ROUTINE GARDEN WORK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20468, 21 January 1930, Page 3

ROUTINE GARDEN WORK.

IMPROVED CONDITIONS. , With the improved conditions during the past week the gardener.should have been able to- get ahead with his work a little. The, working of the soil should be one of the first things to be done, as this will store up the moisture. In the event of a dry spell now. there will bo no need to do any artificial watering if the soil is kept mulched. Where the crops have been making rapid growth it may be as,well to provide' them with extra food in the form of liquid manure. The rapid growers, including the " foliage" crops, should be 'given a dose of nitrate of soda («oz. per gallon) about twice during the next fortnight. Other crops _ which require to make more root action or of which the crop portion is the seeding organs, may he given an application of superphosphate as a strength of loz. per gallon, at intervals of a week. If tomatoes that have been attacked by the blight have not been affected in the stems it is possible that a portion, at. least, of the crop maj* be "saved. This refers only to the earlier crops.that had the fruit fairly well developed before they were blighted. If the leaves are stripped off these plants and only the bare stems left with the bunches of fruit, there is a possibility that the tomatoes will ripen off satisfactorily and give some return, even if it is only small. Those.with the blight, in tlio stems, however, must. Ifa pulled out, as the disease will spread to every part of . the plant in time.. : 3 , "