THE GARDEN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20952, 15 February 1930, Page 7

THE GARDEN

THE WEEK^g

THE GREENHOUSE AND NURSERY.

Tuberous begonias will be about their best now, arid to keep them flowering and to obtain the best effects it is necessary to keep the old flowers picked off, the female ones, removed and the double ones supported in' some way, either by wires or heat bamboo stakes. Continue to give ’liquid’ manure once a week, and water freely. .“ ' - With the improved weather conditions it is possible to ventilate freely, and tomatoes should receive .all the air it is possible to give them, so long as cold winds are kept out. They should be ripening freely now, . and more water will be required, with liquid manure once a week if the root run is restricted to a tin. .

be moved on to Bih pots. Use as good soil as possible, and one composed of two parts loam, one part leafmould and wellrotted manure, half a part sand or lime rubble, and a little bone meal will be very suitable. Wash the pots clean, both inside and outside, and pot firmly.:' Palma-and ferns are also very useful house plants, but they do not require repotting as often as aspidistras. Remove any surface soil in which there are no roots, ,see that' the drainage is all right,. and : top-dress with a little of the soil already described, making it firm' and level on top. When house plants require feeding, and the Usual supplies of liquid manure made from cow -or horse manure are not available, a teaspoonful of Cloy’s fertiliser or guano dissolved in a gallon of water will do very well; This can be applied once a fortnight during the growing season, but only after the plant "has been saturated with clean water.

Diseases and pests often appear and disappear for no apparent reason, but I consider much of the trouble is due to faulty soil conditions, such as lack of drainage and scarcity of potash. Hollyhocks are usually most satisfactory when grown against a wall, where the soil has been deeply moved to provide foundations, and quantities of brickbats and lime rubble are often mixed with it. Hollyhocks are quite easily raised from seed, which comes fairly, true to colour, and, though a proportion will be singles, they are most showy and. attractive. Prick out. the seedlings as soon as they are large enough to handle into boxes, keep in frames at first, but later on in the open and plant out in their permanent positions in March or April. Two fine shrubs suitable for dry sunny banks or for a large rock garden are floweririg at the present time. Both belong to the pea family (Leguminosae), one is Geneseo Etruentis or (Mount Etna bloom) and the other, NastoSpartiun Cormichseiia, New Zealand pink bloom. Both are practically leafless with pendant branches, and both are easily raised from seed, which should be collected and sown as soon as ripe, as members of the pea family do not transplant easily, it is better to sow two or three seeds in small Sin pots, and to plant the seedlings opt in their permanent positions when ■ quite small. They can be grown from cuttings, but seedlings are more satisfactory. THE VEGETABLE AND FRUIT GARDEN. This is not a time for sowing or planting very much in the vegetable garden; the weather is'usually too hot and dry, and crops would be too late to mature before winter and too early to stand over and come in next spring. The second early crop of potatoes can now be dug, spent crops removed, and all vacant ground limed and dug over in preparation for sowing and planting later on. ■ Continue to earth up celery and leeks, and to cultivate among growing crops.

Foliage plants required for house decoratioh, and, in fact, all house plants, will have exhausted the soluble plant food which was provided when they were repotted or top-dressed in the spring. I notice'd in a home jqgirnal the.other day that aspidistras were becoming the •fashion again. Some people make fun of the aspidistra and say that it is the only plant which a woman can’t kill, and certainly they _will stand a lot of ill treatment or misplaced kindness. There is a great difference, however, between a well-grown specimen with green or variegated leaves, and the plant with a few stunted leaves withered at the tips and merely existing. Provided they are watered regularly and fed occasionally, they will continue to. grow though potbound, but in time they are better to be divided up. Though this is not the best -time for dividing up aspidistras or repotting palms and ferns, when a greenhouse is available to start them off in, where no greenhouse is available the present time is probably most suitable. The weather will be warm for some time, and the roots will have time to’ completely occupy the new soil befo-- winter sets in. It is not advisable to break up the plants-into small pieces, but a good, well-grown specimen in an Sin pot will make three or four plants suitable for Cm pots.' It is better to put them into as smal* pots’ as possible, at first, and y the following potting season they can

The best way to water pot plants is to pour it on top and allow the surplus to run off through the drainage hole in the bottom of the pot, but, as it is necessary to carry out house plants, one does not care to water oftener than is absolutely necessary. A good plan is to stand foliage plants under the tap, to turn it on a little, and allow it to spray overhead for half an hour. This will wash the foliage and saturate the roots, and if the plant is packed round with moss in a fancy bowl, one watering a week will be sufficient. When one has a greenhouse, the best results are obtained by changing, the plants once a week. Flowering plants, such as begonias, cinerarias, primulas, and potted bulbs ate also suitable for house decoration when not kept in for more’than a week at a time.

At local flower shows there is usually a class for foliage plants, and some excellent specimens of aspidistras, asparagus or palms are often staged. To render the foliage fresh and glossy, it is often sponged with a mixture of milk and water, but this should be washed off as soon as the plants return homo, for the film of milk prevents free breathing, and plants breath through' their leaves to a greater extent than through' any other part. THE FLOWER GARDEN.

There has been .a tendency for onions to become thick necked and to remain green instead of ripening off. Ripening is often assisted by twisting the necks of the plants a bit it bending them over, and another method is to cut the half of the roots with a sharp scuffle hoe. Growers on a large scale roll a light barrel over their plants, which comes to the same thing as twisting their necks.'

The rambler roses, which have again proyed their value in any kind of weather, are nearly over now, and where possible the old stems which have flowered can he cut right out and young ones tied in their place. Where it is not possible to replace the old stems by young ones, the old flowers can be cut off, and whatever young growth there is is tied in its full length. The second crop of, roses on the bush plants is coming on well, and ,we trust it will experience better weather conditions than the first. Growth should be free, and there should not be any need for feeding, but a certain amount of thinnin l * will give better, flowers. Spray for both mildew and green fly, and keep the surface soil'stirred* up with the scuffle hoe. . The advantage of established perennials and biennials was again demonstrated during the past season, and while the newly planted tender annuals were stuck, delphiniums, iris, phlox, paconies, a'quilegias, Canterbury bells, and sweet Williams were growing and flowering as freely as possible. Hardy annuals such as godetias, clarkias, candytufts, mignonette, Scotch marigolds, lovateros, ami larkspurs are very satisfactory just now, and these can be sown in the autumn very successfully. _ They will germinate and make a certain amount of growth, and then remain in a state of suspended animation during the winter, but being established will grow away and flower during the early 'summer. Borders devoted to annuals alone are very satisfactory. They can be sown as a catch crop among newly planted shrubs, or in groups in the mixed or herbaceous bolder. It is still rather soon to sow, but seeds should be obtained in preparation for sowing next month. Stately hollyhocks are a feature of most gardens at the present time, and they are great favourites. At one time they could be treated as hardy perennials—cut down in the autumn after flowering they would spring up again in the spring. For a time the dreaded hollyhock disease was very troublesome, and the only satisfactory way to overcome it was to treat the plants as biennials or half hardy annuals, and to .throw them out after flowering. This may still be necessary in some districts, but lately I have noted a number of cut-back plants doin'* well. °

Bush fruits will now be over, and whore they have made a lot of young wood this should be thinned out a bit to allow sun and air to get to all parts and thereby secure good ripening. The old canes of raspberries can ■ be cut right out and the young ones thinned out a bit. Weeds should be kept in check, and, where the soil has become tramped down while picking the crop, it can be forked or dug over. Old bushes which are diseased or otherwise unsatisfactory should be dug right out and burned, and the position they occupied limed and dug over in preperatipn for autumn planting. Raspberry L'oyd George has again proved a satisfactory continuous fruiting variety. It sprawls and spreads; and it is difficult to get it to conform to the usual rules laid down for the management of ordnavy raspberries. The young canes do not grow long enough to arch over, nor are they suitable for tying up to stakes or wires, but they are strong enough to do without supports, and the fruits arc hidden from the birds. As it such a spreader, wc soon got sufficient canes to start a new plantation or extend an old one. A NOVEL USE FOR GRASS MOWINGS. fn a season like the present, when the lawns had to be mown twice a week at least, the profitable disposal of the mowings is a problem. The suggestion is to take out the celery trench in the usual way in the early spring, and to put the mowings into it from time to time, turning them over occasionally to assist rotting. By the time the celery ready to plant most of the mowings will have rotted down, to a few inches. Three inches of good soil is placed on top of them, and the celery planted in it. CROPS FOR THE GREENHOUSE FLOOR. The space under the greenhouse stage can be utilised for forcing such crops as rhubarb, seakale, and cbickory. The roots are packed upright in ordinary

boxes, and these are prepared in the usual way with drainage holes and a little manure in the bottom. Ordinarv old potting soil will do for filling in the spaces among the roots, and after one good watering they will require little attention, until the shoots begin to grow. They must be covered to exclude light. The temperature maintained for ordinary greenhouse plants will be sufficient to stimulate early growth.