Working Guide for the Week

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22777, 10 July 1937, Page 10 (Supplement)

Working Guide for the Week

By KEPOS

FLOWERS Plant out pansies, Iceland poppies, stocks, primula malacoides and calendulas. Bulbs that are showing through the soil should have the beds lightly forked over. Prune flowering and ornamental shrubs that require attention; those that bloom in spring should be left until the flowers are over. Divide and replant herbaceous plants and lay out new borders. Examination of lilacs will reveal the presence of suckers from the base. These should be removed. When planting trees and shrubs, have some dry soil at hand for placing round the roots. The Greenhouse Sow seeds of tuberous begonias, streptocarpus and gloxinia where artificial heat is available. '' Sow tomatoes for early crop out of doors; sow thinly and prick off early. Repot the palms and ferns that are starting to make new growth. Give weak stimulants to flowering plants with the pots well filled with roots. Pot off the carnation cuttings as soon as they have formed roots. Herbaceous calceolarias will soon be ready for their flowering pots; do not attempt to force the plants with heat. ' Some of the potted liliums can now be placed in the greenhouse. As soon as the stem roots form, topdress with good soil.

VEGETABLES On a warm border sow early carrots, turnips, and a few more early peas. Plant out the autumn-sown onions if the soil is in good condition; if wet and sticky, it would be better to wait. If impossible to sow lettuce out of doors, make a small sowing in a frame; the plants will come in at a useful time. Plant out herbs. Thyme, marjoram, sage and chives are always useful. Asparagus beds should have a good topdressing of manure if not already done. Clear up all spent and decaying crops; the green matter should be placed on the compost heap if free from disease. Make a sowing of round spinach. The Orchard Pruning operations will now be the principal work. Study your trees, for in some cases it may be better to leave them unpruned. Plant out fruit trees of all kinds, but not while the soil is wet. Keep the strawberry beds well hoed in favourable weather, but do not hoe too close to the crowns. Complete the pruning of vines under glass and thoroughly cleanse the woodwork and glass. Where trees are infested with moss, apply the caustic soda spray. Any unprofitable trees should be marked for grafting over later; save some of the best pruning for scions. Keep a watch on the early peaches for signs of bud movement, then apply the spray for leaf curl.