DUNEDIN GARDENING CLUB

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21390, 18 July 1931, Page 7

DUNEDIN GARDENING CLUB

The Dunedin Gardening Club met on Tuesday evening, when there was a good attendance. Mr ,F. H. Hollingworth preThe subject chosen was “Sweet Peas and Chrysanthemums,” and was in the hands of Mr E. A. Hamel, the well-known grower, who said that it was to be remembered that pink, white, and crimson sweet peas had large seed, and the lavenders and blues had small seed, which were harder to germinate. The large-seeded varieties should be sown one inch deep, and the small-seeded ones half an inch in pots or boxes in damp soil in a warm, sunny place. The soil should consist oi well-rotted turf. The plants did quite well planted in pieces of turf packed together in the bottom of shallow boxes and covered with the finer portions of the soil. No manure should be used. When the plants came up, small twigs ot manuka or other twiggy plants should be inserted for the tendrils to adhere to. The laterals or side shoots were the flowering ones. The first leading shoot did not mature. As to soil they would not stand sour soil, hence they must have good drainage. Where good drainage existed one could not over-water. Very deep trenches were not necessary. It was better to have wide trenches not too deep. Mr Hamel said he was not in favour of a lot of farmyard manure in the bottom of the trench. It used, it should be sweet and well mixed with the bottom soil. A dusting of bone meal (not bone dust, which was too greasy) on the bottom spit was good. At planting time it was best_ to use superphosphate, which was quick in action. Bone meal was a slower manure, and the plants got the benefit later on. bweet peas did best in a good, stift soil or a firm rooting medium. They liked an ouen situation, away from the wind. They should be staked with large meshed wire netting, manuka, or lathes._ . The present was the time, said Mr Hamel, to put in cuttings of chrysanthemums, and the sooner they were in the better. The best cuttings was the plump shoots coming through the soil at the side of old stools. They should be cut close below a joint to about three inches in length, with the bottom leayes removed, and inserted around the inside of a pot in sandy soil, with the base of the cutting resting on a little sand t> They should then be placed in a propagating case in a warm, shady place. Shoot 9 with hard stems dirt not make good cuttings. They, were hard to strike. , , i At the conclusion of Mr Hamel s address several questions were answered, and on the motion of Mr G. F. Booth a very hearty vote of thanks was passed to the speaker.