GARDENING NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17158, 10 November 1917, Page 3

GARDENING NOTES.

By D. Tannock.

WORE FOR THE WEEK. THB GUEENHOTJSE.

Calceolarias and pelargoniums aro both very liable to attacks of green fly, and the most satisfactory way of destroying them is to fumigate the house with X.L. All or other suitable fumigant. Select a still night, close up all ventilators, and fire it off about five o'clock. By nest morning the fumes will havo disappeared, and the insects will all be dead.

Schizanthtw wisetonensis is very attractive in tho greenhouse at present. To secure eced for next season a few of the best varieties should bo marked and the flowers pollenated with a little Drush. The pollenation of the schizanthus is very interesting. When, you press down tho keel in whichthe Btameiia are placed they fly out with a jerk and scatter the pollen like a miniature cloud of dust, and unless they are hand pollen ated no seed will set. Keep all climbers thinned and tied to the wires before they have a chance to twine round them and become a tangled mass. Give more air now that the weather is warmer, and the plants which _ were repotted in the spring have had time_ to become established in their pots. Syringe all foliage plants twice a day and maintain a moist atmosphere by damping the floors and the benches. Freesias are now ripening off, and no more watering will be required. They should be kept on the greenhouse bench, and baked a bit before they are stored away. Tuberous rooted begonias are now well started, and are ready for potting up into their flowering pots. Some growers prefer to pot them up first into sin pots, and later to shift them into their flowering pots, but if the plants are well started in the boxes they can be placed into their flowering pots right away. The potting soil will consist of good turfy loam two parts, well rotted manure half a part, and leaf mould half a part; half a part sand and a sprinkling of bone meal and charcoal at the rate of a 6in potful of each to a barrowload on the soil Pot fairly firm and place the top of the tuber just under the sod. After potting stand the plants on ashes on the greenhouse bench and spray twice a day during warm sunny weather. Watering has to be done very carefully until the roots fill the pot. The hanging basket varieties are very useful. They aro placed in moss-lined wire baskets, the same soil being used as recommended for pots. . , Azaleas and camellias nave now made their new growth, and can be placed in a sheltered place outside to ripen up their wood and set the buds for next year. They will require regular watering, and. must not m any circumstances be allowed to become dry. THE FLOWER GABDEfT. Keep the scuffle hoe going through all the beds and borders to destroy young seedling weeds and to break up the surface sou, which has become caked with tho recent wet weather. Provide stakee where necessary, and attend regularly to the tieing of delphiniums, pieonies, and perennial phloxes. ■ Continue to plant out bedding plants, and dahlias can now be put out with safety. Soil for dahlias must be rich. When preparing tho beds dig in a liberal supply of stable manure. Before planting, measure out the beds and place the stakes in position. Oolorette and paeony kinds can bo placed three feet apart and the cactus kinds two feet six inches apart. If planting from old tubers which have been started inside, and hardened off, remove a piece of tuber with each shoot, plant firmly, and tie to tho stake at once. Pieces of tuber without ehoots or buds should not be planted, for they are not likely to grow. Where bottom heat is available, cuttings axe easily rooted, and these, when potted up in three inch pots, can be hardened off and planted out, but plants raised by dividing up the old tubers flower earlier.

We do not like to see bare soil, so carpet the dahlia beds with asters. They flower about the same time and the two make a pleasing combination. The comet or single varieties are usually planted. The different kinds of dahlias aro Colorette, a comparatively new kind, very good for both garden decoration and for cutting; pseony flowered, a useful kind for garden decoration and for massing in largo gardens; cactus flowered, useful for exhibition purposes; the old exhibition doable and the single. The eolorettes, pseony flowered, dud the singles axe easily raised from seed which, if 6own along with the other half hardy bedding plants, and put out in rich soil, will flower well in the autumn.

Continue to thin the flower buds on the roses; spray whenever you see the first sign of either green fly or mildew, and con-, tinue to spray at intervals throughout the summer. Roses 'can also receive supplies of liquid manure now, the most forward and the ramblers receiving the first supplies. Where it is neither convenient or desirable to have barrels of b"quid manure standing about the house or garden some clean substitute can be provided. The following has been found suitable to stimulate growth and aid the development of the buds: Half an ounce of sulphate of ammonia, or one ounco of nitrate of soda in one gallon of water. Another mixture is 31b of superphosphate of lime, and lib of nitrate of potash; dissolve at the rate of loz in a gallon of water. It is better k> change the food, and if the- above mixtures are given in alternate weeks, better results will follow. If the soil is dry, water well with clean water before giving the liquid manure. It is more effectivo when the 6oil is moist, and does not drain away before the roots have a chance to take it up. Tulips jre now over, and tho flower stalks can be ct»t off. The leaves are ripening fast and will soon disappear. They should be cleaned off by the time the roses are at their best VEOETABIJI GAJTOEN. Make further plantings of cabbage, cauliflower, and autumn broccoli, and make further sowings of French beans, lettuce, and epinach to provide a succession. Soil should bo drawn up round the older plants of fabbage and cauliflower to steady them mis windy weather, and a watering with liquid manure will help them on.. If liquid manure is not available, half an oz of sulphate of ammonia dissolved in a gallon of water will do. Thin out crops of turnips, carrots, lettuce, and beet, and keep tho surface eoil stirred with the hoe. The early potatoes are making good growth, and wall soon require their final earthing up, but 'lefoi'e it is done it is advisable to spray them. Any fungicide. will do as a spray, but tho most common is the Bordeaux mirturo summer formula. This is mado by dissolving 41b of sulphate of copper in 20 gallons of water. Take 41b of quick iime and slake it with a little water, and when slaked make up to 20 gallons. Strain this milk of linio into the barrel containing tho sulphate of copper solution, thoroughly stirring while pouring it in. It i. better to make this mixture in a wooden vessel, and; as it deteriorates, it should be applied as soon as possible. For fchoso with only a small plot it will bo better to purchase the Bordeaux paste- from the seedsmen. It is put up in airtight jars am 3 does not spoil, provided the lid is kept on to prevent it from drying. Spraying should be done on a calm day and care should bo taken to wet thoroughly all the foliage, both the under and upper. sides of the leaves. If necessrjy another spraying can be piyen in about a "fortnight or threo weeks' time. •

As Brussels sprouts roquiro a long season of growth to obtain satisfactory results, they should be planted now on well cultivated but not too rich ground. Caro should havo been taken in bringing on the young plants. If the seedlings aro too thick in the eeedbed, they ought to bo thinned out, and 'f tho thinnings aro transplanted into another bed they will provide plants for .1 later planting. Draw drills at least two inches deep, tho same as for cabbage, and allow a distance of 2ft 6in in between the rows, tho plants being placed 2ft apart in the rows. Plant.firmly and see that they aro supplied with water and liquid manure throughout tho summer to ensure a steady growth. In tho autumn the old leaves beoome attacked bj cabbage aphis. They

should, be puOed off and burned or buried

Olery and lock troncheoohoxilcl bo prepared. Both crops require a very rich soil, and iv layer of good stable manure at least 6in to 9in thick can be dus in at tho bottom of each trench. Tho first crop of celery will soon be ready for planting, but it is not necessary to plant it in tranches. Wrllmairured land with drills drawn with the hoe will do. The blanching can be done with brown paper when required. To provide plants for tho main crop, seedlings can now bo pricked out into boxrs of rich soil and grown on steadily until largo enough for planting in tho trenches. Leeks, which were raised in heat and grown on like half-hardy annuals, will be ready for planting out in tho trenches now. ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. "M.H." (Inveronrgill).—The plant you enclosed is neither a freosia nor an ixia but a sparaxis. It is ono of the garden varieties of Sparaxis grandiflora and S. tricolour, and is a very useful bulb for early summer. It grow 3 well in well-drained soil and in a warm position. There is no need to out away your violet leaves until they aro affected with red spider, but the runners can be roinoved at onco if not required for forming new plantations. "Olearia."— Tho holly leaves are eaten by a caterpillar, but they are not likely to do enough damage to injcro tho hedtre. The caterpillars aro also eating tho leaves of tho olearia, but tho malformation on the young sterna is quite a different thincr. As it is on the young growth it will be clipped off when the hedge is cut, and probably will not hurt it very much. Spraying with arsenate of lead will destroy the caterpillar, but I know of no spray which will prevent tho malformation. "E.S." (Palmerston).—The plant enclosed is an acacia, probably acacia cultiformis, but the leaves arc sm->n«r than our plant. Native of New South Wales.