Enjoy Your GARDEN

Northern Advocate, 30 January 1939, Page 4

Enjoy Your GARDEN

Spend the

Leisure Hours of Daylight with the Flowers

When you look aroun«r your garden you w£ft probably imagine a good supply of flowers until well into April. Asters. v zinnias, marigolds, dahlias, chr|S»ntb*m urns, and many others blooming, foar the next few months, and other circumstances permitting, the keen gardener will look further ahead, and think about flowers for May, VJune and July. Iceland poppies are still popular winter flowers. and the seed should be put in at /• once. When you sow the seed, make up the soil in the boxes for pricking out, and treat the soil with formalin or chestnut compound. The soil in the seed boxes should be treated, too. Seed cannot be sown until all smell of formalin has disappeared, and , thaj will take several days. If you .have the Iceland poppy bed vacant, sow it in bats. Manure the pats-.with bone dust and super and keep watered if . the weather is-dry. This will give a good crop fdr digging in; The hea from the green manure dug in generally kills any grass grubs in the soil. Primula malacoides seed should be sown; also winter-flowering sweet peas, and calendulas. Chestnut compound should be freely used about the seedlings to keep the plants from rdtting off, which is so troublesome in the autumn- ’ . Wallflower and polyanthus seed may atso be sown. Hie next thing >to consider Is the cutting back of plants that may make growth with the autumn rains, and flower during winter. • *fcut any seed heads from gerberas, and’fork in superphosphate about the plants, „Cut back gaillardjas to where neW; growth is starting, and give a of well-rotted manure. Puirihe. runners away from the violet plants and give a dusting with lime. Earl February is time enough to cut bacir the, rose bushes. Cut back perpetual flowering carnations, and fork

in super about the plants

Celery

Consider Your Winter • Blooms

The main preparation for celery consists of trenching and manuring. A trench should be made wide enough to take 'two rows of plants 9 inches apart, with the same distance between the plants in-the rows, allowing 4in. or sin. from the sides of the trench. The depth of the' trench should be about 9in. when finished. Along the sides of the trench place the soil taken out, and beat it firm with a spade, as it must not be allowed to fall in when the plants are being watered. The subsojl should be well forked, but not taken .out —this .is sub-soiling. On the loosened subsoil lay, about four or six inches of decayed manure or compost, then. 4in of soil mixed-with manure, either stable manure or a blood and hope—super mixture. It is well also to allow the ground to settle before planting, as the plants should be set in firmly and without covering the stalks; the soil should not be allowed to get into the hearts of the plants. If well watered, the trench will soon settle.

The ground in the celery bed should never be allowed to become dry. Tf the plants are put* in in dry weather they should be shaded from the sun. Tea-tree, scrim, fern or brown paper placed across the top of the trench Will give the necessary shade. The plants will not want moulding up until mid-winter; they must be well grown first.’ The soil is later packed about the plants.simply.to .blanch -them and make them crisp. Celery in Boxes For the small user, to whom room is at present a premium, celery may be nicely grown in a large box, up to 3ft deep. The Accessary compost, manure and soil mixture may be filled in to about half the depth! of the' box, and the young plants set in, A useful number of plants may be brought on in

this way. which means general economy. , i Troubles We Miss in Whangarei After a beautifully mild spring wo often have cold winds and rain in December. 1938 seemed determined to do some damage before leaving us. and cold showers and wind appeared to bo fairly general in New Zealand. Travelling south by car before Christmas gave me opportunity to see how the cold winds had affected the plants. In Wanganui I noticed the now growth cn the deciduous trees—all brown on the one side. The trees looked as though they had been scorched or blighted. On making enquiries I was told that it was due to the cold winds. Looking at ,the towns and the country south, I noticed there are far more trees, shrubs and hedges planted to give shelter. Both pi'ivate and public gardens are given a great deal of shelter from cold winds. The farms about Blenheim were looking beautiful, many of them carrying fields of oats nearly ready to harvest. Cold winds and rain had played havoc in some paddocks, crushing the plants to the ground and ruining the crops.

While I missed many of our northern -weeds, one weed was outstanding, the blue echium that I mentioned a few weeks ago. This plant, evidently likes good soil and is most noticeable on the river flats. In some parts it looks really beautiful along the river banks and roadsides! In some cases it has been allowed to take possession of a field, and in places it is growing along with the wheat or oats. This weed was particularly noticeable from the Blenheim-Nelson road, being a real pest nearer Blenheim. I could not help thinking “What a picture for the artist!” The beautiful golden fields of grain bordered or sprinkled with the tall spikes of the blue echium. The weed is certainly very showy when in flower. What I have seen of it recently and what I know of it in Australia convince me that we definitely do not want it in our district, where, once established, it would make itself very objectionable. In several places near Riwaka, the banks of the silvery streams look beautiful with the wild gardens of echium, mullein and foxgloves. Nature’s garden looks very beautiful to the passer-by, but to the farmer it is another matter. ] Sodiums are Useful Sediums are among the easiest of the succulents to grow.- They are perennial plants: they thrive under dry conditions: they are probably the easiest of all succulents to grow: they neither ask for nor want manuring; and they are easily managed! Moreover, they occur in a great variety of forms from shrubby kinds to small compact cushion plants. Every rockery should have some of the most desirable sediums.