GARDEN NOTES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 95, 20 March 1940, Page 7

GARDEN NOTES

Pansies are always appreciated in the garden, and a bed for them can bo made up now. They dike an open ■sunny position and fairly heavy soil, which must be well drained so that the soil docs not become water-logged. Cow manure is the best that one can use, and the older and more broken up it is the better. Dig the ground deeply and mix the cow manure with the surface soil. Get tho plants set out as soon as possible in the autumn, as it is imperative that they get wellrooted before tho winter comes on. If ‘ any of the plants show a tendency to flower early in the season the first flowers should be nipped out, and then the plants will have a chance to grow strong before spring flowering. There are some plants that do better when they arc taken up and divided in the autumn and replanted at once, but unless those have been in the same position for four or live years they sliould not be disturbed. Lilt the plants carefully from the soil and wash as much of the earth away as you can without breaking the roots. By doing this you can easily distinguish the eyes of the plants and cut them so that each root has one or moro eyes on it. AVlien they are planted the ground should be deeply dug; give it a good quantity of well-rotted manure, which can be worked up with the top soil. The polyanlha-primroscs should he cleaned up and given a dressing of blood and bone, which should be worked into the soil so tlna.t the roots can get the benefit of it as soon as they begin to grow. During the last few years wonderful strides have been made with the colours and length of stalk of these plants, and they last in flower as long as they .can get enough moisture to keep them growing. Continue to plant Iceland poppies, anemones and ranunculus. Tulips can also be planted, but if you. are not ready next month will do as well. Tho main thing at the present time is to get the soil into good form by digging and breaking up the surface very fine. Have a good supply of sand on band

to place along the bottom of the drills for the base of the bullw to rest on. Continue tying and staking chrysanthemums, and they can be given liquid manure until the buds l>egin to show colour; after this, if the plants are given liquid manure, they are liable to begin damping off, and this is very hard to stop. Caterpillars are getting busy amongst chrysanthemums and dahlias, and steps must be taken to stop them before they do any damage. One of the safest methods is to spray the plants with arsenate of lead. The under sides of the leaves should be given as much attention as the upper sides, and some sticky substance should be used ini tho spray to make it stick to tho leaves. QUESTIONS.

“Dahlias” says: “We were very much interested in tho dahlias at the show held here recently, but were rather at a loss to understand the classification of the small ones which we were told were miniature dahlias. These varieties we have been in the habit of calling ‘charms,’ but this name seems to have disappeared, and the plants are all divided up. We would like to know how to distinguish the different types. Could you give us a selection of about half a dozen of each ?”—Those dahlias which in other times have been called charms are divided into three sections. The first we shall deal with are known as miniature cactus. These flowers are small varieties of the wellknown cactus varieties, but they must not be more than five inches in diameter when they are well-grown. The! following are good specimens of this class of plant: Ivory, white; Piccanny, very dark maroon; Mia, red; Tip, yellow,; Little Darling, pink; j Little Jenny, pink; and Sandara, another deeper pink. The miniature de- - coratives are small varieties of the!

q larger decoratives and, again, are not ■ more than five inches across: RoyI alty, purple; AV'illy van Ouden, red B with yellow base to the petals; Zaza, H a deep purple; Blossom Time, yellow 9 shaded red; Bobbie Breen and Ria a [will make' up a good six. The minia- | ture paeonies are small specimens of I the older, Larger varieties. They all I have open centres. Bishop of Llani doff is a 'well-known variety, and I others that are good are Placid, Sarah i Peach, Mabel Smith, Mabel Morgan, 9 and Saturn. | “Manuring” says: “You have said I that potash is necessary to rose growj ers to keep their plants free of mildew. I have tried to get this stuff, but have been told that it is not procurable. Is there anything else that I can use for the same purpose?”— Potash does not have any effect on fungus. It does, however, make the plant stronger and gives it a greater chance to resist disease of any kind. It makes them glow better and, therefore, they are able to resist attacks.

I Wood ashes will have a certain amount of potash in it and should never be wasted. We would advise you to go on with green cover crops and dig them in as soon as they are ready. In all cases of digging crops into the ground some time must elapse before a crop is put in. This precaution is 4, to a 1 low time for the green crop to - rot down, and then it can be mixed 0! into the soil. The action of the soil j on green manures can be increased by f using lime on the land. Linio is al- | ways necessary in the vegetable garden, but there arc 6ome subjects : grown in the flower garden to which lime is almost a poison. When using ashes care should bo taken not to use any coal ashes' in the mixture. There arc a few varieties of coal which could £ be .safely used, but they are few, and ! | as far as wo know none of them con- - 1 tains any potash. Some varieties of ! wood have a larger percentage than I others, and upon this will depend the 3 amount of wood ashes to bo used. 8 “J.AV.Ii.” says: “Some of my dabI Jins have thin stems this year. They ; I arc in good, well-manured soil, have 9 had plenty of water, but are planted j I rather close together. Could you give I ( j mo a reason for the thin stems?”—L ; This season has been a somewhat sunless one, and as the plants are close j [ together they have run up. They have ■ also had too much water, which has S caused them to be "soft. I f the season bad been a dry one with plenty of t sun it is more than, probable that tho close planting would not have affect- - ed them so much. * “Peas” says: “I planted pea seed f some time in the end of November last, n.nd the seed did not come up too 1 well. The few that came through grew -* rather tall and gave me a few good £ 1 pods, and then some others came r through and, in. spite of the 11 wet weather, they were rather °. dwarf, and the pods were short and badly filled. J. would y like to know the reason for this peculiar behaviour.”—AVe cannot say what is wrong with your peas. The seed may have been mixed, which, in some manner will account for the dif- -r ference in growth and also for the dif- J ference in the size of tho pods. Old ] 0 seed may have been - mixed in with f r tho new, which would in some ways be responsible for the erratic behaviour of the plants. Ono of the most pleasing features ' about a- home garden Si a well made

'and kept lawn. It is the real foundation of a good garden, and around it and in it can be made beds and borders for growing the plants you favour. The autumn is the best time of the year to sow grass seed. When sown early enough the roots can get a firm hold and will withstand the cold weather of winter, and when they get a good hold in the autumn they will increase so much that the heat of summer does not affect them. Very often when lawns are made the soil is very badly prepared. If you want a good lawn it is not enough to scratch the surface and sow the seed. The soil should bo deeply dug, or even branching is better, and if the soil is at all on the wet side it must be drained; field tiles are the most useful for this purpose. These should be put below the greatest depth to which it is intended to dig. Drainage does not mean that the soil is depleted of moisture, but only that the surplus -water is taken away. Drained soil is warmer in winter and cooler in summer than ground which is not drained. In heavy soils lime is useful, and should bo spread over tho surface at tho rato of one pound to the square yard. When the soil is poor some manure can bo worked in, and probably superphosphate spread over tho soil at tho rate of three or four ounces to the square yard. Work this into tho surface, and the seed may then

f be sown if it is thought fit to do so. - If it is not thought fit to sow the i seed, then allow the surface to rest, ■ and allow the weed seeds in the surface to germinate. When this hapi pens, hoe tho surface of the soil and f rake the weeds away. By that time it i may be too late to sow seed, and the i weeds will grow again and can be checked again. When sowing the seed , about bait' an ounce of a good lawn l mixture is enough to cover a square ■ yard. Some growers use perennial rye > in their mixtures, but as a rule it is ' one of the hardest grasses of the lot ;to cut. There are plenty of good grasses that are easy to cut and will make ia good. sward. Clover will appear in every lawn that is treated with lime, but unless the area is. to be used as a tennis court clover will do no harm and will look fresh and green during the driest weather. The question of whether a lawn roller should be used after the seed has been sown is one that gardeners will never properly agree about; some use it, and others believe that the rolling should be left until the grass seed comes up. We are inclined to agree with this way of thinking, and simply rake the grass seed lightly into the ground. Herbaceous perennials are important plants in any garden and the proper ! time for planting many of them concerns them greatly. Many of them can be divided and replanted now with a good chance of success. Make an

overhaul of the plants that are growing in the herbaceous borders, and any that have finished flowering can be divided and replanted now. One of the most important factors when putting these plants in the ground is to see that the soil is deeply worked and that plenty of well-rotted manure is worked into it. When making a new border or renovating one dig the soil deeply, adding a liberal dressing of manure to the surface. If some can he spared to mix with the clay, plenty of good, strawy stuff will make a great deal of difference to the drainage of the sub-soil and will also provide food for roots that go deeply into the soil. There are many of the herbaceous plants that arc surface rooters only, and, therefore, the surface should lie manured at will. When there is plenty of humus in the soil artificial manures can be used to advantage. As a general rule it is not safe to use too much lime in the flower garden because there are certain plants that do not like too much lime

in the soil, and if there are shrubs in it as well it is a good plan to ascertain first of all whether they are lime-lovers or not. Of course, where there are trees and shrubs the manuring will do them good as well. The splendid exhibits of vegetables mentioned in these columns have not been a flash in the pan. Reports from other shows all mention the same thing and say that vegetables have been the strongest and best seen for years. This state of affairs is very gratifying to those who have been trying to increase the growing of vegetables in the home garden. Two show committees who have sent reports i.n said that they had so many entries in this class that their space was taxed to the utmost and that many of them had to be accommodated outside, some in the open and some in tents. Masterton, where there is generally a fair entry, had to find three times the amount if space. Ohingaiti report entries doming to hand in large quantities.

Rata had a splendid collection, all of well-grown and well got-up stulf. Foretell showed what their soil was capable of producing in no uncertain manner. All this‘is very good work and we are pleased to receive the reports, some of which say that oar notes have helped them in the good work. Those who have a garden frame or two to spare should try a crop of lettuces under glass. It is very easy to raise the soil in a frame and give it a good manuring, and the plants can he set out in this, and when the colder weather comes on the glass ea.ii he used to keep the frost away from the,

plants. Heavy rains can be stopped from battering the plants down. Liquid can bo given and in a short time you will have beautiful lettuces to use. At this time of the year all vegetables that, have readied maturity should be taken under cover and stored for winter use. Such tilings as carrots and beet will split if they are left out in the wet, and they are easily stored in boxes of sand and will not lose their flavour for a long time. Onions can either he strung up or kept on shelves in a well-aired shed, j Potatoes are ready for lifting in most j eases and these can be stored in boxes;

of dry sand, This prevents them from being attacked by the potato moth. When they are covered up with sand this moth cannot get at them. Marrows can ho cut and taken inI side as soon as they are ready, but pumpkins should be left as long as possible on the vines to ripen up. In the ease of early frosts coming it i# a good plan to have some hav or straw handy to cover them with. Give winter rhubarb a good mulching of manure and either fork it lightly into the soil or cover it with soil from the side paths. Tliis serves io keep it moist and it does not lose any of its inanuri®! qualities.