THE GARDEN

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 276, 20 October 1938, Page 19

THE GARDEN

Notes are published under this heading 1 , 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.

The drier weather experienced this month lias given gardeners a chance to kill a few weeds and to break up the surface of th'e ground, which was getting badly cracked in places, especially where the soil was on the heavy side. Keep the hoe going, and do not allow the surface to crack up, and then plants will have a chance to grow in spite of the heavy, winds that generally come along at this time of the year. Delphinium plants are doing well, but it is necessary to see that the,tall succulent growths are staked and tied before they are broken down. Staking and tying is an. easy matter, but it takes some care and trouble to hide the stakes as they are put in. A little practice will help a lot. Make a new violet bed and get the plants put in as soon as possible, Violets like a deep, well-manured soil and the best manure to use is well-rotted cow manure that has been stacked up for some time. This will keep the moisture in the soil, and the plants should do well. Unless the bod is kept clean and free from weeds during the • season these plants will not give the best resultsDuring the dry, hot weather they are liable to attacks by thrips and red spider, but a spraying or two with lime-sulpliur will keep this down to a certain extent.

Finish- planting out chrysanthemums as soon as you can now. These plants require a long season of growth, and the earlier they are put into the ground the better it is for them. Plant firmly and allow enough room between the plants -for staking. Gladioli conns can be put in at any time this month. The best plan when making a garden bed of them is to plant in rows so that they can be staked singly. It does not matter how they are put in, because they all cannot be made to face one way. Plant clean corms only ; diseased corms are useless and should be burnt as soon as they are seen. The dahlia bed can be got ready for planting now. These plants like a good, rich soil that is not deficient in lime. If the ground has not been limed lately give it a good dressing now and work it into the surface before planting. Farmyard manure is better than artificials for dahlias, but later on when the plants arc beginning to flower a little super and potash will help them along well. Whether tubers or green plants are put in, the procedure is the same; that is, put the stake in first and set the plant at the foot of it so that it can be tied as it grows. ROSES. The following is taken from a letter received from a visitor to England: “When I got here the rose shows were beginning, and naturally I went to sop them whenever it was possible The blooms were good, hut tne colours were wonderful. There seems to be something in this ‘little old England of ours’ that adds tone and colour to roses which we lack in New Zealand. I was such a frequent visitor to the various shows that it mas only natural that I should meet enthusiasts, and I am very glad I did, because I have learnt many things that are not read of in books and papers, and I had; no idea of the immense trade that is carried on by rose growers -all over the country. Another thing that I did not know anything about was the keenness that is taken in cross-fertili-sation and the thousands of people who go in for this class of recreation, I believe every grower of roses here has a dream of one day raising something good—something the world will acclaim to the skies. Rosa moyesii seedlings are to be seen everywhere, to mention one that is largely used. Rosa rugosa is another that is creating new varieties, and 1 am sure sonie of _ them will be heard of later. I think a lot of the man or woman who can g° on year after year looking for the ideal in anything, and this is what many of them are doing. ' The best plants are saved and new crosses are being raised from them. 1 was told by one man that some of the Continental growers arc going in for the same kind of thing, and that some of them have already been put on the market. This is a mistake, because these first crosses very seldom turn out to be much good. My informant said that it was wellknown that the late Pernet-Ducher always said that he was sorry lie ever let any of these first-generation roses out of his hands, and instanced the results he attained later by sejf-pollinisation or further crosses. Much of this work is being done under glass in this country, and I am sure . that you in New Zealand, or gardeners iip Australia, could do a lot more by ripening the seeds outside in the open air- One thing I was told was that the old method of stratifying the hips in sand had. gone in favour of cleaning the 6eed of all pulp before' it was sown-. 1 6aw a number of seeds that were being prepared for shipment to South Africa, or rather to Kenya Colony, where roses are said to grow well. They were nice, bright seeds and each variety was put into a paper bag with the crosses stated. These are sent )>.v air mail and ar-

rive in a few days before they have a chance to dry out. (So far no results have been noted, but the consignee in

a letter said that the previous season’s seed had all done well and that he had six hundred plants to try out. Some were remarkable for the vigour they showed. In one case he was raising his own seeds this season and had already got four plants up, You will find a few second-generation seeds in this letter. HARDY ANNUALS. When one wants to make a good display in the garden during summer and autumn there aro a lot of plants one can grow from seed sown in the open ground and cither thinned out and replanted elsewhere or left to grow where the seed has been sown. The great trouble about the latter idea is that few amateur gardeners can see that, unless they thin the plants out to a proper distance apart they will not do any good. They seem to think that by leaving them close together they are going to cover the ground quicker and have a larger display. Some of the showy plants that can be sown now are asters, cosmos, French and African marigolds and the calendulas, also zinnias. When sowing in the open ground make up a bed with plonty of sharp sand in the surface to give it a nice, silky feel. Sow the seeds in shallow drills and cover for a day or two with a piece of scrim or hessian to stop rapid evaporation. . Another thing about using some material like this is that it will stop heavy rains from making the surface hard and crusty. As soon as the. seedlings begin to appear the covers must be removed to allow them to grow strong. and hardy. There is one thing about seedlings raised in the open ground and that is that they do not require to be hardened off before they are planted out. When the young plants are large enough to be handled give them a good soaking with water, which will allow them to come out with their roots intact, and transfer them at once to where they are wanted; another watering, and they will soon bo well established. Then the work of hoeing begins. Even if no weeds are to bo seen in the beds it is necessary to keep the hoe going all the time to get a nice soil mulch on top of the bed and between the plants. A light dusting of some such manure as biood and bone will give them a start into life, but it must not be used in great quantities. or the plants will get too much and will die. One ounce to the square yard should be quite enough for a start. ' . Fine seeds such as petunias, celestas and so on should always be raised in a box of fine soil and pricked out into other boxes as soon as they are large enough to handle. While the seeds are germinating, cover the boxes with a sheet of paper to conserve moisture, but as soon as they show up remove this, or they will become drawn and weak. QUESTIONS. “M.A.C.” says: “I have been burying orange skin and grated carrot after the juice has be.en extracted, thinking it would nourish the ground, but have been told that it will do more harm than good. Is this,so? Also , what is the best artificial manure that will suit most flowers?” As far ns we know orange skins will do no harm to the soil; our compost heap gets all that we have, and we are great believers in any ground that is treated with this stuff. It always seems to grow better plants and last better than soil that is treated with ordinary • farmyard stuff. The grated carrots would do no harm to any soil. They would simply rot away and become a soft mass. The best artificial manure to use for flowers will depend a great deal on the soil that it is used on. For instance, there are no artificial manures, that are any good in land that is devoid of humus, and there are none that will take the place of this, hut given humus in the soil, blood and bone will increase the growth of soft-wooded plants, and will improve the flowering, but with hard-wooded plants such as roses, etc., potash and superphosphate are better to use. In all cases > plants need nitrogen, phosphate and potash, but in very few cases is it necessary to use any of them with a lavish hand.

! ‘R.C.” says: “Please find a daphne plant enclosed. I have tried to grow one several times and they always go off in the same way. The ground is certainly heavy, but I have made up this place with sand, wood ashes, and some well-rotted cow manure. Can you tell me what is wrong? This is the third plant that has died.” Your ground is very wet and sour, and we are sure that the main cause of failure is too much moisture coming in contact, with the stuff you have used and then penetrating the ball of earth round the roots of the plant. These roots are all rotten, and you would be lucky indeed if you got any plant to grow under the same conditions. In the first place we would advise drainage a» being essential to success, and this drainage should he well-down underneath the soil, say, at least two feet from the surface. When the drainage is in place remove all the material you hare put ill and .fill the hole with good, clean sods without an manure, 4 little sharp sand, clioped into the sods, will .assist drainage .blit do not use any manure until the plant is established. Your idea that wood ashes would lighten the soil may... he alright in some cases, but in wet, heavy soils it would have'the opposite effect. ! THE VEGETABLE GARDEN.

Prepare ground for sowing runner beans by deep digging and working in plenty of manure. As'long as’the soil is fairly dry the seed can be planted about the end' of this month, hut some gardeners prefer to put a seed in a pot and plant it opt when it is about a foot high. No doubt they gain a little ill this way, but the best way to grow runner beans is to have a permanent row. They are true perennial plants and they last from year to year; we know of one row the owner has had for ten years; and it is still giving beans of good quality, and plenty of them. Sow all kinds of vegetables m the open now, including salsify, carrots, parsnips, beet and spinach. Phpnt Ihc main crop of potatoes, giving tue drills a good dressing of potash manure. There is far too little notice taken of flavour in potatoes. Many visitors to our shores say that we do not consider flavour as being necessary, but in some cases there are gardeners who clo talie notice of this and try to grow their potatoes so that they are worth eating. Tbp so-called; Now. Zealand spinach, which is not a spinach at all, but is used in the same way, should be sown now, after the seed has been soaked in hot water overnight- It requires at least four feet to grow in, and when planted this distance apart it will soon cover the ground. The leaves and ends of the shoots arc used, and as thp plants are rapid growers the 'shoots ■ and; leaves must be picked fairly often. Keep the

surface of the' onion bed well-worked and scratch the, soil away from the bulbs as they grow to allow them room to spread. If the soil is earthed up around them they will often become thick-necked. Leek seed should be sown in drills now so that it will be ready for transplanting about Christmas time. Seed of savoy and other winter plants that can he sown now should be got in at ~once. Brussel sprouts are plants for a cold climate, but still with a little care they pan be grown in wellmanured soils that can he given water as required. The trouble is the white butterfly, which will take a very heavy .toll of them unless it is kept down by spraying and dusting. The high price of cabbages this spring will show what a pest like this can do for the country. Sow celery and coleriac seed in boxes, and prick the plants out as spon as they aro large enough. J