THE GARDEN.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 257, 27 September 1935, Page 12

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.

QUESTIONS

CHRYSANTHEMUMS

“A.S.” says: “I want some advice on the treatment of lemons and poorman oranges. Have the branches to be thinned out and trimmed back, after the style of apples, and is the present a suitable time?” There is no need to do much cutting to a lemon or pborman orange. If you think the branches are too crowded, one or two may be cut out here and there, but as a rule they do not even need this. It is the practice in Gisborne to do some pruning, but in the lemon and orange orchards in Tauranga and other places in the Auckland province they take out a branch here and there when they become overcrowded. The trouble here is to get them to grow strongly' enough to have too many branches. It is a wise precaution to cut away any branches that,, become a prey to tiie borer, .but you will have to watch closely for this. If the main stem gets borer in it, squirt in a liftle benzine with an eye drop and plug the hole with a little piece of soap or clay. Both these trees want plenty of manure to make them grow ■well. That from the fowlyard should be worked into the ground beyond the greatest spread of the branches and the surface soil should be kept in a good state of cultivation. No lemon or orange will grow' well Where the drainage is bad. and in heavy land this is one of the first things that must be seen to. Lemons or oranges can bo planted any time this month. “Dahlia” says: “1 have not lifted my dahlia tubers yet, hut am going to do so about the end of this month so that I can manure and trench the soil for another season. When I take them out of the ground, shall I divide them at once or can this be done when I am ready to replant ? I understand that these plants can he grown in the same , land for a number of years by trenching and manuring each season, and I would like to know if this is : so. What manure would be the best to dig in? I can get cow manure and sheep manure, hut no stable manure. Last season I had twenty-one varieties and this season I v r ant two of each. They were planted four feet apart. Could I grow them anv closer?”

You will be perfectly safe in taking your dahlias tip at any time now’. Stand them close together and cover the tubers with some sand or light soil until you are ready to divide and replant. If you divide when you lift the plants, you will have to devise some means of keeping them together, but if you take off what you require you can replant in pairs as the work proceeds. These plants can be grown in the same land year after year if it is manured and limed. Lime seems to be essential to their good growth, and without it they do not do so well. It is not necessary to trench each season. One good' trenching will last for five or six years at least. Mix the, manure thoroughly with the soil as the work of digging goes on. Four feet apart is the closest you can grow them. The manure you have is quite. good. Use plenty of it.

October is a busy month in any part of the garden, but one should never neglect the vegetable part lor the aesthetic. As soon as tnc ground begins to warm up, some Ji’rcneii beans can be sown. Plenty ol lime in the soil is a necessity, hilt even then rust may attack the plants. L here are said to he some varieties which are immune from rust and these are the varieties which should be grown. The stnngless butter beau is one of them and the brown or dun-coloured pc*i is unotlier. As far as we know, neither of these are badly affected. Put in another row or two of. peas. Those sown two or three weeks ago should now be well up. The taller kinds can be sown now, but some provision for staking them must be devised. With the very tall kinds wire-netting is sometimes used and answers very well, hut with those of an intermediate growth twiggy

An old chrysanthemum grower has been expounding the virtues of raised beds with a solid bottom for our benefit. He says he found it out from necessity. He wanted to grow some chrysanthemum plants and the only available space was a concrete backyard, and, not wanting to break up the concrete, he built a box with eight-inch sides and ends without top or bottom. This he placed on the concrete and filled it with some sods and soil. This w r as rammed tight and as the box was twelve feet by three he had to put wires across to hold the sides together. They did not interfere with the working at all and the bed was large enough for eighteen plants, nine along each side. They, were easily attended to but had to be watered occasionally. Since that time he has always grown his plants in this way and considers that it has a lot to commend it to anyone. He said: “I believe that since I adopted this method I have had more pleasure from growing these plants than I ever had before and I am sure no one could wish for better blooms. The plants were freer from disease and were easier to manage tha:i those growing in the open ground. When feeding time came I topdressed with an, inch and a-half to two inches of top soil and this was enough to hold the liquid manure. Cuttings were easier to take and they did better because the drainage was perfect. When the old plants were taken out lettuces were grown in the soil and came in early with the aid of some glass frames. The soil has to be changed each season. I always start the plants off in threeinch pots and move them on when they become full of roots. From threes they go to fours and from fours to fives and from the fives they go to the prepared bed. I hear growers talking about manures of various kinds, but I have never found anything better than good clean turf stacked up for a few months and then well broken up with the spade. No sieve is necessary because one can get all the fine soil that is required bv breaking up with the spade. Sulphate of potash is a tonic and not a manure, and one tablespoonful per square yard is given just before the first crown is taken out, and another just before feeding begins, which is done as soon as the second crown is selected. My highest plant is not more than four feet and some are hardly three when they are in flower, and i think this is a distinct advantage as it makes it easier to cover the flowers from the frost and rain. If anyone tells you he can grow these plants in the same soil year after yea.r, you can tell him from me that he does' not know the first thing about the cult. I have tried it and I have seen it tried and it has always ended in failure. Clean, new soil is essential to success; and if you buy any plants, pot them up and grow them in pots tor the first two or even three months, moving them on as required.”

SLUGS AND OTHER PESTS. A correspondent is very much concerned about the increase of various pests in liis garden and wants to know the best way to keep them at bay. This is a question that affects all gardens and gardeners, 'i he first important step in this work is to clear away as far as possible everything in which they can. shelter, it gardeners in general paid more attention to this part of the work they would find that they had less trouble from them. It is not always possible to do away with all the sheltering places, because hedges and shrubs of various kinds will harbour some, Woodlice- in particular are. very loud of the dry leaves under a hedge or. large shrub, but if all this dead and dying material is raked up and burnt it will account for a lot of. them. Heaps of decaying stalks and leaves when lying on the ground are a great attraction to slugs, and if this material were removed to the compost heap and some lime added it would help to destroy a lot more. Beds that are cut in grass lawns suffer considerably from the shelter afforded by the grass. Keep the grass well cut and run a heavy roller over the surface whenever you get the chance. This may not destroy them all, but there is another way and that is to lay some sacks down oil the grass at night and to take them up in the morning, destroying every slug or wire worm, found on them. It will surprise you what a lot of difference it will make to the planls and the number of different insects you will trap. Probably the most numerous of the various pests which gardeners have to contend with are slugs and woodlice. If , one has wooden edgings to the " borders they -will be found in large numbers between the soil and the wood, and a very effective way to deal with them is to sprinkle some manorial insecticide along the line of the boards. A lot will be destroyed by this method and those that are not will leave for other parts. There is no doubt that hedgehogs play a liig part in cleani ing up pests of all kinds, but they are only just beginning to wake up from their winter sleep. Thrushes account for a lot of snails and where these pests are to l>e found a large stone or piece of concrete should he placed ill the garden for the birds to crack the shells on. A bricklayer recently showed us about fifty "shells he had taken from the top of a chimney he was repairing. The thrushes had evidently found the" snails in the garden and had carried them to the chimney to break thorn. The owner of the chimney told us that he had not seen a snail in his garden for years. Caterpillars of various kinds hide in the soil by day and come out at night to raid plants. The only way to get at them is to use sonic soil fumigant or to be continually turning the soil over to let the birds get. at it. Grass grubs are probably the hardest to (leal with and once they attack a bed of violets or primroses it is practically useless to clean them out until they have run their course. Remember that the best way to attack garden pests is by attacking them before they get moving, and let the attack be on their homes and hiding places. THE VEGETABLE GARDEN.

sticks are as good as anything that can be got. Last season we were very successful with some cos lettuce sown in September. They were sown by accident, but as they made rapid growth under the stimulus of nitrate of soda they were tied up and came out quite crisp and tender. These lettuces are not as hard in the hearts as the cabbage lettuce, but they seemed to stand the hot weather better. Two things are essential for their cultivation—plenty of water and a good rich soil. Tomato seed can be sown in boxes now under glass and the plants can be pricked out into other boxes as soon as they are large enough to handle. Good, clean fresh soil should always be used when dealing with these plants. Avoid overwatering at all times. More troubles come from using too much water than from any other cause. The early crop of potatoes should be ready for earthing up now. Frosts have taken a heavy toll of many crops this season, but the time is getting on when we may expect to be fairly free of them for-a while. Make a sowing of leek seed now. The plants from this sowing should be ready to plant out in the place of the early potato crop. It is a splendid vegetable for winter use and a good batch planted out will last all through the winter and well on until the spring. Celery seed can also be sown in boxes now and pricked out as soon as they are large enough to handle. This seed is slow to germinate, taking from twenty-one to twenty-eight days to come up. Keep the seed box shaded and moist until the young plants begin to show up. Pumpkins and marrows should he started now. The best plan is to put the seed in a dish with some moss or something that will keep damp and, as soon as they shoot, prick them out into a box of prepared soil. If they are put in the right distance apart there will be no necessity to prick them out again until they are ready to plant out. Keep the hoe going amongst all growing crops. There is no need for deep cultivation as long as the surface of the soil is kept moving. A Dutch hoe is an excellent tool for this purpose. TOBACCO CULTURE.

Our tobacco expert says that tobacco plants' do not require a rich soil blit rather one that can be manured to put the plants into when they are ready to leave the boxes or nursery bed that they were growing in. Too rich a soil will produce a dark-coloured leaf. Directly the soil has been dug, give it a good liming, and when this has been worked in some superphosphate, at the rate of scwt per acre. After the plants have been put in, a little nitrate of soda will help the production of leaves, but should never be used on rich ground. •* Take care that the young plants do not become overcrowded in the boxes and see that the plants are kept growing steadily. Some splendid leaves were raised in this district last season ; many of them were quite equal to first grade.