FOR POOR LAND

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22250, 26 October 1935, Page 8 (Supplement)

FOR POOR LAND

PLANTS THAT ARE SUITABLE It is a boon to be able to select something that will grow in a poor or sunbaked place where perhaps there is a very thin layer of soil overlying rock, or that will furnish a bank exposed to blazing sunshine. The eschseholtzias do much better in poor soil than in rich, and are worth planting for that reason. When new subjects are being selected this outstanding characteristic should not bo sacrificed. At least some of the failures are duo to trying to make the blooms larger and finer by liberal treatment. A case in point was a garden in which some sickly plants were growing in a wellprepared bed, while close by were one or two patches smothered with the vermilion-coloured blossoms. These latter wero stray plants from seed accidentally dropped on the path, and this gave the clue to the failure of the plants in the bed. The Sea Holly is a lovely plant not seen in many gardens. In many cases it has rotted away after planting. Rich soil again was its undoing. It is a plant for those who have to make the best of a loose, sandy soil. The helianthenvnns never flower better than when growing on a sunbaked soil, and seldom suffer in winter when thus grown. But with feeding, the growth becomes soft and sappy, and winter conditions finish them. Many of the brightest and best of the alpine dianthus will flower only when completely exhausted in a hungry soil, but in soft humus-glutted soil they rot away without showing the beauty of their flowers. Dwarf nasturtiums are frequently a source of disappointment, making tremendous growth of foliage but few flowers. Give these a bit of harsh, stony soil, or a dry sun-baked bank, and they will make tight, hard growth, with small leaves, but will flower abundantly. SALAD CROPS CONTINUOUS SUPPLY One of the chief problems of the gardener in a dry season, is the provision of a continuous supply of crisp salad crops. To obtain succulent growth, the plants must be grown quickly, and without any check. This is comparatively simple in spring, when the growth *is rapid, but to maintain similar growing conditions during a dry summer necessitates extra preparation of the soil. The point of most importance is sufficiency of moisture in the soil. This may be done in three ways—by manuring, by watering and by hoeing—but all three are complementary to each other, and are not alternative.

Organic manure has an undoubted advantage over artificials because it has the power of absorbing and holding moisture. On light soils in particular, a good supply should be dug into ground intened to carry summer salad crops. Lettuce are inclined to turn yellow in dry weather, and small doses of nitrate of soda or sulphate of ammonia deepen the colour of the leaves. The obvious remedy for lack of rain is the watering can, with hoeing as a necessary corollary to preservo the moisture in the soil. When once started, watering should be continued regularly in the absence of rain. A thorough watering followed by a surface hoeing may be sufficient for several days, and will counteract this teudencv and bo of more benefit than driblets poured every evening on a caked soil surface. Growth can be checked in other ways, notably by root disturbance. Although it is a good plan to sow the earliest batches of lettuce in beds and transplant them, it is wiser not to attempt to move them in summer, but to sow in the position where they are to mature and thin out the seedlings. This is 'not an extravagant method if the seed is sown thinly, in small quantities at a time, making a sowing every ten days or so. The plants will then come to maturity in successive batches. NOVEL DECORATION The tall varieties of godetias are among the most charming subjects for house decoration and should be included when sowing hardy annuals in the borders. The spikes will open flower after flower for three weeks when in water. For novel decoration it is a good plan to pull whole plants up by the roots and place them in ornamental pots of water. The flowers are so perfectly spaced on the stems that they seem to arrange themselves. The pale pink shades will be found the best for indoor decoration.