 'ft is certainly a free bloomer but the ; • lack of scent is a big drawback. Aline, j Butterfly is splendid especially as the | bush grows older. Lady Hillingdon is 1 an apricot, but Airs Dunlop Best is a | finer rose and docs not bang its head [so much. All's Sam ALcGreiiy _ is a comi parativoiy new rose to be in such a I list, but 'it is a beauty and well worth I its place. Airs G. A. v. Rossem does | not bloom freely enough, although a good bloom is something to be remembered. Talisman lias tunic very well with some growers and seems to be a

general favourite. We are surprised that neither Else Poulseu or Kirsteeu Poulson have been included. They arc polyanthus hybrids and as Jar as garden roses go they leave very little to chance. The first blooms even more freely than the second. “A. Gardener” says: “Last season I bought a dozen dahitas and they grew well and flowered, but tilts year nut a .single one lias grown. I took tiie'tubers out of the ground in dune and put them i.n a sited until about the end of August. I cut them up and gave a tuber of each to my daughter, but none of hers have grown n.'iso. I am sure 1 cut them correctly as 1 know all.about planting potatoes.” We are afraid that you nave made the mistake of thinking that the dahlia ttibtys were like potatoes and have cut them the wrong way. With dahlias the shoots crime from tiie crown of the plant, which is that part to which the tubers are joined. There are no eves on the tuber itself and every tuber should have been cut with a piece of the crown adhering to it. The best plan to follow is to cover the tubers with sand and when they begin to shoot they can be divided in'such a way that some ,qf them will have shoots. Every tuber in a stool does not have an eye, but only two or three of them, firm’s bank. . “Pansy” says: “When is the best time to sow pansy seed to give plants ior winter and early spring blooms Y I have some choice seed and want to grow it well. Also can delphiniums lie planted in the autumn?” Sow the pansy seed in boxes of fine earth and sand now and shade until the young plants come up. r i he present day pansy seed is rather variable in germination and care must l>e taken not to over water-it. Prick out as soon as the young plants are large enough to handle into boxes from which they can be lifted later on with a good ball of earth. If the delphiniums are large clumps they can be transplanted in the autumn, but if they are only small seedlings keep them until the spring. TOBACCO. AVhen the flowers begin to show pink the flower head must be cut out and all the shoots showing in the 'axils of the leaves removed. With plants that are well forward there will be a certain amount of matured leaf to pick early next month. AVhen picking has been done hang the leaf in a shed to dry. It should not he dried in the sun or it becomes too brittle. Our expert say. 4 he has seen some very good leaf this year and is satisfied that a good class of leaf can'be. grown in this district.