GARDENING NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17426, 21 September 1918, Page 3

GARDENING NOTES.

Bx D. Tanxock.

WORK FOR THE WEEK. THE GBEENHOUSE AND FBA3EES. Continue to prick out seedlings of halfhardy annuals and to place those which have become established in their boxes out into the frames to harden oft To make room tor the annuals, geraniums which were put mto the frames some time ago can now be l .outside in a sheltered place; but one SfT- I , s , fuJJy to the sun. We are still liable to have frosty nights, and as a precaution it is wise to Greet a framework over them and spread a, piece of Bcrim over it at nights. Fuchsias intended as standards for bedding out can now be lifted and potted up mto pots just large enough to take the roots. back fill de&d "wood, stand in tho warm greenhouse, and syringe twice a day to encourage them to break into growth. Xnougii this past winter has been far more severe than usual our old plants have come through it all 'right when lined in at tho side of a bamboo hedge. Young plants grown from cuttings rooted last will now be' in four or five-inch pota J these can be potted on to sdx or seveninch pots, staked, and pruned to encourage regular growth Vines growing in unheafed houses can now be started into growth. Shut np the house early m the afternoons to bottle up the sunheat, _ and syringe the reds twice a day, damping the paths and walls to maintain a moist atmosphere. Ventilate carefully and guard against draughts. Tomatoes can still be planted out under glass, and those intended for fruiting in the open air should be potted on as soon as they are large enough. Vegetable marrows can now be sown either in small Dots or pieces of turf so thai they can be planted out later on with the minimum destruction oi roots. A rather ingenious method of raising marrow plants which I noted last year was to sow two seeds in a bird's nest filled with nice light soil. The plants had plenty of room to root, and when planting out, nest and all, were put in the soil thereby preventing disturbance of the roots. . 2 / ° n . tlr ? u ° to P°t up the chrysanthemums intended for pot culture, and as soon as they are established in their pots shift them out into a frame, shading them from the strong sun for a few days at first.

THE FLOWEB GARDEN. The work of digging beds and borders of herbaceous plants, clipping edges of beds and paths and the mowing of lawns, which has been delayed through the wet and cold weather, must now be rushed on to get it completed and the garden tidy in time for the mam spring display of daffodils and primroses. Rose pruning should be completed bv now, and tho beds and borders dug in preparation for planting out the carnations violas, and pansies. Rambler roses are now well started, and they should be examined from time to time for green fly. It is often unobserved until the_ leaves and buds begin to drop off (and it is too late then). If green fly is detected the plants should be sprayed with, warm soapy water once a week until the colour appears jn the buds. When digging the herbaeous border some of the strong-growing things, such as shasta daisies and miohaelmaa daisies can be divided. The old clump should be lifted, the place where it grew deeply dug and enriched with well-decayed stable manure, and a small piece of the outside' of the plant put back.

Delphiniums and herbaceous phloxes, which should not be disturbed, can bo thinned out to five or more shoots to each plant and light stakes provided, so that they can bo tied up at once, for there is a great danger of the young- soft stems being broken out with the spring storms. There are several strong growing and rapid spreading plants, like _ perennial sunflowers and polygonums, which spread at such a rate that they would soon smother out everything else in the border if left alone. These should be reduced to reasonable limits by forking out all the enterprising suckers which spread out in all' directions. Michaelmas daisies should .now be replanted. They are such greedy plants and they spread at such a rate that they exhaust the soil and form largo clumps that they can't send up the strong stems with abundance of side branches which jure so much admired. Lift the whole bolder, and bo careful that the varieties don't get mixed. Cover up the plants with grass or strawy manure, give the border a liberal dressing of well-decayed stable manure, and dig it in. If the soil is dry and light tramp it before planting. Plant back a piece of the outside of the clump, and if the border is largo enough plant the varieties in groups of three or five. When they grow, thin out the stems to five on each plant, and provide each plant with a small stake, to bo replaced by a strong stake for each stem later on.

Daffodils, primrose polyanthus, and wallflowers are coming on fast. Keep the soil round them stirred up with the scufflo hoe to destroy weeds and to admit air to the soiL

Plant in the bog and waterside garden are pushing up, and they should bo cleaned and tidied up. As the soil is always in a semi-saturated conditi6n, scuffle hoeing has little effect on the weeds; therefore it is necessary to fork among the smaller plants and pull the weeds out. After clearing off tho foliage from such things as Japanese iris and cannas they should be mulched with farmyard manure, and to encourage such things as rhubarbs, gunneras, polygonums, and bocoonias, which aro grown for their lairge tropical-like foliage, they, too, should get a liberal mulching with farmyard manure, cow manure being better than that from horses, if you can get it. Water lilies are now commencing to grow, and in email ponds, where they are liable to become overcrowded, they should be replanted every year. In largo public ponds, where there is a good depth of water and plenty of mud in the bottom, in which they can root, it is not necessary to disturb them for several years. In shallow ponds they can be planted in largo pots, Wire baskets, or brick pits. Use a good, heavy loam which has been stacked with a layer of cow manure between each layer of turf is the best, but good, heavy potting loam, to which has been added a liberal quantity of well-rotted stable manure, will do. A mixture of loam two parts, manure one part, 6and half a part will be found suitable. Lift the old plants, separate the tubers out, and plant back the strongest one burying it up to the top of the tnher in the soil. "When planting in a fairly deep pond with a muddy bottom it- is a good idea to make small baskets out of pieces of old wire netting. Fill them with soil as already rccommendcd, plant a tuber in each; elosc over tho netting and sink in the pond. The lilies will root in the soil and afterwards root through the basket into tho mud. Water lilies require all the heat and sunshine they can got, and will not thrive in a place where they are at all shaded at any time of the day, and to collect this heat it is advisable to form the banks of tho pond with large stones, which become heated during the day and radiate it off at nights, thus helping to maintain a suitable temperature. As water plants obtain their oxygen from the water as well as from the air it is necessary to aerate the water either by causing the inflow to tamb!e_ over a miniature fall or cafci.de, or. if it is obtained from a town supply with pressure, a fountain can be formed. Water lilies, which are easy to obtain and are quite hardy, * are Neninhjea-aTba, the oommon white water li'.v; N. Marliacea ebromatella. 'with creamv yellow .flower and peculiarly marked foliage; N. Marliacea, delicate blurb tint; N.M. roses has fragrant flowers of soft rope colour, and N. M. Robin°oni has a wonderful combination of violet red, vermilion oncl yellow ochTO. Aponogeton distaehyon » a stroDS-growinjj water plant auitablo

for a large pond, where it has plenty of room. Its flowers are hawthorn-scented, and it lias long, narrow leaves. A list of plants suitable for (lie bog and waterside garden is as follow:—Astilbc Davidii Caltlm palustras. the rnarsh marigold and a strong growing kind. 0. polypetala, Epilobium nugustifolium, the willow herb, Funkia sieboldoana. the plantain lily in its many varieties, Lobelia eardinalis and L. syphilitica, Gunnera manioafci, and C. scabra, liko giant rhubarlis. Iris Kaompfori, the Japanese iris, I. Pfoudo-ncorns, the English wild Iris, I. siberiea, Kniphofia uloidns, the_ red hot poker plant, Mcconopsis_ Walliehi, Troliua eni'preus, T. nsiaticus, Primula japonica, P. Siklamensis, P. rosea, I. fcronost, P. capita to, Rheum palmatuin, bexifrag'a pcllahi, Rodgersia. podaphylla fcepocio elivodum, Spira>a. palmata, s' ulmaria, S aruneiis, S. filipendula, and several willows. _ THE VEGETABLE OAHDEX. Continue to sow seeds of tho early varieties of vegetables and to plant carlv potatoes, also .break up the soil in preparation for sowing the main crop vegetables, and planting the main crop potatoes later on. ANSWER TO CORRESPONDENT. •a! lI ~ You should sponge your palms with soapy water, and afterwards syringe them with clean water. Cyclamen can bo propogated by cutting the corms, but thev are moro satisfactory when grown from seed