THE GARDEN.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 200, 24 July 1936, Page 15

THE GARDEN.

Notes are published under this heading andrea-lers 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.

THE FLOWER GARDEN

Sweot peas are beginning to make a little growth and they should have some attention in the way of being tied up to their supports. They are easy enough to handle in the young stage, but when the shoots begin to thicken they aro liable to snap off when being handled. If the plants are being grown for exhibition blooms only, allow two or three main shoots to every plant; but if they are grown for house or garden decoration it does not matter how many are left. The main thing is to get plenty ot flowers and to pick them ns soon as they are ready. Most sweet peas aro self-ferti-lised before the Mower opens and a fertilised flower does not keep very long because its mission in life is ended—which is to begin to reproduce itself.

Pot up chysanthemum plants that have rooted. Those taken last month should have plenty of root lor this purpose now. Use a good, fresh loam artel some coarse sand to keep it open, and a little well rotted manure which has been worked through a quarterinch sieve can be mixed up with it. If you have no old manure use about a pound of pure bone meal (not blood and bone) to every barrowful of soil. Mix all together thoroughly and use fairly dry for potting. Stand the plants in a frame after potting and water them until they begin to stand up and then give plenty of air and sunshine. They are quite hardy and will soon begin to grow again. Anemones, ranunculus, and all narcissus beds must be kept carefully weeded now. If they are gone over fairly often any weeds that are seen can be picked out and carried away to the compost heap. One grower says that for tlio last two years he lias sprayed his beds with lime water every fortnight and lias found that it inis saved his Mowers from the attention ol slugs. All he does is to put a cupful ot burnt lime in a bucket of water and when it lias slaked and settled to the bottom lie stirs it up again, strains the water througn cheese cloth, and sprays round the bulbs with it. fie lias not seen any dead slugs and does not know il it kills them, but what lie does know is that lie has not lost any blooms from their attention.

Upon up the soil as often as possible to allow the air to get into it. Any beds that are being prepared Implanting can be dug over now, and where it is wanted manure can be worked in. if the manure is wet and heavy, leave it in the soil and then it can be forked up when the time comes lor planting. Give the carnation bed a good cleau-up and work some soot and slaked lime mixed in equal proportions round the base of each plant. These plants are lime levers and cannot be grown in a healthy state unless there is plenty in the soil. One of the best things that can be used for them is old mortar scraped from bricks that have oeen m old chimneys for years. Break it up as finely as possible and then pass it through a line sieve before using a handful to each plant. Border or perpetuals can be treated alike in this respect. SHELTER.

Owing to the damage done to shelter by the storm of last February there is urgent need for more trees to he planted. Stock will do much better where they are warm and comfortable during the winter and have a certain amount of shelter from the hot sun during the heat of summer. There are very lew farms indeed in this part of the country that have anywhere near the amount of shelter they need. Those who realise the value of it are trying to get it as fast as possible and are doing really good work in this way. Uulortunatcly, tncy are few and far between. The time is coming, however, when farmers will begin to see that they must have trees to provide them with-shelter and tirowood, and also for fencing posts. Those who aro fortunate enough to have a steady supply of gravel at hand can help themselves by making fencing posts of concrete, hut where gravel has to be carted long distances

the cost of the concrete posts is too great. If they were to give a little thought to the work they would soon sec that they would be able to grow trees in a few spare corners, and once they had the idea they would soon find the value of them. It naturally takes some years before a tree can be cut and used for fencing timber, but when they are grown fairly closely together there are always some which from one reason or another con be cut out and used for firewood o'- any such purpose. Anyone who is contemplating planting must provide adequate protection lrom stock by means of stock-proof fences. A LETTEIt. A friend who has gone to Europe and Etnoaiiu xor a cnajige has been doing the’sights fairly thoroughly. He writes very enttnisiasuically 01 me shows he has'seen in England. Immense affairs lie calls liiem. 'ine CUeJseu was the hist show lie went to, but as it was early in the season the roses were not at their best. However, he has noted some that will be ot use to us later on. lal, a Vermillion pink, was outstanding and will be a beautiful bedding rose. Gurney Bernham, a deep yellow, was very tine, but here he makes the remark that it may have been grown under glass. This is mute likely, because the show was held in the middle ol May in England. Eorna is another of the new ones that took lus fancy. There were two outstanding new reds shown. Crimson Glory, deepest velvety black, showed up well. Wo have I seen this rose and we arc also struck with its shape and form. Gerald Hardy : is a rich scarlet which will be on the > market in the near future, and will I displace all others of a similar colour —at least this is what the raisers say. I Mrs Edward Laston is a vivid old rose shaded gold, with beautiful foilage, and is highly recommended .for bedding purposes Several others are . mentioned such as Caress, Sweetness, Kathleen Mills, and Lorna, and he

.says they are all god blooms. The lot I that look bis fancy most were the | hybrid polyanthus, and lie mentions I Else and Kirsteen Poulsen in large ; masses and making a fine show. Some I others in smaller quantities were Che- ; rie, Van Nes, Elsa Chaplin, Karen Poulsen, and a new one, Anno Poulsen — all splendid. After the Chelsea Show lie travelled |to Aiilsmeer in Holland to see the ' tulips and hyacinths in flower, and I they were really wonderful. No pen jcould describe the beauty. It is here jtliat lilac blooms are forced under glass | lor the cut Mower trade. Packing was |in full swing and it was marvellous to see how rapidly the boxes were packed and dispatched. He mentions, incidentally. that there are 1600 nurserymen in Aalsmeer.

From here lie went on to Belgium and France where lily of the valley was in bloom in the woods, and then hack to England lor bluebell time. A three weeks’ tour of the gardens and nurseries of the South Const of England was then undertaken and the notes of plants and shrubs seen would fill up too much space to put ill here. Later on, he is going to see the North Country and come home via Suez and Australia. By the time lie reaches the boat he thinks that lie will he due for about a month's sleep. Snell tours maybe strenuous, but one has something to look back to and impressions gained may be of use later when planting. One of his hobbies is large trees planted in a park and notes on these are promised later. QUESTIONS.

“Header” says: “We thank you for your notes on pruning, winch were very helpful. One tiling you do not mention is how to prune a standard rose hush. We and our neighbours have several of these and would be very glad if von would tell us what to do. Also, I have a couple of climbing roses growing over an arch and the sides of the arch are quite bare. All the blooms are borne at the top where it is almost impossible to get at them when we want to pick them. How could we clothe the sides of the arch with roses without planting othersi'” The issustration will give you some idea of the pruning required for standard roses. The larger the bushes the

more wood naturally remains. Cut close to the buds with the slope away. In regard to climbers being bare at the bottom the trouble was that the shoots were allowed to go straight up instead ot being bent and tied horizontally backward and forward across the side of the arch. You will notice that all the shoots that are flowering are lying horizontally across the top of the arch. If some of these were taken down carefully they could still he used for the purpose. Begin tying them to the lowest cross piece which in the photograph looks 11s if it was about a foot from the ground, and if you can bend it back and tie it to the next so much the better. Do this until you have shoots tied across the whole space. When a shoot is horizontal growths called laterals will spring from every eye and most of these will carry leaves and flowers. Do not cut too much of the top or you will send the growth up there. Only trim off the laterals. OUR NATIVE PLANTS. A correspondent says: “I am thinking ot planting a. piece of ground between myself and my neighbour with a selection of native shrubs and. plants. We have hud to take an unsightly fence away, or rather it was partly blown away during the big storm, and we have agreed to make a shrubbery of it instead of erecting a new fence. •There is a piece of ground 31 feet wide and on each side a space six feet is to bo reserved for Mowers. The depth of the section is about 120 feet, so we shall have about 22 feet wide to plant. We do not want anything that will grow too tall, but which are hardy a.nd will make a nice plantation. A few cabbage trees will do no harm in the centre, but we would like a list of good shrubbery plants lor the rest. We think it will need about 100.” , j There are plenty ol good native shrubs which you could use for such a shrubbery, such plants as ramaraniu, hoheria, mutipos, mountain totaras and kowliai, scarlet manuka, take akc, rangiora., akerautangi, tai-nui, paper leaf and round the outside veronicas would look very well. A plant or two of Max and you would have a plantation in a few years that would he a joy to see. Most catalogues of native plants will tell you the approximate height to which most of the native plants will grow. THE VEGETABLE GARDEN.

Every opportunity must he taken now to turn over all ground that has a cover crop growing on it to get it ready for planting later on. Where one is using green crops for manuring the garden, the work of digging and turning the green crop in must be done in advance of planting or sowing, or there will be places under the soil like caves. When the green crop has had time to rot down, fork the whole of the soil over and mix tl.\ rotten green stuff with it. When green crops are used artificial manures will be found to do a lot of good, and these can be used when the crops are sown or even after they have come lip. Artificial manures are in a concentrated

form and should not be used ill large quantities—an ounce or two to the square yard is quite enough in most cases, and more than this may do more harm than good. Prepare the ground for early potato planting by digging it over and working in some strawy inairtire or old rotten bay from stack bottoms. When this is done the potato sets can bo put in with a dusting of a potato manure which can bo got specially prepared for the purpose. These manures can he so regulated to give the tubers a good floury look when they are cooked. Peas can he sown, choosing one of the dwnrfer growing kinds, and stake them with nice twiggy sticks as soon ns they come above the ground.