THE GARDEN WORK FOR THE WEEK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20870, 9 November 1929, Page 7

THE GARDEN WORK FOR THE WEEK

NOTES BY -sSffipGai

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. "Jane,” Leith Valley.—The name of the tree is Miro, Podocarpus ferrugs- - A native. “ J.C.,” Waitahuna.—You should have pinched the tips out of your chrysanthemums some time ago. You will have to cut them back a fair amountnow to prevent them from becoming too long and lank. They should be out In the open now. “ J.M.,” Woodslde,—You should spray your quince tree with Bordeaux nurture (summer formula) ui lime sulphur. It would also be an advantage to cut away most of the affected twigs and bum them. THE GREENHOUSE AND NURSERY. All the bedding plants should be out in the open by now, and this will give more room for the real glasshouse occupants, such as calceolarias, hydrangea, schizanthus, and clarkias, which are now coming into flower, and pelargoniums and tuberous begonias, which are coming on rapidly. No sooner do we get rid of the old plants of cinerarias and primulas than we have to make preparations for next season’s supply. A small sowing can be made of the large-flowered cinerarias and the Chinese primulas, and the main sowing of Primula malacoides and P. Kewensis, which take a longer time to reach the flowering stage, should be made at once. Cyclamen, as they come from the greenhouse, can be placed in a frame and shaded from strong sunshin D until they gradually ripen off, when thoy can be taken inside and laid on their sides under the greenhouse stage. They an not like bulbs, and do not like excessive drying up, or they will shrivel. Hippeastrums, which have now finished flowering, can be plunged in a bed of tan in the warm house, and encouraged to make foliage by regular water and frequent spraying until they show signs of ripening off. THE FLOWER GARDEN. Wallflowers, anemones, and tulips are still making a good display in the beds in the flower garden, and it is a pity to remove them too soon. It is not necessary, however, to leave bulbous or tuberous rooted plants in the ground until they have'quite ripened down. As soon as they are past their best they can be lifted carefully and lined in either a bed of sand or fine rahes or in a well-drained part of the vegetable garden where the ripening process can be completed. Thin out hardy annuals as soon as the seedlings are large enough to handle; plant out all kinds of summer and autumn bedding plants, and keep the soil in the beds and borders of perennials stirred with the scuffle hoe at all times. A mulching of well-rotted manure will be appreciated by both tree and herbaceous paeonics. ROSES. Roses are making excellent foliage this season, and already the buds are developing in a promising manner. Last week I described the preparation of liquid manure, and if the barrels were put into use the first draw off can be made now. This is very , strong, and should be diluted by adding an equal quantity of clean water .before it is applied. Where three barrels are available, give those which get the sheep manure the first week, the cow manure the next, and the horse the following, so that in the end the plants will all have had the same drink. Should liquid manure be out of the question, a dry mixture, composed of 31b of superphosphate, lib nitrate of potash, can be made and this applied as liquid by dis solving loz in a gallon of water. Follow this up in a week’s time with loz of sulphate of ammonia dissolved in a gallon of water. Should the soil be very light and very dry, a watering with clean water should be given before the liquid manure, but so far the soil is not too dry and rain is promising. To ge* good flowers is necessary to reduce the buds to one on each shoot, and this can be attended to now. Green fly is also appearing, and quantities of these can be squashed during the process of disbudding. Green Fly (Macros!phum rosae and other species).—The rose aphis, or green fly, belongs to nine distinct species, all of which are very troublesome unless attacked in good time. Gardeners have no doubt - wondered at the rapid rate at whiph this pest multiplies. One week theie are a few, in another week or two the shoots are smothered, and owing to their colour the insects are not easily seen until they have done considerable damage. In spring the race starts with a mother queen or stem mother—a wingless female—and this parent produces living young in an a sexula manner by simply budding off. These larva: soon mature and start producing other wingless females, and in a short time other generations appear until the stems become smothered. When they become overcrowded some of the wingless females develop wing buds (in fact become pupce), which give rise to winged females which fly off to other plants and quickly start to produce wingless creatures like their parents. These winged forms may fly from one rose to another, or they may attack other plants which they like. Near the end of the season they produce males as well as sexual females, and they, after being fertilised, lay their eggs on the plants. The eggs remain all the winter in the axils of buds, on the stem or leaves, and in the spring they hatch out mother queens, which again begin the rapid method of multiplication if food is abundant. Green fly not only sucks the juices out of the young tender shoots and thus robs the plants, but it also excretes a sticky substance called honey dew, which adheres to the leaves and stems and blocks up the breathing pores. Dust sticks to this, and, in time a fungus grows on it, causing what is known as sooty blight, which disfigures plants. The

respiration of an aphis is by means of breathing pores at the side of the body. To kill them these pores may be closed up by some sticky substance such as soft soap, which will also hold the poison nicotine on them, and so allow it to penetrate their bodies. For spraying, lib of soft soap is dissolved in 25 gallons _ of water, and applied as hot as possible. To this may be added 2Jlb of quassia chips. The effect of the latter is very beneficial, as it acts as a stimulant anff cleanser to the leaves, and is said to have a direct effect on the insects. The soft soap and quassia wash is made as follows:—Dissolve the soft soap in boiling water (rain water if possible); boil the quassia chips or let them simmer for about 12 hours, adding enough water to keep them covered; every now and- then strain off the liquid extract and pour into the dissolved soap, stirring it well. Add enough hot water to bring up to 26 gallons. .Nicotine wash is considered to be the_ most effective insecticide for destroying green fly, and this may be safely used with soft soap. Dissolve 2oz of soft soap in 10 gallons of hot water and add three-quarters to loz of 90 per cent, nicotine. This will not only destroy aphis but also kill young caterpillars and thrips. Fortunately the aphis does not have it all its own way in the insect world. It has many natural enemies which help to keep its numbers down. Some lay their eggs in the aphides and the maggots eat them out; others lay their eggs among them and their larva pick off the green fly and suck it dry, and others lay their eggs among the young aphides, the resulting maggots feeding ravenously upon them. The ladybirds do good in both stages, for adults and larvae feed upon the green fly incessantly. We should not see any signs of mildew for some time yet, but should it appear loz of sulphate of potassium can be dissolved in a gallon of water and added to the soft soap spray. THE VEGETABLE AND FRUIT GARDEN. Now that we have had some rain annual weeds of all kinds will make their appearance, and advantage should be taken of warm sunny days to scuffle hoe all land, whether cropped or not. This will not only cut off the weeds early in their career, but will provide a surface mulch and shut in the moisture. Thin out all seedling crops—not too much at first, for it is better to have two thinnings, a preliminary one as soon as the plants are large enough to handle, and another later when we can distinguish the most desirable plants to leave. It is not necessary to thin out early crops such as shorthorn carrots and white tu* nips very much, as both of these can bo used when quite small, and the thinning used in the kitchen. The main crop kinds require more room to develop. Large specimens are not desirable, except for exhibition purposes, and if the soil has been liberally manured, from four to six inches will be enough between carrots, six to nine inches between bee; and turnips, end nine inches to twelve between parsnips. Draw up the soil on sides of the row of peas, and then provide sticks or some other suitable sup port about a- foot highe than the heigh' given on the packet. Fork between throws of potatoes to break up all lumps, apd then draw up the soil, forming a ridge, but taking care not to cover the leaves, Maincrop kinds can still be planted, but I am afraid the sets will have exhausted themselves making growths. Make further sowings of peas to maintain a succession, and put in the main sowing of French and butter beans an-’ scarlet runners. There should be no danger of frost when they come through the ground. Vegetable marrows can now be planteo out with safety, but some slight protection round them, such as a few twiggy branches which will shelter them from cold winds, will be an advantage at nrm Tomatoes can also be planted outside now, though it is much better to grow them on in pots for another fortnight, anJ until they show their first bunch of flowers. Those who raise their own sup plies of cabbage, broccoli, and other winter greens can make a small sowing now. If the plants are ready before a place is available they can be trans planted into a nursery bed at about six inches apart, and after being well watered, they will lift with a good ball of soil when being transplanted to their permanent position and suffer very little check. Those who have not a frame or glasshouse in which they can grow cucumbers can grow the ridge variety in a warm, sheltered position in the open. They can bo grown on hillocks like vegetable marrows, or on a specially prepared bed. Thu Is formed by taking out the soil to p depth of 18 inches, piling it up on either side like a very wide celery trench, and then putting in two feet of fresh stable manure mixed with leaves. Put about a foot of soil back over the manure, and a few days later the plants can be put out at about two feet apart. If possible shelter with a handlight or bell glass for. a few days, and when the vines are about a foot long pinch out the points of the shoots t- cause branching. A crop of lettuce can be taken from the be: while the cucumbers arc advancing

an early Species with fine rosy lilac heads. That indispensable family Erinus alpinus, with all its forma (there are three varieties—purple, carmine, and white) is a delightful little coloniser, self sowing freely in crevices, which are just waiting to be filled up. The Armerias are much in evidence just now. These plants have proved their adaptability to the recent dry spell, and A. Bees Ruby and A. Cephalotes rubra are very showy. The much shorter W. B. Child, with pure white flowers, makes a pleasing break in these rather shrilltoned pinks. Lithospernums are of course in great form just now, L. prostratum and Heavenly Blue being covered with bloom. L. rubro coeruleum with its deep blue flowers seems also to like the dry weather. Both L. graminifolium and L. Petreum are full of promise, the grey green of the latter already showing the purple which precedes the gentian blue of its dainty blossoms. The two latter plants, like so many others with i drooping flowers, must be placed well up in the line of sight, or one may possess them for years and never fully realise their beauty. In most gardens there is generally a spot which is very dry, and difficulty is experienced in growing any plants in such a corner. I put forward a special claim for the sun roses or Helianthemums. They are undoubtedly plants for the sun, and they revel in a site which receives its full rays, flowering in continuous profusion during the height of summer. There are reds (double and single), pinks, yellows, whites, and old gold. No rock garden, however small, is ever complete without a few Ramondias. They are hardy and easily grown if afforded the right position. The principal and best-known species is R. Pyrenaica, a native of the Pyrenees; it forms a large flat rosette of dark green crinkly leaves, which fit quite close to the rock. The flowers are borne on stems four inches long, and are a beautiful violet purple with orangC' eye. In R. Nathalie we have another variety from Servia, with flowers of a rich violet shade with bright orange anthers. Wahlenbergia \pumilio is a charming little alpine flowering in a crevice in full sun. The plants make a tuft of shining silver loaves two inches in length. From these there appear in November numerous dainty cups of an amethyst shade, ’ A 'shrub of great beauty admirably suited for the rock garden is Cytisus purpureus. It is at present smothered in bloom, and its arching habit gives it a very charming appearance. Onions rotundifolia is a neat and pretty shrub, also ln jower. It is about 12 inches in height, and has rose coloured flowers. Gentians, Saxifrages, Arenarias, and others will be dealt with in these columns later.