WORK TO BE DONE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 27 January 1939, Page 10

WORK TO BE DONE

THE VEGETABLE PLOTS As the potato crop is removed plant out leeks, broccoli and savoy and other suitable vegetables. Celery should be planted without delay. Extra large plants w’ill bear removal without apparent check if the soil is thoroughly moist and a good ball of soil is lifted with the plants Vegetables are usually most expensive ia late winter and early spring, and now is the time to plan to have a home-grown

supply at. that period. Apart from the brassica tribe, sowings may be made of carrots, onions and turnips. All beans should be picked regularly tc ensure a continued supply. Runner beans that have been well watered—a good soaking at least once a week—have been yielding abundantly. Keep the soil loose. Do not allow spent crops to remain in possession of valuable land after they have ceased to be of value. Bury all rubbish and weeds that will decay and burn sticks and thick stems. Before earthing-up celery give the plants a good watering with clear water, and then a dose of weak manure. Should

the ground already be fairly damp, the watering will not be necessary .When earthing-up, don't throw the soil round 111;: plants with the spade. Lift it into the trench carefully and then press it round the plants carefully and firmly holding the stems close, together with the other hand. Some people twist a piece, ol pliable wire round the stems of each plant, and as the carthing-up proceeds this wire baud is pushed further up the stein. Whatever plan you adopt the main thing is to keep the soil from getting in among the stems. Earth up a little at a lime and never go beyond the heart of the cclerv. Spinach is a very useful and hcallhgiving vegetable for winter and spring use and requires lilt.lc special attention. Constant war must be made on weeds. Only persistent effort wiU keep them under control. Few plants respond more readily to good treatment than lettuce. A watering twice weekly with liquid manure should bo given in dry weather. A teaspoonful of nitrate of soda in a gallon of water is a good clean form of liquid manure. Lettuce should be sown at regular intervals in small quantities. Sow thinly in order that they may grow continuously without transplanting. It, is not too late to try another sowing of dwarf beans. When the trimming of the fences has been carried out it is a great mistake to allow the trimmings to remain on the ground for any length of time. It is a well-known fact that many of the pests that we are troubled with are hatched on the fences. The clippings should be burnt as soon as possible. ’MIDST THE FLOWERS A good many perennials may be raised from seed and when the seed can be gathered the best time to sow it is at once. Perennials may be sown outside and will como up quite freely if given the necessary attention. Seeds sown outside usually result in much stronger plants than those sown under glass as the latter easily run up and get lanky ; there are exceptions especially if tlu» seeds are very small. If this is the case they should be sown inside either in a box or a seed pail. The average perennial has fairly large seeds and is quite hardy. The necessary hoeing and raking is just now routine work. All beds and border.-, should be full, borne plants, may require tying up. Gypsophila delphiniums and Michaelmus daisy for instance. Plants such as stock nemesias, pansies, should be •■(•moved as soon as they have finished flowering and either burnt or buried. Burying is preferable as it gives back to the land what has been taken from it. 'lake advantage of all dry weather to weed and hoe the beds and borders, tie up and thin out dahlias, stake out Michaelmas daisies and stake the late flowering herbaceous plants. Lift and replant daffodils, grape-hyacinths, scillas, snowdrops, and chionodoxas, and lift and store tulips and hyacinths. Among unnuals that are good for edging, the better, more compact types of Alyssuin maritiiuurn are hard to beat, but most seed catalogues publish, under various names, varieties of closely similar habit. This little annual is perfectly hardy, and seeds may be sown either in autumn or spring direct in the positions they are to occupy, or, if more convenient, seed may be sown in trays placed ii frames, the little seedlings being pricked out for transplanting any time from October onwards, in which case about

si.< inches of space between plants should b> allowed. Where the seed is sown ditect, the only necessity' 13 to thin out patches that are closely overcrowded. Sweet peas are just about over and should be pulled down and destroyed, except, of course, very late sown ones, which will give some very late blooms. Wo are now again at a time when we must prepare for next autumn and early spring’s display of flowers, hence the need for some of the various annuals that are ueeded for this purpose. Pansies, violas, coreopsis, grandiflora, primula, cineraria, etc. Sowing of these in itself is quite easy, but protection of the seed from excessive sun and excessive rain is essential. It is quite easily done once the knowledge is acquired, and it is fascinatMesembryantliemum criniHorum, the Livingstone daisy, is a good aunual for a dry, sunny, gravelly or sandy bunk, and is best treated as a half-hardy annual, seed being sown in pots or boxes in September and the seedlings pricked out into boxes of light soil as soon as the seedlings are large enough to handle. The plants, after being hardened off, can be planted out in the driest sunniest and best druined part of the garden, either a bank or 011 a rock garden. When the flowers are open they cover the spreading plants. They are of the most delightfn. tints, including primrose, apricot, and crimson as well as white edged with rose, pink, and huff. Portulaca is a hardy annual, and should be sown in the place where it is to flower in October or November. The colours are scarlet, white, and yellow, and a mixed packet will produce bright, attractice colours. Jt is suitable for a dry bank, a crazy path, or even u gravel path which is not much used. A novel floating garden for decoration can he made in the following manner:— Boro fairly large holes in a cork table mat, then soak the mat in water. Float in a shallow bowl of water and scatter grass seed over the mat; it will grow quickly. At soon as the grasß seed has begun to germinate, place flowers in the holes in the mat and a novel little garden will bo the result. W lieu perfume is desired and there is room to grow a fair-sized rose bush, gardeners should try the old variety named Madame Isaac Perriere. This rose" is a hybrid Bourbon, and cannot be said to be RUperseiled by anything, because there lias been very little development iu this class (says a contributor to “Popular Gardening,” London). It grows übout four or five feet high, utid can he planted in the open garden or against a wall or fence. On a warm evening this rose can bo smelled a long way off. The colour is a rich but bluish red, and the blooms are often flat, although they are large and borne iu abundanro over a long period.

One bush that. I have had for 20 years has been finer this season than ever before. Whether it liked the heavy rain in early summer, I know not, but the blooms have been remarkably well formed and quite long in the petal. The bush has, moreover, made strong growth. Probably this variety needs planty of water.