GARDEN NOTES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LII, Issue 248, 15 October 1918, Page 3

GARDEN NOTES

THE POTATO PATCH

. The planting of potatoes should be cf. m pletde as soon as possible now.' At this date it is advisable to plant grouted seed. It i* of course very unwise to. do the work when *he o-round is in a wet and sticky condition Potatoes that are up should be protected if frost threatens. Bracken or strawv material can be laid over the rows" or a little soil drawn over Vue shoots. Loosen the ground directly <the work can be safely done. In warm and mild situations the crops fire up well and growing quickly. Xhist a, ilttle scot- along each side of i'ie--1 *.'earthini?-ui>" mounds of your potatoes. Thi s 'will be of 'benefit, for the' next rain will wash it a little further in A potato expert says, "sell your hoe and watering can and buy a good hoe"—-even if you should have no -ain, if vou keeo the ground between vour potato row. well hoed. your plants will take no harm. Keep the hoe gbi-ne if vou expect a good crop. , Sprav • for result:-,:—Choose a- dry dav for* spraying your poitatoes or you ,nav lose all good effects from ,the Graving mixture, as the vain easily .hashes it off the plants. If the leaves _ of vour plant* turn brown as if burnt, tliey are attacked -by blight and should bfl spraved without delay, but why. wait for this-? "preventaon is better than cure." . , Sprav the second time, and perhaps vou uiav keep your potatoes quite free from blight. Spray in the ev-en- :*!", when the sun is not on the .plants else the foliage will become shrivelled and scorched, and. when you spraj iee that the spray goes, underneath the leaves a s well as on the top, or it is of no avail. If you can get it dust a little, sulphate of ammonia on- the , earth "between the rows of P lant *; when commencing to earth them up it , Teed's the plant* and they produce better tubers. Since *h» war th], has become very costly/ but" factories -for ihe manufacture of sulphate of ammor.ia are to be started in England. Wire worms are sometimes a great •jest, the can be trapped m buried .hollow bones and easily .destroyed I In America fthev have to fight the , potato bujr as well as the potato i t-.pcrht. In the former they spray fre-_ : nuenlly with arsenate of lead, and the I Inter with Bordeaux mixture. Last, vear their potatoes in some parts wers i visited witlr a plague of aphid*, which dtstroyed many- plantations. . feprajing with tobacco water or tobacco oust begin as soon as aphida are noticed will check them. Burn all diseased' and infested tops md roots of plants . To put them on th e compost heap is to supply- a comfortable breeding ground, for more tronlble. i