The Home Garden

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23333, 29 April 1939, Page 10 (Supplement)

The Home Garden

By KEPOS

FLOWERS Plant out stocks, calendulas, pansies, violas, carnations, linaria and other plants for spring flowering. The bulb plantings should now be completed by planting the tulips, , j Remove the dead tops from delphiniums and give a good mulch of manure for the winter. Evergreen trees and shrubs are best planted now while the soil is warm. . , Sow down new lawns and renovate the bad patches on old ones. Herbaceous plants of most types can be planted now, more especially the early-flowering kinds. When the dahlias have been cut by frost, lift the roots and store. The Greenhouse Schizanthus for spring flower, sown in March, should now be . ready for potting singly in small pots. Keep cool and _ near the glass. . 4 When the tops of the tuberous begonias have yellowed, cease the water supply altogether. Poinsettias are forming flower bracts and should have plentiful supplies of manure water until the blooms are half out. Clean up all the odd corners and rubbish in the greenhouse, as these are great harbours for slaters and other pests. Cyclamen should be showing flower buds and will need careful watering; do not splash water on the corms. The heavy shading necessary in summer should now be removed to allow more light to enter.

Working Guide for the Week

VEGETABLES Plant out cabbage and cauliflower in good supply for spring use. Sow onions for transplanting if not already seen to; sow on raised beds if the soil is likely to lie wet in winter. Thin advancing crops of turnips, carrots and beet sown last Make every effort to clean up the ground before it becomes too wet to work. . , , Annual weeds are best dealt with while the weather is dry by hoeing freely as soon as they show above the soil. Dig over vacant land and leave it rough, especially if the soil is heavy. ( This is a good season to apply lime to the soil where this element is needed. The Orchard Plant out strawberiries in well-prepared ground; consolidate the soil well before planting. Bury the roots of strawberries only, and not the crowns of the plants. # Prepare the sites for planting fruit trees well in advance. Cut and burn all dead wood from fruit trees without delay. At this season the fruiting stage of silver blight appears, to shed spores which infect other trees. Vigorous-growing fruit trees can be root-pruned at this season. Apply lime to stone fruits at least once in two years; this is best applied in autumn. Fruit trees on grass should have the turf removed in a good circle round the stems.