NEW BEGINNINGS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21734, 27 August 1932, Page 18

NEW BEGINNINGS

DEFINITE PLAN NECESSARY It is a pity (says Amateur Gardening) that many gardens are managed without any preconceived plan of procedure. There are amateur gardeners who go out day by day intent upon doing something in the garden, but with no clear idea as to what that something should be. The result is some time' is wasted in arriving at a decision, and in all probability the task that is tackled is of less importance than one overlooked or postponed. Implicit reliance upon a programme or calendar of operations prepared by some other person is very little better than going ahead with no plan at all. Garden management is essentially a matter of individual concern: Time tables of work are of great assistance to novices who require to be told when is the proper time to sow seeds of onions or antirrhinums, when to plant irises or hollies, and when to take cuttings of dahlias or Salvia fulgens, but it is for the individual to decide whether he shall grow pnions or green pens, antirrhinums or gladioli, Salvia fulgens or fuchsias, and, in order to make a garden satisfy its owner’s desires it must be, planned and controlled on original lines. ’

Experience provides stepping stones to success if and when past failures are carefully investigated and plans are laid with a view to rectifying' errors that caused them. The plants in a certain bed may have failed to flower as anticipated. That may have been due to one of several causes, and the question for consideration is, What is the most apparent or probable of these possibilities ? Were the plants sturdy, healthy, and well-hardened when placed in the bed? Had the soil been well prepared and nourished? Is the situation favourable to the particular kind of plant utilised? Was there any period during the course of development when the plants suffered a check? Can such a chock be avoided by any reasonable means another season? If a repetition of failure seems probable a change of occupants should bo decided upon for that bed, and if that change is decided upon now it may no possible to get the plants all ready, by the bedding season,at less expense than would be involved by producing them at the last moment.

An apple crop may have carried a weighty crop last season, and the value of the fruit was sadly discounted because of disfigurement by scab or attacks by the larvae of the codlin moth. That should show the imperative _ need for spraying the trees with the fluids so frequently recommended for the purpose of fighting these enemies. Portions of the herbaceous border may have been overcrowded, and the effect spoilt through some rampant plant intruding upon its neighbour’s allotted space. That offender should be transferred elsewhere—perhaps to the rubbish heap, in favour of a choicer and less aggressive plant, Shrubs that had ample room when planted may have grown so freely that one thing now spoils another. It is time to decide whether to lift and rearrange the whole group or to sacrifice one or two of the common kinds for the better accommodation of the.more beautiful subjects. The measure of success with many plants raised from seed is frequently reduced through making the mistake of sowing so many seeds at one time that the work of thinning, hardening-off, and transplanting cannot be accomplished before a large proportion of the seedlings become crowded,- drawn, or starved in the pans or trays. It is prudent to make an early start with a limited number of subjects, ensuring that these may be properly dealt with before succession!)! batches are ready for handling.