The Home Garden

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24085, 2 October 1941, Page 17

The Home Garden

Flowers Many of the half-hardy annuals can now be sown out of doors in the northern districts; these will follow on the hardy annuals sown earlier. Prepare the beds for chrysanthemums and plant out as soon as the plants are ready. Reduce the growths on dahlias that have been left in the ground all winter; unless this is done there will be a forest of growth and few blooms. Polyanthus can be lifted and divided as soon as they finish flowering. When the earlier planted gladioli show through the soil, keep the site well cultivated and apply a mulch of manure before the soil dries out too much. Insert cuttings of choice lupins and delphiniums to ensure plants that are true to type. The Greenhouse If the ferns have not been overhauled, get this done at the earliest possible moment as they will soon be in full growth. Soot water is an excellent stimulant for most greenhouse plants; have a barrel always handy to use. Sow coleus, celosia, cockscombs in heat for planting out later. Give tuberous begonias and gloxinias some shade during the heat of the day. Seedlings of tuberous begonias should be kept gently growing by frequent shifts; the plants soon stagnate if not attended to. Small plants of hippeastrum can be repotted and the older plants topdressed with a rich compost.

By KEPOS

Vegetables Lettuce should be sown at frequent intervals, a very little seed at a time, for lettuce do not stand long when hot weather comes. Spinach beet should be sown now as it stands better than the summer spinach during summer. Sow one inch deep in drills 1 5 inches apart. Celeriac, that useful substitute for celery can be grown with little trouble if the seed is sown now in a glasshouse. Plant out the maincrop of tomatoes when the plants have been well hardened off. Sow Capsicums, melons, cucumbers, pumpkins, vegetable marrows and plant out the plants already raised under glass; give shelter from hot sun for a few days. The Orchard Grape thinning will require attention in the early vineries. The best time to make a start is about a fortnight after the berries have set. Give tomatoes under glass all the air and sunlight possible and avoid keeping the atmosphere too close and moist. Spray the peaches and nectarines with lime sulphur 1 in 120 as soon as the petals have fallen. The apples will need the "greentip spray of Bordeaux at this period. Stone fruits which bore a good crop last season will benefit by a dressing of superphosphate, half a pound per square yard. Grafting operations should now be :n full swing; complete the operation quickly before the cut surface has time to dry.