The Home Garden

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23157, 1 October 1938, Page 10 (Supplement)

The Home Garden

By KEPOS

Working, Guide for the Week

FLOWERS Plant out the seedlings that have been well hardened olff. Make/up the beds ready for chrysanthemums, as the plants will soon be ready for their final positions. Place the old stools of dahlias on a warm border to start into growth before dividing. Make liberal sowings of hardy annuals; remember some of the old sweetly-perfumed kinds; these add interest to the garden. • keep the hoe busy among the flower plants to break up the crust formed by heavy rains. Ivy should be clipped bare of leaves every .spring; otherwise it becomes very dirty. r Plant bulbs of Galtonia candicans for late summer flower. ; The Greenhouse The ..earliest tuberous begonias and gloxinias should now be ready for small pots; use a light compost and do not overwater. Rooted* cuttings of coleus should be potted off; when growth ajgain commences, pinch the plants at each two pairs of leaves. As soon as the achimenes have started into growth, make up the baskets for summer display. Many pot plants need repotting at this period of the year, or at least have a topdressing of; fresh soil. Insect pests are busy on the palms, and these should be cleansed before the plants become disfigured. Where a collection of ferns occupy space in the greenhouse these will need shading from now on.

VEGETABLES Plant more cabbage, cauliflower and lettuce for succession. Sow onions, mustard and cress, and radishes for summer salads. Continue the sowing of French, butter and runner beans; prepare good trenches for the runners. Sow capsicums, melons, cucumbers, marrows, pumpkin and squash on prepared mounds. Plant out those already sown under glass for early crops, but harden off well before planting in the open and shade from bright sun. Plant out the later crops of potatoes and earth-up those already above the ground. Plant new asparagus in the beds prepared last winter. The Orchard Keep the laterals tied down in the vinery to prevent them from touching the glass. A drier atmosphere will be needed during the flowering period of the vines. Give ventilation early in the morning to prevent scalding of the young foliage. Attend to the grafting of fruit trees, as the sap is now rising. Apply the Bordeaux spray to the apples at the "greentip" stage. Spray the peaches and nectarines with wettable sulphur at petal fall. Complete the pruning of citrus fruits; remember to remove the low hanging branches of lemons as a precaution against brown rot.