THE GARDEN.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 91, 15 March 1935, Page 10

THE GARDEN.

Notes are published under this hi dening are invited to send in questio tke.y wish expert advice; answers will

THE FLOWER GARDEN. There is always a time in the spring when flowers are scarce. The bulbs are over and on© lias to rely on anything that can be got. Seeds of various hardy annuals can be sown now and flowers from these will partly fill the gap. Anemones and ranunculas can be planted out and these will come in nfter those which were sown or planted earlier. Pansies planted now will get a good root hold in the soil and will bloom freely at a time when flowers are becoming more scarce. The English florists are recognising this and are trying to produce a Jlower of the pansy with a long stalk that will do for the cut flower trade. So far they have succeeded in raising some which are quite good in this respect, but they have not got all the colours they want and the form is not quite up to standard. However, a beginning has been made and it is only a matter of time before something will be accomplished. - The following list contains hardy plants which can be grown from seed sown now:—Antirrhinums, candytuft, clarkia, cornflower, correopsis, larkspur, sweet Sultan, scabious, nemopliila, and godetia. All of these seeds can be raised in the open ground if required. All that one has to do is to prepare a bed of good free loam. If the surface soil is heavy, give it a coating of leaf mould and sand. Sow th seeds thinly in drills about a foot apart so that they can be weeded and have the soil stirred between them. If they come up too thickly, do not hesitate to thin them out so that each plant has room to develop. When large enough during the winter they can be transplanted to their flowering quarters. The rain has brought a good harvest of weeds in its train, but the weather has been ideal for getting rid of them and so far there has been nothing to fear from them. All weeds can be raked up after the hoe and put oil the compost heap. Anything that has ripened seeds should be burnt. There is a portulaca which is becoming very common in the autumn and will ripen its seeds after being pulled up. The best place for this is on the fire, which must have some wood in it to do the job thoroughly. Some gardeners make a practice of gathering their own seeds every year and make a great success of it. Now is the time to look for those seeds you want and if containers are kept on a dry, airy shelf seeds can be put in as they are gathered. Do not forget to prepare the ground for sweet peas as soon as you can. The seed does not need to be sown until next month, but the soil for it should bo got ready in advance so that the seed can be sown when the time comes. CARNATIONS. Plants that have- been layered this season can be taken up and put into a nursery bed until the main bed is ready for them. It is always important to remember that these plants will not stand waterlogged soil either in the nursery bed or in the main one, and if the soil is heavy it should be raised at least six inches or so above the surrounding soil. Do not make the beds too wide. Those that can bo worked from either side are the best. Boards placed alongside are the best to keep the soil in place. Good carnation soil is that with plenty of fibre in it and a good proportion of lime rubbish such as that which is scraped from old bricks and which has a proportion of soot in it. Carnation roots do not mind actual contact with this stuff, but they will not put up with fresh manure of any kind. When planting, do not plant deeply; make the soil very firm around them. If they'can be'planted with a good ball of earth at their roots they will not require watering as long as the ground is in a good planting condition. Slaked lime should be sprinkled over them about once a week during winter to keep rust away. It does not matter if the leaves become coated with it. QUESTION. “Interested” says: “I have seen 6ome fruiting plants of a Chinese gooseberry and would like to know if they are easily grown. I know nothing about them, but am interested in all kinds of fruit. Would they be a good commercial proposition ? How are they raised, etc., and what sort of soil and situation suits them best? My land is river flat with terraces.” The Chinese gooseberry, Actinidia Chinensis, is a plant with a strong climbing habit and will grow to a height of twenty feet or more. It is a native of China and is quite hardy in our climate. Quite apart from its usefulness as a fruit this plant is a very ornamental covering for a trellis or summer-house in the spring and summer time. The young branches are covered with small, finely cut hairs. The upper surface of the leaf is dark green and the under side a light green often with a pink shade in it. The flowers are creamy white and about an inch and a half to two inches across. The plants are uni-sexual; that is to say, the -fruit are borne on one and the pollen on another, so have to be grown so that the pollen from one can fertilise the stigmas of one or more plants. The fruit is egg shaped and from two to three inches in length, and they are generally borne in clusters of three or more. The fruit when ripe in May has the flavour of a gooseberry and can be used for dessert or jam. Those who have tried it always want to get it again. We have lately been shown fruits that are a great improvement on the older type, being much larger and more juiev. The plants can be raised quite easily from seed, but owing to their nature of lacing uni-sexual they have to be grown until they flower before the

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different sexes can be distinguished. Grafted plants are the best as then you know what you are getting. They would do well in the rich river flats as long as there was plenty of moisture to bo got during the growing season. They do not teem to be so, much at homo on the heavy clay land, but will grow well as long as there is a plentiful supply of food to be got. We do not know how much could be expected from each plant, but have seen plants that have produced over a hundred pounds in one season, all of which found a ready sale. This matter would depend on the growth and cultivation tho plant receives during the growing period. We believe that the plants would be a good commercial proposition and that they could be pruned and tied to trellises to produce a maximum crop of fruit. Given all the essential conditions for growth they will begin, to crop the second or third year after planting. The best plan would be to get grafted plants and try these on your soil. You would soon see how they were going to do. HYDRANGEAS. A corres2>ondent says: “When in Wellington recently I was shown a beautiful bed of hydrangeas which were growing in the open, but were shaded by the simple method of tying ti-tree scrub to coarse sheep wire netting which was raised on posts seven feet above the ground. There were thirtysix plants in the bed, three of a kind, and I do not think 1 have ever seen a more healthy looking lot. The flowers were glorious and a good colour. Tho whole of tho shading had only cost a little more than a pound, and I consider it was well worth the price. Of course, tho plants had been well watered during the growing season and the scrub overhead lia.d stopped too much evaporation. Tho bed had been well trenched and plenty of old rubbish added to it. I was told farmyard manure I was unprocurable, and when watering began artificial manure was used, but only one application which was forked into the soil. Anyone with a piece of ground forty yards by ten could do the same thing and have a beautiful show of blooms for a long time. These plants are well worth growing, but I was told they should bo changed about every four years.” SWEET PEAS. In a letter from Scotland received here lately a visitor to one large show says: “I have never seen such wonderful displays of sweet peas as were put up by some of the leading sweet pea raisers. I do not for one minute think that all the flowers shown were grown in Scotland, but the show is well known for the fact that most of the prominent raisers gather there to discuss tho merits or otherwise of the new creations. The season must have been particularly favourable to growth and colour, but what pleased me most was tho arrangement of the colours. I am sending a marked catalogue of varieties which impressed me most (this has not come to hand) and you will find a lot bracketed as being too much alike to warrant a separate name. Some of the older varieties were very prominent. I have grown these flowers for years, but I do not think I could reach the standards set by these people. The colours are more brilliant than ours and the numbers of fives and sixes was remarkable. I was told by one attendant that it took six men a whole day to select and cut enough for a stand ten feet long by six feet deep and raised up at the back about six feet. There must have been thousands of blooms in it and it was not the largest exhibit by a very long way. Such a stand would be worth going a long way to see.” THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. ' If gardeners would only look upon the present time as being the beginning of the gardening year they would find the work of growing vegetables a much easier task, and the results would be better. All vacant ground at this time of the year should be dug up and sown down with some cover crop, which can be dug into the soil later on. The manure required for general garden work is very hard to get now, but if green crops are dug in .some time before planting is done artificial manure can be used to supplement them, and the combination in most soils at least is a very happy one. It is well known to most gardeners that cropping the soil with one kind of crop for indefinite periods is sure to reduce its fertility and, therefore, crops should be moved about as much a.s possible, taking care that a like cropi does not follow the one that has been lifted. For instance, turnips should never follow cabbages or vice versa. Onions may be an exception to this rule in some cases. If one spot suits onions they may be grown in it two or three times in succession, but even with these it is better to make a change because if disease gets into the soil it is hard to get out. When sowing onions in the autumn for transplanting in the spring choose a fresh piece of ground every year, and if it has been dug from turf so much the better. When sowing the seed work the surface up to a good tilth a.nd sow tho seeds in drills so that they can be hoed. The question of early versus late sowing was being discussed last season so we determined to try both to see which ran to seed the most. Some seed was sown on the 9th of April and the same amount on the Ist of May, and a hundred plants were put out together. They both gave the same number of seed heads, namely, eleven. A hundred plants from spring sown seed did not five any seed heads at all. From this we do not think there is any difference between sowing onion seed early or late in the autumn. It depends entirely on the weather after the sets are put out. Much of tho damage that has been done to cabbage plants this season has been credited to the white butterfly, but the diamond backed moth plague is much more to blame. It is very bad in a hot, dry season, and this year has been most suitable to it. It is a pity that some parasite cannot be got to check it. Spraying or watering with some ta.r distillate spray is the best remedy for it. These sprays must be used fairly frequently, and it is a good plan to keep a tar barrel filled with water alongside the bed as this moth will not go near a tar smell.