THE GARDEN

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 74, 24 February 1938, Page 15

THE GARDEN

TTotes are published under this beading, 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.

THE FLOWER GARDEN. This month has .. been a very happy one for weeds of all kinds. The light rains have kept the surface moist enough to germinate all weed seeds that were close to the surface. To keep these weeds in check the gardener has had to make use of the iioe, and in many cases it has been better to rake the weeds up and barrow them away to the compost heap or the fire in the case of portulaca, which is getting very bad in some gardens. This weed will continue to ripen seed, even if it is pulled up and turned on its back to dry.

Bulb planting is the order of the day and those who have got choice daffodils should lose no time now in getting them into the . ground. When these flowers are being grown for show purposes they require a long looting season. If the beds for them have not been prepared, do this at once. Daffodils are not partial to maplire of any kind, although a little pure bone flour worked into the lower part of the soil does them good, but we do not advise any gardener to plant his bulbs on fresh manure of any kind. Anemones and ranunculus tubers can be put in at any time now. A certain amount of well rotted manure will help them as long as it is put out of reach of the tuber. We have found that it is better to plant these tubers in clean fresh sand, and to this end a drill about three inches deep is drawn and about an inch of sand is put along the bottom, and the tuber is planted in this with a little more of the sand used to cover it. The earth can then be drawn over it and the tubers will soon show above the soil. There are somo verv fine strains of these plants to be hail now and the very best only should be planted. Some of the early flowered gladiolus conns will be ready for lifting now. Take each variety up as soon as the foliage begins to turn yellow and put them in shallow boxes to dry. They can remain in the sun for a day or two, but after this they should be taken into an open shed, where they can remain until they are dry enough to clean up and have the outer husks removed.' By removing these Lusks you will find that they are freer from blight than when they are left on. QUESTIONS. “A Reader” says: " “By a recent mail from England I have received word that a friend is sending me a dozen carnations called Cottage Garden type. I cannot find anything about them in catalogues and would like to know how to prepare the soil for them. Any information you can give will be thankfully received.” We do not know whether any of this type of carnation has reached these shores yet, but we have been told that they are perfectly hardy and have a very long blooming season. The typo is a new introduction by Messrs Allwood, the well-known carnation specialists, who began a search of England, Scotland and Wales for some of the old varieties which, although they do not come up to the present day exhibition standards, are splendid cut flowers and good in the garden. M. C. Allwood, in introducing these plants, says: “Recognising that the desire for show types was degenerating the quality of the carnation as a garden flower and which would mean that only those who wanted show blooms would grow them, we began collecting all the hardy types we could get. We did not bother much about colour or form, but sought plants of a good hardy constitution. One old variety that dominated the lot was Rifleman, a variety with brick red flowers. Another variety we got was Red Braes, from Scotland, and of course the old Crimson. Clove. From these we set to work to build up the new Cottage type with the result that some have gained the highest awards at Wisley against the keenest competition. They are of easy culture as long as they • are grown in a sunny position and the soil »for them is well drained, and there .must be plenty of lime in the soil. Make up a slightly raised bed and work in either good, well-rotted turf or some good, old cow manure, and if the soil is heavy some sharp sand; at all times lime must be given freely. Old mortar scraped from bricks is good and can be used round them when they are planted. Layering is the best method of propagating. They are dwarfer in stature than the true Border varieties, but will find them splendid garden plants.

HYDRANGEAS. The old fashioned plan of cutting hydrangea plants to the ground lias had to give way to the newer method of cutting out .the old wood and leaving the new wood' entirely alone, the adoption of this method means that there are young shoots every year to carry a crop of flowers. Hydrangeas have not been, at their best tins season. In some cases the late frost in October caught the plants in bud and destroyed the flowers then. those which did not get frosted in many cases have suffered from the dry weather during October and November. However, if they are pruned now and a liberal supply of manure forked in round them they will have a chance to grow before the cold weather comes along. Fowl manure is a splendid thing for them, but should not be used too heavily; about a shovelful to a good strong plant is quite enough. Fork it in with the-other manure, and if the weather should be dry give the plants a good soaking to start the manure working. There are very few gardens where these plants are not crown —they are universal favourites and make a good show over a long seaS ° n " SWEET PEA CULTURE.

Sweet peas can be grown in almost any kind of garden soil providing that the soil is deeply worked and some manure added to the lower portions. When sweet peas are grown for exhibition purposes they must nave strong, rigid stems, with large flowers on top. To get. these the grower must prepare his soil betoie sowing his seeds. Work on the principle that the better the land is prepared the better the crop will be. it may mean some work to begin with, but the results will justify the trouble in the end. The whole secret in growing them well is deep culture, with manure worked up with the soil and well mixed into it, and sufficient drainage from the bottom to allow the surplus water to get away quickly. The kind of manure that is used is immaterial as long as it is well rotted and mixed in with the soil. When the trenching and manuring are finished the surface should have a good dressing of airslaked lime. We prefer this lime, because it is quicker acting than the ground limestone, but at the same time, if the ground can be prepared two months in advance of sowing or planting, the latter would be , quite good. The trench should be long enough to take all the plants you intend to grow at a foot apart. April is the best month to sow the seed, but the trench should be prepared in

March, and as early as possible to allow it time to sink and consolidate. Keep the surface well cultivated until the seed is sown or the plants are set out. There are two schools of thought in reference to seed sowingone which plants direct into the ground where they are to grow and the other which believes in raising the plants in pots and transferring them to the ground when they are five or six inches high. We have tried to determine the merits of the two ideas, but have found the results to be. identical. The pot method lias one advantage over sowing in situ and that is that slugs and other troubles do not begin until the plants are set out. Small brushwood can be used while the plants are in pots to keep them from flopping over sideways. When the seeds are sown where they are to grow they must be carefully watched and guarded against slugs and birds until they’get strong enough to look after themselves. The sweet pea is an annual which lends itself to a high _ state of cultivation during its growing and flowering period. Even though the soil has been heavily manured for it a lot can be done by using an artificial fertiliser during the growing period and a liquid manure when the first blooms have set. A mixture can be made up with two parts of potash, four of superphosphate, one of sulphate of iron, and two parts of bone flour. This is dusted along the row and is well worked into the soil about once a fortnight. One ounce of the mixture to four yards of length is quite heavy enough. When liquid manure is to be used soot is one tiling that should be used right through. Never use fowl manure except in very limited quantiles on backward plants. Cow or sheep is the best animal manure to use with the soot. Both can be used at the same time if one likes.

THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. The humid weather experienced lately will, no doubt, bring a certain amount of trouble with it. One gardener who lias a nice crop of potatoes has shown us some stems attacked with blight and we advised him to spray at once witli the bluestone and soda spray. From what he tells us now we think the course of the blight has been definitely arrested. The same thing has happened with a crop of tomatoes, but here we advise another spraying about ten days after the first. For a small crop such as that grown in an ordinary garden a quarter of a pound of bluestone can be dissolved in a glass jar and then put into two gallons of water in a wooden tub. At the same time a quarter of a pound of washing soda can be dissolved in two gallons of water and this can be poured into the bluestone solution and well stirred, and it is then ready for use. It will not keep, so use at once. This spray will save the crop.

All seedling weeds must be checked as soon as it is dry enough to work the soil. When the surface soil is kept as moist as it has been lately it is inevitable that seedling weeds will come in large quantities and unless they are checked they will soon spoil the garden. If the ground is not wanted immediately sow it down in a cover crop for digging in later on. The humus content of the soil must be kept up if it is wanted to grow good stuff. When the humus gets worked out the productivity of the soil soon disappears. The onion crop is ripening off now and should be taken up and stored as soon as possible. Take the bulbs out of the ground and lay them on their sijjes to dry, and as soon as they can be cleaned up take them into a dry, airy shed. Wirenetting shelves are excellent to store them on, because the air can circulate all round them. There are very few crops that can be sown or planted now, except tur-: nips of a yellow fleshed variety and winter spinach. This is a very valuable crops to grow and should be sown in well prepared and manured ground. These plants are stronger growers than the summer kind and require more space to grow in. Thin them out to from eight to twelve inches apart.