THE GARDEN

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 121, 21 April 1938, Page 15

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 answers will be published with the weekly notes.

THE FLOWER GARDEN. If the sweet pea seed has not already been sown, got it in as soon as possible now. The ground is still warm and it should germinate very quickly. It does not matter whether the seed is to be sown in the open ground or in pots, put it in just the same. Of course, it the site for sowing/in the open has not already been prepared it is much better to sow in pots and then proceed with the outside work. Two or . three seeds can l>e planted in a five-inch pot, and when the plants are about four or five inches high they can be transferred to the open ground. The main thing to remember is to give the plants at least a foot of ropm. We have repeatedly seen plants grown so close together that they have not had room and consequently the crop of flowers has been poor and the season of flowering very short, but give them room and they will last for a considerable length of time as long as the flowers are picked before the seed pods are formed. * Gladiolus corms should be lifted now that the plants have finished flowering. Take them up carefully with a fork and put each variety separately in an open box to dry and when they are dry remove the outer husks and the young cormlets, and still keep them exposed to the air in a dry shed. Many conns are lost every year through keeping them closed up in airtight receptacles. The cormlets, if required, can be kept in paper bags until the spring, or they can be sown at once if the land they are to be put

in is clean. * Plant out anemones and ranunculus tubers in good fresh soil now. In many gardens these plants are already making good growth, but it is not too late to make another plantation which will bloom after the last lot have finished. Plant out Iceland poppies and winter flowering marigolds in sheltered places. Flowers of anything are acceptable in the .winter, but these are always wanted, and when they are well-established they can be relied upon to give flowers. Violets should be beginning to send up flowers now, and some blood and bone or one of the best fish manures sprinkled between the rows and forked in will be a great help to them. One grower when speaking about this a few days ago. said that he found it a great help to the plants to water the manure m at once and that the effect was noticeable in a few days. If primroses and polyanthus have not been planted they should be put in as. soon as possible They like a soil that has been manured some, time previously, but if this has not been done give them a dusting of blood and bone, which will help them. The best situation for these plants is one that gets the early morning sun and is shaded in the afternoon. When you have this you have an ideal place. Auriculas, or “dusty millers” as they are often called, can be grown in the same kind of situation. They like plenty of lime or mortar rubbish put into the soil. Carnation beds should have a good dressing of lime now, and this should be repeated every fortnight during the winter months. The best lime for them is slaked lime, and it can be kept in a special tin with some holes in the lid to allow it to be easily sprinkled on the plants. '' Treat both the border and perpetual varieties in the same way. The winter flowering perpetuals can be limed and a cover put over them to keep the heavy rains away. Some sashes from frames can he used for this purpose. No sides are needed but simply an overhead covering. Dust lime on and around the plants in the same way as recommended for the others. A ROSE LETTER.

A correspondent says : “It has been my fortunate experience to attend a conference of some rose growers who met together owing to the kindness of one of the leading figures in that city. To one who has been hovering on the outskirts of the rose growing world for a long time it was a real eyeopener to me. These men had made a study of the thing from the beginning, and, although * they were very modest about their knowledge, there was a lot that gave food for thought. Altogether, there were ten present and two were from overseas, one being an American and the other from England. A well-known rosarian was voted to the and the .discussion was begun by picking the best 12 varieties. I must say that they were varied, but each man kept liis own paper and gave his reasons for his selection. Only two roses were in all the papers, and they were Golden Dawn and Betty Uprichard ; Shot Silk was third only. However, it would take up too much of your space to give the whole of the discussion. Soils were next treated, and the general consensus of opinion was that deep digging was essential, but they have given up the idea of burying all the manure in the bottom, preferring to use it for topdressing afterwards. Bonemeal was one of the main things for digging in and although all had not tried it, they were convinced that it was a good artificial to use in the lower stratas. One thing that was acknowledged was that potash in some form was an absolute necessity. Sulphate of potash was the most favoured material, and this was used three or four times a year during the growing season. It can be used to the greatest advantage when the soil is moist

enough to start it working. If these conditions do not come naturally then the plants should be watered immediately. It becomes fixed in the soil and is* not easily washed away. Two or three of the growers gave their experiences since they began to use potash and it was found that they all agreed that much good had been derived from its use. The next thing to be discussed was pruning, and here some cut long and some shorter, but all were of the opinion that more plants were ruined through bad pruning than from any other cause. As to whether it would be possible co bring them back again there was a diversity of opinion. This would depend on the length of time they had been under improper treatment.. My own view was that with attention to manuring and spraying, this could be done, and this brought us to the need for spraying. The winter spray theory was not held by all, but they were prepared to admit that conditions varied so much that it was quite possibly a good thing to do. The advance of white scale was ruining many good plants and it was necessary. to check this at once, especially where it was going from bush to bush. Some varieties are immune from this trouble, but there are many that are not, and it will not hurt to spray the whole lot, even if some of them are clean. The most favoured spray for this work was lime sulphur, and it could be used fairly strongly. The advantage of using this was that it would kill any spores of fungus it came in contact with, Unfortunately, at this time it was getting late and, although there were many more things we could have discussed,'it was decided to leave them until some future date.”

We thank our correspondent for his interesting letter and hope that when the next meeting takes place he will place the proceedings on record, because it is discussions like these that are helpful and would assist many growers over trying periods. QUESTIONS. “J.H.8.” : “Would you kindly let me know if boronias will stand up alright against heavy frosts, and if they need any manure ? 'I wish to buy one but am undecided on account of frosts.” Boronias are .perfectly hardy and will stand up to all or any of the frosts that we get in this part of the country. What worries these plants more than anything else are red spider and tlirips, but these can be controlled by spraying with “black leaf 40” according to directions Leaf mould or well rotted cow manure will do them a. lot of good if worked into thp soil round them, but no fresh manure should be allowed to come into contact with the young roots! A good sandy frtat is an ideal soil to grow them in. “Chinese Gooseberry” says: “I wish you would tell me how to grow these plants to make them fruit. I have six plants which have grown well, but so far have not fruited. Do they need pruning and, if so, what system would you adopt? I am told that they are heavy croppers.” . These plants are dioecious, that is to say the male and female flowers are borne on separate plants, and until you decide which you have, or whether you have both, we cannot tell you when they are going to fruit. They usually begin about the third or fourth year, and once they have begun they will crop heavily. If you look at the illustration you will have some idea of what the flowers are like, and you will also see that the fruit is borne on short spurs of new wood which come from the main shoots or branches. Some .sort of pruning must be done, or the growths will become so ma.tted and intertangled that the shoots will get no light at all and the crop will naturally suffer.

ACTINIDIA CHINENSIS. A. —Male flower, showing stamens. B. —Female flower, showing embryo fruit. C. —A cluster of fruit hanging on a lateral. The fruit are covered with short brown hairs.

The best way to grow them is over a pergola six or seven feet high, covered with coarse sheep netting. The branches are laid across the top and the fruit will hang through or if it does not they are easily reached through the coarse mesh of the netting. If you find you have got all female plants one male will'be enough to supply pollen for the lot. In one case we know of a grower has all female plants, but another grower on the opposite side of the road has both, and the bees or wind, or both, carry the pollen over and fertilise the female flowers, giving a very fine crop; but even here we think it would be better to’get a. male plant and put it in with the others. THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. There is a chance that a frost may como at anytime now, and' it would be just as well to gather all pumpkins and marrows, and get them under cover at once. Any that are not quite ripe may be used at once,' but the ripe ones can be stored for a long time. When putting them away do not store them one on top of another or the weight may bruise them. Potatoes can be dug as soon as the tops die down; if they are left in the ground after the rain they are liable to shoot again. This spoils their keeping qualities. Harvest all late crops of onions, and any that may be too ypung to keep can used at once. Onions at the present time are a good price and from what we liaye been told they will keep up in price for some time to come. Either make them into ropes or

store them on wirenetting shelves. All vacant ground should be worked over and sown down with some cover crop for the winter. This not only adds humus to the soil when the cover crop is dug in, but it also stops the heavy rain from battering the soil do\vn hard. It must always be remembered that heavy soils are more liable to close the surface holes than light soils, and this stops the air from penetrating. The rain when it sinks into' the soil carries air with it and the soil bacteria working on this turn it into nitrates for the use of plants of all kinds. Any manure that you may have available now can be wheeled out and dug into any vacant ground before the cover crop is put on. It will not be lost and will have a chance to rot down before it is required for next season’s crop. It should always be remembered when dealing with fresh manure of any kind that it is of no immediate value until it is rotted or turned into humus. This applies more to sheep manure than to any other, and it can be safely said that it takes a.t least a year before it is wholly available for the soil water to take up the various ingredients it holds. The complaint that it holds too many weed seeds is often made, but what if it does? The soil has to be hoed and the more often this is done the better it is for the crops a.nd the small seedling weeds are killed in infancy. Any weed that can be turned in before it perpetuates its kind by means of ripe seeds will help the soil to retain its fertility, but when allowed to ripen veeds it takes a lot out of the soil in the process.