GARDEN & FIELD

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6866, 22 March 1929, Page 4

GARDEN & FIELD

Routine Work. Witli welcome showers all garden work may bo pushed on and every effort should bo made to plant and sow as quickly as possible. Delphiniums are throwing up the second crop of flowering spikes. An occasional deluge of liquid manure will be of great assistance to them. Mulching with strawy manure will be found a great help if liquid manuring is out of the question. Decayed straw manure is especially good on heavy soils for the sweet-pea trench in that it helps keep the soil open. Watch the chrysanthemums for fungus disease. Fungus attacks the underside of the lower leaves and assumes the form of rusty brown rings which increase and spread until the foliage

goes off entirely as if scorched by fire, A spraying of black leaf 40 is usually effective. Rust is another disease which is very similar in character to fungus, but is chiefly caused through •over-crowding, whereas fungus will appear in the best regulated gardens, Sow seeds of hardy annuals, perennials, and sweet-peas. Prepare and manure all plots ready for reception of the above plants. Push on with the planting of bulbs. Make efforts to prolong the beauty of the garden at this season by caring well for all plants during the trying period. y 'The leaf mining weevil often attacks cinerarias during the autumn months. If present spray with a solution of quassia chips or black leaf 40. See that the undersides of the leaves are wetted.

Prune back pelargoniums and gonaritms, and pot up any required for indoor blooming. Sow schizanthus for pot culture for winter blooming.

Vegetable Garden. Pinch off the tips of all tomato growths to enable the fruit already formed to ripen before the winter. Cut off all useless side shoots. Keep pumpkins, marrows, cucumbers, etc., well supplied with moisture and liquid manure. The melon family quickly show signs of distress in dry weather. Continue sowing suitable autumn seeds. . , Plant out leek and celery plants. These late plantings often produce the finest roots in eases whore watering facilities are not to hand. Sow winter spinach any time during the month.

Keep runner beans well picked. Even if only a few dozen pods are allowed to ripen the effect upon production is serious. Cut all vegetable marrows before the

(Specially written for 'Times" by Lorna.)

skins get too hard. Store those not used immediately in cool quarters for the winter. A sowing of red pickling cabbage is useful at this season. The plants grow to a much greater size during the late spring. Remove all old, worn-out leaves from rows of spinach beet and give the plants a good soaking with fairly strong manure water. Pull up peas and beans as soon as they are over, sowing the ground immediately with winter food. Earth up early' celery and leeks. Continue to put out late varieties of broccoli.

Autumn Seed Sowing. Tie success or failuro of tie autumn sown annuals depends largely on early sowing. It is necessary tliat the plants get well established before winter sets in and they should bo of a size sufficiently large to the ravages of slugs and snails. For this reason seeds should bo sown without further delay, preferably in boxes. The autumn sowing of annuals is to be strongly recommended. The plants from such sowings are larger, stronger, and will produce better, and best of all, earlier blooms. These remarks apply also to sweet peas. There, is no need to coddle sweet peas in boxes or pots unless sown in spring, when slugs are so troublesome that it is infinitely safer to keep the plants in pots Until* fairly large. The early outdoor, aut-umn-sown plant will be well advanced before winter sets in, and with the aid of lime, soot, or ashes, will come through satisfactorily. For those who

iave not yet sown, thoroughly water the trench to enable the seed to germinate as quickly as possible. The seed may also be soaked overnight. To return to the sowing of hardy annuals, first choice should be given to those which bloom the earliest. Among,-these are the miniature snapdragons, like linarias, which bloom sO profusely and over such a long period. Their dainty spikes blend well with anemones and other spring flowehs and the shades of colour are in great variety. Calendulas for showiness and for general landscape effect are hard to excel. The intense orange shades are wonderfully effective, especially in the soft evening light- 'Eschscholtzias, too, pay for autumn sowing, the blooming period being so much longer and the flowers very much finer. Tor colour display these are among the best of things for massed effects in beds or borders, and the newer varieties are gorgeous, with ranges of colour in scarlet, crimson ,and orange, and from palest pink to mauvo and purplish tints. There is a tendency to produce double varieties among these gay an-

nuals and already there are two or three listed in the latest catalogues.

Tho annual shirlcy poppies shouTS not be omitted from the autumn sowings. These, when once grown, usuallv self sow themselves from year to year as also docs that lovely blue annual, nigella, commonly called love-in-a-mist. Its flowers are so attractive, nestling in their circle of dainty fernlike leaves. Larkspurs should be sown where they are to remain and they will then grow much liner. Beauty stocks are especially good for early sowing and make a lino display. Cinerarias and primula malacoides, when planted in warm, sheltered spots, are among the earliest to bloom, as are also Iceland poppies, antirrhinums, for-get-me-nots, and wallflowers, all four of which are biennials.

Many others, including lupins, godetias, clarkias, candy-tufts, Canterburybells, sweet williams, geunis, aquilegia, calliopsis, and others of a hardy naturo among the perennial family may be sown to advantage at the present time, also many kinds of bulbous things such as freesias, anemones, etc. Lachenalias. These lovely bulbs should be planted more extensively. They arc so bright and showy and blooming at a time when most other flowers are Tather subdued in colouring, their glowing spikes at once attract attention. Some are greenish hued with bright crimson tipped edges, while others are in varying shades of yellow and orange, the pendulous blooms likewiso tipped with contrasting colours. Lachenalias multiply rapidly and form beautiful masses of colour for bordering or for clumps in' the rock garden. Their spotted leaves, too, are most decorative.

Rose Hedges. This ■ extremely useful and beautiful method of growing roses is, increasing in favour. • The writer would strongly urgo intending planters to make a thorough preparation of tho soil, remembering that hedges depend upon their vigorous growth to sustain their charmy and the plants cannot do this unless a good start is made.. Roses will grow much more luxuriantly if tlio subsoil be well broken up and some manure forked in amongst it. For the rose hedge supports aro needed in the way of stout posts at intervals with wires stretched between. Provision should be mado for adding a length of wire to tho top when it seems needful.

No one can conceive the beautiful effect given to a garden when such hedges of roses aro well attended, and they w T ill give a welcome screen to tender roses planted in their shelter. The choice of varieties must be governed by locality. If a screen from north and east winds bo desired, hardy types of climbers should be selected, as in such a situation the hedge will need to be allowed to grow some six or seven feet in height. For low hedges any types may be planted, but in all cases roses with attractive foliage should be chosen. On the sheltered side of the hedge a few choicer varieties may be worked in. During the

iirst season cut the plants back to onethird of their growth. The following year cut hard back one or morn growths and leave the others intact, only shortening unruly ends. To keep such a hedge in an entirely youthful condition there must be annual cutting back of one or two shoots on each plant, and this cutting back should be quite to tho base. The result will be splendid new growths that spring up and thus maintain tho thrifty condition so much desired. Very quick shelter may be obtained in this way if rampant growing ramblers arc chosen such as American Pillar and others of a like typo.

Good Types in Sweet Peas. Sweet peas continue to gain in popularity and enjoy a wide measure of public esteem. Gardeners take their steady continuous improvement as a matter of course, and only realise the extent of this improvement by a retrospective comparison. Undoubtedly the best of the modern varieties are superior to those which were iu favour ten years ago, but with the truly bewildering number of kinds in commerce it is not surprising that most amateur gardeners find it exceedingly difficult to keep their knowledge of the comparative value of individual varieties up to date. For those who have not already acquired their seed supply the following list of a few of tho best excellent "all-round” varieties will bo useful. They one and all conform to thoso qualities of size, vigour, length of stem, and waviness which aro associated with sweet peas of the very finest type and they arc all perfectly distinct and of pleasing colours. The latest introductions arc not necessarily tho best and some fairly old varieties aro represented here, sheer merit enabling them to still hold their place. For blue and mauvo tones try Chieftain, a beautiful clean, pure mauve; Lilac Queen, a huge flower of soft lilac shading; Gleneagles, a most attractive colour, not really a lavender or a blue, but a charming mid-way shade; Mrs. Tom Jones, a bright medium blue; Mermaid, a splendid lavender; Victoria lavender lilac. A deep purple is to be had in Purple Monarch, a, huge flower even when grown in the ordinary way.

Among the pinks and salmons, Picture still holds a place. Mrs. A. Searies is a 192 S novelty, pinky cerise, and will be thought much of. Pinkie is a bright and pleasing rose-pink; Magnet, a rich salmon pink on a cream ground, a really fine variety; Charming, well named, the colour being a most pleasing shade of deep rosy cerise. Among the reds and scarlets Grenadier is a good geranium red, perfectly sunproof; Sybil Hcnshaw, a rich blood crimson, an ideal exhibition variety; Mammoth, a splendid orange-scarlet, but like all orange-scarlets is not sunproof and loses some of its brightness in strongo sunlight, a largo and robust grower.

For a white, Model is an improvement on Constanco Hinton. A soft light pink is always popular and the variety, Venus, is invaluable for decorative purposes, also on the show bench. What Joy is so far tho best cream and is a very wavy variety. Mrs Horace

Wright is one of th 6 t>est of the flushed kinds, being pure white heavily flushed with warm rosy-pink.