Gardening News & Notes

Northern Advocate, 19 April 1947, Page 3

Gardening News & Notes

Vegetables . . . Sow onions, broad beans, lettuce, parsnips,. cabbage, cauliflower. Bring the surface soil down to a fine tilth before sowing, and don’t sow too deep. Deep sowing is the cause of many failures. Complete the earthing up of celery and leeks during dry weather. Don’t let the earth get in among the celery leaves. These might be tied together by raffia or other soft tying material. Make a sowing of prickly spinach. Lift late potatoes and put aside any required for seed. Choose the “seed” from prolific healthy roots.

Onions are intolerant to weeds. Keep the onion bed clean. Harvest pumpkins, marrows, and squashes as they ripen. Tomato plants that have finished bearing are just as well burnt. Lightly hoe the soil between rows of growing crops. This will help the growth before the cold weather sets in.

The present is a good time for liming the lawn or the garden, if this requires it. For the lawn, use finelyground rock limestone. This lime variety is slow and sure. Plant out strawberries in well-pre-pared ground. Firm the ground before planting.

Flowers . . . Mignonette and lachenalia make a good combination in window boxes. Mignonette seed should be sown now where the plants are to flower. Nemesia, schizanthus, Virginian stock, and dwarf nasturtiums are also good window-box subjects in sheltered positions. Keep dead blooms cut from zinnias, dahlias, salvias, marigolds, etc. These will continue to bloom for a while it attended to.

Large blooms of chrysanthemums will need covering to keep the rain off. The main work in the garden just now is tidying up, taking out weeds, and forking over the ground to allow air and sunshine to enter the soil. Grape hyacinths and lachenalias will have longer flower stalks and better blooms if given a fairly good soil. They may be given a light topdressing now with rotted manure or leaf mould. Polyanthuses need a cool, deep, rootrun for best results. They should be shaded from the heat of the mid-day sun. Plant now. Leaves are falling fast now. Thev are valuable for potting soil as well as for general garden use. Collect them and store in a pit with a little soil. Antirrhinums that are young and strong may be cut back a little. They will bloom again in early spring. Antirrhinums, carnations, and sweet peas are all fond of lime. Give them occasional sprinklings.

Celery . . . Celery is not the easiest of vegetables to grow successfully, particularly in our district. Unless well attended, the plant is subject to reversion, developing into an acrid, pun-gent-flavoured weed. It must have a rich soil, well supplied with organic matter in the form of rotted stable manure or good, strong compost. Good drainage is also necessary; but the soil must be retentive, holding enough moisture for' the plants’ needs, for the celery must be kept growing. The blanching of celery is a most important operation. The idea is to suppress the green colourings matter in the leaf stalks by shutting out the direct sunlight. This may be done by earthing up the plants a few inches at a time, until at maturity, the leave?' only are exposed. It is important that the soil should not be allowed to get in between the leaves. To prevent this, the stalks may be tied with some soft tying material, or they may be enveloped in brown-paper wrapping. Early Peas . . . It will soon be time to -make a sowing of early peas; but the crop will require a lot of attention. It has to’go and grow through a long cold period when growth is slow. What the plants want most during the winter months is some degree of warmth about their roots, and everything possible should be done to try and supply this. Deep trenching and organic manuring will help. If a quantity of stable manure or grass cuttings is placed in the bottom of the trench, the resulting fermentation will help, provided, of course, that the drainage is right. Also choose a position in which the plants will get as much sunlight and sun heat as possible; and one sheltered from cold winds. During the growth of the crop, give dressings with soot; this, too, will help to warm the soil a little. And then there is the bird nuisance. Strands of black cotton stretched along the rows is as good a measure as any. Answer. . .

Two specimens of the same plant variety were sent to me from different sources. The plant is Polygonum Orientale, or Prince s Feather. The flowers are rosy red. An attractive old-fashioned plant.