THE GARDEN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19240, 2 August 1924, Page 3

THE GARDEN.

WORK FOR THE WEEK. notes BY t>. TANNOCK. F.R.H.S. THE GREENHOUSE AND NURSERY. Growth is now fairly started under dass, and the potting of all ferns and , oliage plants should bo completed as ;oon as possible. Hydrangea which were at back sorao timo ago can ho taken out it' their old pots, ail loose soil shaken nut, the roots trimmed a bit and then repotted in the same sized pots or those just one size larger. Being greedy plants ■ hey require a good potting mixture with a quantity of old manure and bone meal mixed in, and should bo potted fairly inn. Stand on the bench in the warm house and syringe twice a day to encourage growth, and as the stems should bo limited to three or four all others vhen from two to three inches long can lie removed with a heel, potted up ugly in small thumb pots in a cutting mixtu.ro and -plranged in bottom heat, ■/hero they will soon root and make good plants for flowering next season or for planting outside. Though I uito hardy the newer varieties are unite as hardy as the old, we ilon’t got the same delicate tints outaide. Pot on fuchsias, standard ivy- ' caved geraniums and heliotropes, stand wed boxes up near the light as soon is seedlings appear and prick them out in boxes as soon as they are large enough to handle. The greenhouse calceolarias are also growing rapidly now and will require careful watering, a little weak liquid manure once a week and fumigating occasionally to keep grpen fly in check. Put in chrysanthemum cuttings, • box up ivy-leaved geraniums and make further sowings of early vegetables and half hardy annuals. THE FLOWER GARDEN. The work in the flower garden will be increasing, and in the pruning of deciduous trees and shrubs and the digging or forking of the borders should bo completed at once. Bulbous plants are peeping through the ground, and the surface soil should bo weeded, forked or cultivated to break the surface, and to clean the beds in preparation for the flowering season. It is most important to get the work as far forward as possible now so that wo are able to meet the rush of routine work later on. Tie planting and transplanting of trees and shrubs can also he hurried on, it is possible to plant all through the winter in Dunedin, nut the most satisfactory Reasons are m autumn, just before the leaves are preparing to drop off. and in the spring, when buds are beginning to swell and root action is commencing. I consider that Augnat is one of the most suitable months for planting, and as far as possible we try to carry out most of oura during that month, but wo have transolanfod quite successfully in September. In maintaining a display during the whole vear round in the open garden we have to roly very largely on shrubs during the winter. I hare already mentioned

tho wattles, specially Bailoyana, Chimonajithua fragrans, the “winter sweet’ ’ and Hamemalis japonica, mollis and virginiana, the “Witch hazel” Erica melluithera and several of the other hardy heaths. There is still one more, Garrya elliptica, which though not showy ia quite decorative. It is an evergreen shrub of bushy habit growing to a height of 12 to loft. The flowers are densely crowded on a slender, silvery-grey, pendent catkins, the males being up to 12 inches long and crowded on to the ends of the shoots. This plant is a native of California and Oregon, and was introduced into England by Douglas in 1828. It does not need a rich soil, and is better when planted on a sunny hank and sheltered from tire cold S.W. winds. It is a plant which does not transplant well, and should be put out when quite small. It can be grown from cutting.* or layers. There are several other species, but none so ornamental as elliptica. —The Vegetable and Fruit Garden. — If beetroot and carrots haven’t been lifted they should be got up now and stored in dry sand or soil in a cellar or under a hedge, remove all spent crops, manure and dig all vacant land and keep the soil cultivated among all growing crops. Plant out fruit trees and bushes, finish pruning, rake up leaves, primings, and shrivelled fruits and burn them, afterwards scattering the ashes over the ground and digging them in. Apply winter sprays and complete root pruning. Set up potatoes in sprouting boxes, keep those which have begun to sprout in the light to prevent the shoots from becoming drawn and spindly, and make small plantings of very early varieties on a warm border, or on a mild hotbed in a frame.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. “J. H. 5.,” Duntroon. —You should prune your outdoor vine at once, cutting the young growths back to within an inch of the old wood. Five spurs or side branches should not be too many for* each rod, and they should be from one foot to 18 inches apart. Bone meal or basic superphosphate is a good manure for gladioli. ' Soils.—Tyo soil is the raw material from which gardeners produce their crops and to get the best results in the most economical manner, by giving it the correct treatment. Some knowledge -of its physical character and its chemical composition is necessary. Though soils are usually classified in books as according to the quantities of sand, clay, or organic matter which they contain, for our purpose it is more convenient to classify them roughly according to their .mode of origin. La and around Dunedin we have three more or less distinct kinds of soil, each of course merging into one another in places. Wo have that found on the hills round Dunedin, its characteristic being a clay subsoil topped with a layer of black organic matter usually called bush soil, varying in nature -from six to nine inches in depth, wifih, an intermediate layer also about six to nine inches in depth, composed of friable clay and organic matter. The delay has been formed just where it is, and so also the organic matter, and where it w r as covered with a growth of manuka scrub o* thin bush it did not deteriorate, but bush was cleared in many cases thewpgetable matter was allowed to detenorate through faulty cultivation, until, it has pracically disappeared, leaving little but the clay. Though soils of this class are considered poor, they have great capabilities when properly treated, and in many cases they failed to grow crops because they were saturated and cold during ,"the winter, and dried up during the summer. By a system of bastard trenching whereby the bottom spit is inverted, and broken up in the trench, the organic matter and the friable day thrown on top of it, and the whole area well drained either by means of agricultural pipes, which are tho best, or open ditches. This soil becomes easy to cultivate, it retains water and plant food until the plants require it and by adding organic matter of any kind from time to time, either in the form of green manure dug in a compost heap or strawy stable manure, and just a lime for tho crops which like it, this soil can be made to produce crops of any kind. When we started to dear the scrubby manuka on the hillside for the nursery it was stated by the wiseacres that we would fail to grow crops, hut so far no plant has refused to grow .and it has proved excellent for growing forest trees and general nursery stock. We never water even in the driest years, the cultivated layer of subsoil being able to hold sufficient moisture to maintain growth during the summer and autumn, provided the surface ia kept stirred and cultivated with the scuffle hoe or the wheel hoe. Land of this kind ia wonderfully improved by growing a crop of broom or gorso on it for a few years, both these plants root deeply breaking up the subsoil, and when cleared, they leave nitrogen impregnated nodules in the soil, and tho leaves which they drop add very considerably to the store of organic matter. There are few better soil-improving plants, and it is a pity that they are so aggressive. $) Alluvial soils, such as we get on the flats near rivers and creeks like tbo Leith Valley and the lower gardens. These soils have no very decided sub-soil, tho top gradually merging into shingle or silt. They have been brought down from the surrounding hills by the rivers and creeks and are usually considered to be rich, and easy to cultivate and to drain. Though they have all tho appearance of being rich they are rather deceiving and though' trenched from two to three feet deep fail to grow good crops unless heavily manured with farmyard manure. Being so porus below they dry up readily during summer, and crops require regular applications of liquid manure to maintain satisfactory growth. Wo find it much easier and cheaper to garden on tho hillside than on the flat, and though clay is heavier to work at first it is tho most productive and most profitable in the epd. (5) Peaty soils, also found on the Hat, are formed by the decay of moistureloving plants which have been enabled to grow in almost saturated conditions, and consequently at first are inclined to bo sour and unsuitable for the growth of many plants. When drained, well cultivated and limed with care they improve Considerably, and being easy to work, are appreciated by many gardeners. Crops growing in this kind of soil suffer more during wet weather than during dry, when thev are almost as good at resist ing droughts as the hill soils, provided they are well cultivated on, the surface. Deep cultivation and good drainage will make any soil productive, and though manures are very necessary there is no manure which will take tho place of thorough cultivation, and I would advise all who are forming a new garden or renovating an old one to have it thoroughly trenched in the first place, it will save a lot of labour later on and ensure success from the start.