THE GARDEN.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 111, 11 April 1936, Page 7

THE GARDEN.

Notes are published under this heading, and readers interested in gardening are invited to send in questions relatiug to matters upon which they wish expert advice; answers will be published with the weekly notes.

THE FLOWER GARDEN.

1 The soil has been dry enough lately i to make the work of cleaning up borders easier, and every advantage should be taken of it to do this work. I here are quite a lot of things that can be planted out if one lias the ground ready. Nemesias planted now will stand the winter fairly well and will flower in the early part of the spring. They must be put in a welldrained piece of ground as they do not like “wet feet.” During the last year or two winter flowering carnations have come to the front and there are- few gardens where some of them cannot be found. Those who have been raising plants from seeds or cuttings should get these out into the open ground as soon as they can, so that the plants will be well rooted before the winter comes on. In the case,, of the old border carnations it wns always a part of the work to choose a piece of ground without any fresh manure in it, but with the winter variety, or perpetuals, a little strawy manure is an advantage as long as it is not too fresh. Some old stable manure that has been stocked up for some months would do splen- i didly. Cover the surface with it and I then fork it into the soil v mixing it in j thoroughly. Lime can then be scat-1 tered over the surface and tlie plants set out. The winter carnations can be planted in Hje same way as the border; that is to say, they must be planted firmly and not too deep in the soil. Choose a sunny position for them. If you have not sown the summer flowering sweet peas, they can be put j out at once, or if the ground is not ready 3 sow the seed in pots and then proceed to prepare the ground for them by deep digging and manuring. The use of lime is essential. Next month roses will be coming to hand, so it is important to get the new beds ready for them. If the soil is henvy. see that ample drainage is provided below the point where the. digging I reaches. In the case of old beds where i certain plants have to be replaced, remove the old soil for at least a foot on either side of the place where the plant stood and replace it with good, clean turf or stacked loam'. By doing this you will avoid the trouble so often experienced in replacing roses. The trouble is that young plants put into an old bed fail because the plants that were there-before have exhausted something from the soil and new plants fail because they cannot find the food they require. In every garden there will lie some changes to be made. Whether it is a • new tree or shrub to be planted or an old one to be moved, it is a change, and the opportunity of the fine weather should be taken to prepare tlie site to put it in, .or to prepare the old one for Removal by “wrenching” it. All old and exhausted flowering plants should be taken up and J burnt. These woody sticks are no good for the compost heap as they will not rot down; but any weeds that are soft and succulent can be put on the compost heap to rot down. They will make a valuable manure for work in the spring and will come in at a time when manure is hard to get, because every other gardener is after it at the same time. Hedges of all kinds can be cut now and- the clippings raked up and burnt. They are useless in the compost heap. NEW ROSES. A visitor to England says; “I have just discovered the fact that I have not sent those notes I promised on ■ the National Rose Society’s Show in i July last. There has been so much | 1 to see and do that I have had very i little spare time. I have been to every 1 flower show that I could go to, includ- > ing what are called provincial shows * here, but which are quite large af- 1 fairs and attract thousands of people, i

I The local nurserymen put up very fine , | exhibits at these shows and some of . i the outside growers bring their'best. . | At one show a nurseryman from Holj land had flown over, having chartered j 1 a large ’plane for the purpose of . J bringing his goods, which were mostly . j azaleas and rhododendrons in pots, [ also a large number of well-grown , I rose bushes. There were no new ones , I in this collection, but the crowd seem- , |ed to be fascinated with it and one ; could not get near it for a long time. There were other plants beside’s those mentioned, and the whole made quite a fine display. A good deal was made of a new hybrid polyantha called Van Nos. - It was said to have originated in Holland and has large clusters of semi-double, velvety scarlet blooms, which are frilled on the edges. I was told that the colour was deeper than could be got here, and as the plants j had been grown under glass that was I probably the reason. At the National j Show, by courtesy of the secretary, I had a good look at the new roses. There were three gold medals given | and/ 1 think the roses deserved the ; distinction. Sam McGredy is a deep j cream with buff shading at the base. The petals are extra largo and s.trong and the blooms are a good shape. It j reminded me of McGredy’s Yellow, | which 1 have seen in hundreds this ■ season. It is much deeper in colour j here than with us. Tlie next was Sweet- | ness, lemon yellow with pink shadings, j There was plenty of stuff in this rose j and the steins were all that a good ' exhibition rose should have. It had a ! j good scent, something like one of the ! I old teas. Colonel C. Watson was the I third gold medal winner and was a | clear deep pink, tinged with salmon. I do not tlnnk it will be'large enough, to attract exhibitors but will make a | good companion rose to picture for i bedding purposes. ! Eight certificates of merit had been awarded. Kathleen Mills is a decoraj tive. rose of very free blooming habit. I It is lemon yellow, tinted pink. The buds are . cerise-pink. It was a rose that had been used quite a lot for floraf work. Our old friend Van Nes; was one of them, but was lighter in j colour than those from Holland. Mrs Ed Laston is old rose, suffused orange, ; and I thought it rather out of place as there were some better ones that j had been passed over. Mrs F. Ver- J don, cream passing to rich yellow; a. j very shapely rose and judging by. the plant, was a strong grower. Ilex An- I derson, pale lemon and peach ; this I rose did not attract me at all. Me-1 Gredy’s, Pride, a combination of buff, j orange and pink; very large, full-' rounded blooms and should make a good garden rose. Golden Wonder, golden apricot with pink shading; not very large, but well worth while. Crimson Glory, crimson-scarlet, with a wonderful scent, and I suspect this gave it a place. It will require trying out carefully as I think it is one of those roses tliat blues badly in tlie sun. j There were a few others that had been i marked to appear again and one, Anne I Poulsen, a hybrid polyantha, looked like a winner to me.” Two of the -roses mentioned above are in New Zealand already, Van Nes and Crimson Glory. The first has flowered several times and we can bear out our correspondent’s surmise that the colour would he lighter when grown in the open. The frilly edge of the flower is very attractive, and it is likely to become a favourite later. Crimson Glory has also flowered, but so far it has kept its colour because the weather has been dull and overcast. Its scent was fairly strong, something like Imperial Potentate, which has a trace of verbena or lilac in its scent.

A correspondent recently asked for the six best scented roses grown, but at that time we were unable to reply.

However, since then we have made a list of those we consider reliable. Crimson Emblem, strong; Daily Mail Scented; Pladley—all of these are reds. Soni de Mme. Chambard, orange shaded rose; Lady Lauder, yellow; Abol, white. We have asked several growers to place the above lot in what they consider the right order, but so far they have all differed. Crimson -Emblem got the most points, closely followed by Daily Mail Scented. The rest, although they came into ’the picture, were placed in different orders. This only goes to show that one cannot place much reliance on olfactory nerves. Several other roses were picked out, Golden Dawn and Hugh Dickson being next in position, bnt none of those who were testing them could agree on their positions in the list. For the last few years scent has occupied a high position in the votes for new varieties. THE CRICKET BAT.

In England a large number of farmers in the counties of Essex and Kent supplement their incomes by growing the true bat willow and now the industry in Essex has been threatened with extinction owing to a bacterial disease, called the “watermark” disease, making its appearance. So far scientists have not been able to stop its spread;- although they have I isolated the “bug.” The Essex County Council has been endowed with ■ far- ] reaching powers in the hope that it j can control it, and wherever it occurs | the whole of the trees are being out j down and destroyed. Makers of cricket bats are faced with finding other places where this special variety of willow can he grown and at the present time are importing it from India and Ceylon and also in small quantities from Australia. of willow which is known to botanists* as Salix alba, variety Coerulia, is the only one- the trade has found good enough for the purpose and it is prepared to give a good price per foot for it. In the- Daily Mirror there is a picture of these willows being cut into short lengths and taken away for drying. The logs look to be about three feet, six inches to four feet in length and about a foot in diameter.. Their age is given as fifteen years and they are valued at from three to four pounds apiece. Surely there is value enough here to try and induce some of our fanners to try this variety of willow on their holdings. We have had letters from cricket bat makers asking if there are any plantations of it in New Zealand, but so far have only been able to find one, which is in Hawke's* 1 "-Bay, and the trees are .not large enough-to fell. PANSIES. 1

A correspondent, C.G.S., says: “I have rather a fine lot of pansies which I am anxious to keep, but so far ha.vo not had much luck in growing them

The pansy stem A has flowered and is hollow and coarse and is not suitable for cuttings. The cutting on the right, B, is from the base of the plant and is prepared for putting in the pot.

from cuttings. Do you think it would be a good plan to lift'the old stools and pot them up for the winter, keep-

ing them in a frame or some such place? Some of my.plants are named kinds and I suppose they are more 'delicate than the seedlings one puts out every season. My land is not heavy, but I manure a fresh piece for them every season.” We do not think you would gain anything by lifting . and potting the pansy plants. It is not the wet and cold of winter that destroys them, hut the heat and dryness of summer. If you have got good plants now the best thing you can do is to take cuttings of them and put these round the edge of a well-drained pot that has been filled with loam, lenf mould and coarse sand well mixed together and sifted through a quarter-inch sieve. A little charcoal dust mixed in with the soil will help to keep it sweet. Allow about a teaspoonful to every five-inch pot. The illustration will show the kind of cutting to take. They can be put about an inch apaft around the edge of the pot and stood in a frame to root. fThey should be lightly shaded until they begin to make fresh roots, which will be in a fortnight or' so.. When rooted, tliev can be put in a box in the same way as seedling plants and kept until you are ready to plant them out. Tlie best j cuttings for this purpose arc found at | the bases of the plants and some al- J ready mav have short roots appearing; i these are helpful. THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. | Usually at this time of the year j there are some parts of the vegetable ] garden that are not required for ini- j mediate use and these should be dug I over and sown down with a cover i crop for in again later. A j leguminous cover crop is the best to j use, but, failing This, sow it down i with oats or barley, and when there : plants are about two feet high, they | can be dug into the soil to supply that j very necessary article humus. No: soil can he l fertile without this and tlie continued use of artificial man- 1 ures is likely to exhaust the supply i very quickly. Earth up celery and leaks as they require it. Leeks can j only be done a little at a. time, but j celery can be done in one job. Any, seed that is ready for saving can be j collected and stored away ns soon as ; it is dry enough. Leave it in open packages until you are certain that . all the moisture has been drawn off and then it can be put into bags or tiib; until next season. If French bean seed is nearly ready the plants can be pulled up and tied together in bunches and hung in a dry shed until such time' as you are ready to shell them out. They will not fall out of their own accord..

Runner beans ca.n be picked in the pod, and when dry they will keep just as well as when they are' shelled.

Peas will, fall out, so they must be stalked and then cleaned.