IN THE GARDEN

Northern Advocate, 28 July 1934, Page 7

IN THE GARDEN

[BY “TAINUI”]

* OPERATIONS FOR AUGUST ' I ❖ { ••• *t * THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. *i V !: x X »♦, Plant out cabbage nml cauliflower, also shallots, tree onion.?,’and i« ♦j*, potato onions. y Make suceessional sowings of early pons. ♦> %♦ Plant out rhubarb roots in rows four foot apart. »♦♦ £ Keop the soil about growing plants slightly stirred, . ■ »*! X Prepare new asparagus beds. X X Keep the onion bed weeded. Give a dusting with wood ashes. X Transplant early sown onions into good, rich, well-drained soil. ❖ Sow lettuee in beds and transplant when big enough into rows. y »i« *> Put a few more early potatoes in a dry. warm, sheltered position. ♦;« V * *3 Remember to keep adding to the compost heap. It makes excel- *|» V lent earlv manure. Y V ' Y X ,< X X THE FLOWER GARDEN. | t Y v y X Wo occasionally get a dry spell during August. It may then be X X necessary to water trees, shrubs and other plants that have A *x* Just been planted. •$* 4 When anemones and ranunculi arc sending up their flowering **« X stalks they will benefit by weak liquid manure. X •J* Stock, pansy, cineraria, winter-flowering sweet peas, Iceland poppy, X and violets may have weak liquid manure about once a fort- X, *!♦ night. 4 Stock, nomesin. antirrhinum, carnation, pansy, schizantuus, and »> V others may he planted out now, after the seedlings have been & X well hardened off. *!* t ♦ Cyclamen are flowering’ now. They will-benefit by-weak liquid X manure. / V V ♦% Complete the pruning and planting of roses, also manure the rose y jt bed ‘ ' - - - -•-‘•■4 Continue to plant hardy trees and shrubs. , _ _ V j 1 - ■ " r v’ X A start may be made with seed sowing. The boxes will need t 0... be covered with glass and kept on a warm verandah, failing ■ X y a glasshouse. It is aviso to take the boxes in at;nighty. , ’ v , 4 Salpeglossis, carnation, belladonna, and blue butterfly delphiniums,, X viscaria, Otarkia, godetia, schizanthus, and phlox DrumrtiondiF,, *j« ♦*« are some plants that may be sown noAV, X y - ♦♦♦

Manuring Roses. After pruning, the next thing to .consider is manuring the rose bushes. If the old bushes have scale, the old wood being covered or spotted with a whitish covering, easily recognised, spray with red oil, one of oil to 15 or .more of water. Boil the oil with ■water,- and tip from one bucket to another so as to mix well. For just a few dwarf bushes this, may bo put on with a brush. If the rose beds have not been limed in autumn or early I . . winter, as they should have been, it is a good plan to fork over the ground and lime now. The ground may be manured, about two -weeks after liming.

Eoses, like most plants, appreciate n change of manure. Stable manure or cow manure used as a top-dressing is suitable. If these have been used for the last few seasons,, try- fowl manure or sheep manure for a change. Whereas the soil may bo covered with horse or cow manure,, just a sprinkling of fowl manure or sheep manure will be needed. Fowl manure is about 10 times as strong as cow manure. Bonedust is always a good manure. Fork in about half a pound to a small rose bush. Wood ashes go a long way towards making the plant, healthy, and they may be used at any time, but they are particularly good when growth is commencing. For special show blooms, liquid manure may be given once a week, commencing when the buds can first be seen. Planting Gladioli. Gladioli growers will be busy looking over their conns ready for planting. All the old covering should bo peeled off before soaking in formalin solution. The hard piece that is left at the base of the com should also he. removed. While the gladiolus is showy in the garden, and a useful out flower, it is certainly at its best on the show bench. The Horticultural Society is holding a show at the end of November, when they expect to have a hall well filled with gladioli of the giant forms as well as the primulinus variety. The Gladioli should be planted early in August. If the ground needs manuring, this should be done without delay. The corns like a firm ground, and the ground should be made firm when not too wet to tread. Well-rot-ted manure should be dug in at a spade depth, but it should not touch the conn or be too near it. Bonedust or rotted compost may be used if manure is not available. Good drainage is essential, but plenty of water is needed when the flower spikes are forming. For large blooms plant the corras about 9 inches apart, leaving room to get among the plants for ticing, staking, weeding, etc. Put in a good stake at planting time. Plant about 0 inches deep in light soil, and loss in heavy soil. Gladioli for Garden Effect.

While many ,gardeners grow blooms for show ami for cut. flowers, these plants are also useful for making a show in the garden. The large-flower-ed varieties may be planted towards the back of a showy border between shrubs, with Antirrhinium or other flowers in front. The Priinulinus Gladioli are more useful for small gardens, ns they may be used in clumps, the corms being planted a few inches apart in clumps of from C to 12. One variety to a clump looks best as they are all out in bloom at the same time.

Gladioli always appear to me as having insufficient means of support; but heavy stakes are inelegant and unnecessary. For garden decoration, the stakes should be hidden as much as possible. The lower part of the gladiolus is not atttactive, but should bo hidden by low growing plants, which will also help to protect the gladioli from wind, hide the stakes, keep the ground cool, atul add to the beauty of the Jotter generally. Gladioli look

well planted on a bank. When seen from below the bank the. spikes look well, one above the other. . Primulinus Gladioli take- up very little room, and are so easily grown. They are excellent for planting, be,tween annuals that are flowering, now or later, thus up the -floral display in a bed .or border. They may be planted among Anemones, Ranunculi, Iceland Poppies,. Primula Malacoides, Pansies, at the back of »Stocks, and so on, .They may be planted in clumps in the mixed, border,-and surrounded' by inch plants as Alonsoa, Antirrhinums* Gypsophila,—-Visearia, Heliophila, Kaulfussia, Dwarf Ageratum, Virginia Stock, Lobelia, Linum Rubnun, Ncpcta, Phlox Drummondii

and other similar small . flowefing plants. To go back a step, beds that are filled with Poppies, Stock* etc.yjand that have Gladioli planted •■ amogg them, may have ! ’ the early ;floWenflg plants taken out, . and the bed -filled with dwarf Dahlias, - Delphiniums, French Marigolds, Petunia, or other bedding plants. The Gladioli. will flower between times, making a , cession of bloom for the year. -•rC'S: Withered Rose Plants, -V Rose plants arriving through-- the post are often dry. They should be dipped in water. If they are very dry . and the bark has a shrivelled appearance, proceed as follows: Dig a trench about a foot deep, and large enough to hold the plant. Lay it lengthwise in the trench, and cover the whole with a few inches of soil. Allow .it to remain thus for two or three days, after which take up and plant. Diseased - Gladioli Corms. ♦ * Neck-rot, which originates in the loaves of the Gladioli, is indicated by lesions of a pale yellow or pale brown colour in the corms. The infected tissue becomes slightly depressed. These pits, that arc not deep, may be easily • removed, leaving a clean saucer-shaped cavity surrounded by healthy tissue. The disease is bacterial, and, indicated by a sticky exudation, noticeable when the plants are first lifted. Later, the substance solidifies and becomes brittle. . Spray the growing plants with Bordeaux Mixture. - ' Also dip the conns in a 1 to 40, or 1 to 60 formalin bath for about two . hours. Plant while wet in clean soil. If the , corms are badly infected, they should be destroyed by fire, as also should: old stems, leaves, roots, etc., of diseased plants.

Salt for Carnations., '• I In its natural habitat, the carnatipn is a sea-coast plant, so that it is.'only natural that the plant appreciates’’a little natural salt, A pinch of salt: to a plant, or a watering with a solution of one ounce to-a gallon of watef'occasionally will be found to, have a good effect on the plants. It appears to affect the foliage, producing finer foliage of an intense colour. . ; Stopping Decay in Trees,.. Many an ornamental tree might;.; be saved from rapid decay if timely attention be given in the early daylT of < trouble. For filling the holes; in;t]ie tree, nothing is better than Portland cement. Before using the cement'the decayed portion must be thoroughly denned out, all rotten parts being removed. It is essential that the ce- i ment should be able to get hold of the , ; sound wood, otherwise the decay will continue after the filling of the opening, Select a dry day for the business, and use rather stiff cement. Finish off the top carefully so that the surface will throw off fain, The mement prevents the ingress of moisture, and arrests decay, . Alisher. The hedge plant at the corner of the southern end of Lupton Avenue ;is Louicera Xylosteum; - It, bceurs ; widily over Europe and BuSsiaxi Asia. ‘ Pfoba- vVgi bly indigenous in southeastern .Eng-, dland. Said to be very common in the JA English shrubberies. Common naine, “Fly Honeysuckle.”