THE GARDEN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22326, 28 July 1934, Page 7

THE GARDEN

ANSWER TO CORRESPONDENT “Eoslyn ” (Dunedin)—You can cut back the branches of . your ngaio tree now. Poa peniorallis will grow in the shade of a tree, but it will be necessary to water it during very dry weather.

THE GREENHOUSE AND NURSERY Conditions .in the greenhouse usually become somewhat congested at this season, and it- is an advantage to erect shelves near the .glass upon which boxes of seedlings can be placed. Continue to make sowings of halt hardy annuals and to prick out the seedlings as soon as they are large enough to be handled. . , The hardier kinds, such as calendulas and nemesia, can be put out into cold frames, but it is not safe to put anything outside altogether yet. Sow seeds of begonias, gloxinias, streptocarpus, gesnerias, and browallias. Continue to pot hyd ranges, the old plants, into seven and eight-inch pots, and the young ones to fives and sixes. Sow 'seeds of . celery,' tomatoes, cucumbers, and melons. - ■. Give cinerarias, cyclamen and primulas, which are how coming on rapidly, a weak liquid manure once a week. Continue to put - in cuttings of chrysanthemums as they become available, and as soon as they are rooted pot into three-inch pots and stand on a shelf near the glass. The border kinds can be put into boxes and stood in the greenhouse or in a frame, v l ', ‘ w , ,It is not yet too late to make and put in : Cuttings, of fruit bushes, such as. gooseberries and currants arid hardy trees and shrubs; , , . Continue to pot or top-dress terns, palms,-and other foliage plants. •Prune and regulate the growths of greenhouse climbers and - top-dress the. borders? or. pots in which they are growComplete the pruning, cleaning, and top-dressing pf > vines.' THE FLOWER GARDEN Prune roses, afterwards manuring and digging the beds and borders and spraying, them with lime sulphur, winter strength,— - , . , ~ - , Plant roses and all kinds of trees and shrubs whenever the soil is in good working ordef. . • Divide up strong-growing herbaceous plants and manure and dig the borders. If farm yard manure is not Available, give a dusting of bone meal or blood and Prune ornamental trees and shrubs and fork or ' dig the borders. Fork among daffodils' and' other spring flowering bulos and give a dressing of superphosphate and lime. ' • ‘ ■ ... ■Fasten black cotton Ipver carnations and primrose. polyanthus to protect them from birds. Dust.under and round rock plants 111111 lime to keep away slugs. Make ~a./planting .of gladioli and complete the planting of lilies. _,PI ant carnations and pinks, THE VEGETABLE AND FRUIT GARDEN Owing to the wet condition of the ground the planting of fruit bushes may have been delayed. This work should be completed as soon as possible.

WORK FOR THE WEEK

NOTES BY "35WSg S D. TAN NOCK, a.h.R.H.S. *

As soon as soil conditions are favourable. a few early potatoes should be planted and a row of peas and broad beans sown. Collect materials and make up a hotbed for bringing on seedlings of cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, onions, leeks, celery and mustard and cress. Lift and replant rhubarb. Complete the pruning of fruit trees and bushes and spray with red oil for scale insects and winter bordeaux for mildew and other fungoid diseases. Old trees intended for grafting should be cut over and the young wood intended for scions should be collected, labelled, and buried in the soil to keep it fresh. Plant shallots and garlic. Force rhubarb and seakale by covering them with boxes or barrels and heaping fermenting manure and leaves round them. PRUNING PEACHES Though peaches can be grown in the bush or tree form in the warmer fruitgrowing districts, in the towns they are more satisfactory when trained fanshaped against a wail or fence. When planted against a warm, sheltered wall they seldom fail to set and ripen good crops of fruit, and the tree is an ornamental one when in flower in the spring and, later. . when the fruit is ripening. During the summer a certain amount of thinning should be done and the selected shoots tied in, but one generally retains more than there is room for in case of accidents. By delaying pruning until now it is possible to distinguish between the fruit buds and the shoot buds. The fruit buds are usually borne in pairs or triplets at the nodes , which were the axils of the leaves, and they are short, round and flat on top, while the shoot buds are thin and pointed, and not very evident except on the unripened tips of the branches. As a rule, trees have a. tendency to produce young growth at the ends of the main branches and to become bare in the centre. When pruning, one should aim at keeping the tree clothed with young growth all over, and it may be necessary to remove large branches altogether to allow room for the development of the. young growths which arise near the centre. After removing any dead and decaying wood and large branches, the thin twiggy growths should be reduced to 1 one to every six or eight inches of wail space. The tips of the shoots which are thin and unriperied should be cut back to a shoot hud and fastened to the wall with nails and string shreds, or tied on top of the old and bare branches. An effort should be made completely to cover the wall space with young growths, and these should be tied in as straight as possible, radiating from the centre of the tree. After pruning, spray with winter, Bordeaux mixture, and if the soil is light and likely to become dry during the summer give a mulch of well-rotted farmyard manure. If inclined to be heavy give a dressing of three ounces superphosphate and one ounce, of kainit to a square yard and lightly fork it in. A dusting of lime applied at the same time woiild also bo an advantage. Nectarines are pruned in the same way, but as apricots bear their fruit on spurs, like plums, as well as on the young growths, less young wood should be left. CARNATIONS AND PINKS As garden flowers the carnations and pinks in their- many forms, and varieties are as popular as ever, and as a greenhouse plant for providing cut flowers during the winter and early spring the tree carnation is extensively cultivated. Tree carnations can be grown in a cold greenhouse or a frame. They would be found very useful after the chrysanthemums ;are oyer and will fepntiuue until the tomatoes'are ready to he planted out. VUulike the border carnations, they produce their young shoots up the stem, and if bottom heat is available these can be taken off and put into small pots of sandy soil and plunged into a propagating bed with bottom neat. If no heat is available, it would be better to wait and make up a bed of sandy soil in a frame. The plants should be laid over-on their sides and the young growths layered in the same ;way as recommended for the border kinds. Carnations like a dry, buoyant, atmosphere with plenty of air whenever outside conditions are favourable. Border and perpetual border kinds which were layered last autumn if not already planted out in their permanent positions, should have been lined in a sand bed in a shelteied position or potted into four-inch pots and wintered in a cold frame. They can now be planted out and will thrive in' any well-drained position where the soil is not acid or too heavy. They like plenty of lime and sea sand, and a liberal dressing of this can be worked into the top layer of soil before planting. A dusting of bone meal of superphosphate can also be given. Carnations are very satisfactory in narrow borders or beds by themselves and are also effective when planted iii groups in the herbaceous border or associated with the roses. I consider that carnations and roses go very well together and they are useful for filling in the spaces among newly-planted rose beds, which never require the full space allotted to them the first year. They flower in between the first and second crops of roses and so maintain the display of colour. They also like the soil and conditions provided for roses, with the addition of the sea sand. Planting should be done at from 15 to 18 inches apart, either in groups or rows. It should be done firmly, and as birds often pull the leaves to pieces they should be protected with a few strands of black cotton. When planted in borders by themselves they should be elevated a few inches above the surrounding soil and the soil kept in position with a row of stones or bricks over which the interesting and sweet-scented hardy pinks could be grown. Pinks ,are raised from cuttings and put into boxes in the autumn. They should now be well rooted and ready to plant out. They are effective when grown in masses on large • rock gardens, on dry walls, or as edgings for rose or other beds. They, too, like lime and sea sand, and could be planted at from 12 to 15 inches apart. The old-fashioned double white pink, Mrs Sinking, is still a favourite, and the newer Alhvoodii in their many varieties are very fine and popular. Gladys Cranefield is a particularly fine pink with a conspicuous crimson centre suitable for the rock garden or edgings. Allwoodii Alpinus is a new race of hardy pinks raised by crossing Allwoodii with dianthus alpinns, c. cassius, and other alpine pinks. It has the neat dwarf of alpinus and the perpetual flowering characteristics of Allwoodii. It is very useful for groups on the rock.garden, dry walls, and edgings in a dry sunny: position. Marguerite carnations are annuals which should be raised from seed sown now and grown like ordinary half-hardy annuals and planted out on a well-drained border into which a good dressing of lime rubble and sea sand has been worked. They produce quantities of beautifully-scented and fringed flowers in the autumn and early winter, and are useful as cut flowers for house decoration. Named varieties of the various types of carnations, pinks, and Allwoodii can be obtained and afterwards propagated by means of layers and cuttings, but they can also be grown from seed, and if a carefully selected strain is obtained good varieties can be grown. There are a great many species of pinks suitable for the rock garden or the dry wall, the best of which are D. alpinus and D.-neglectus. D. alpinus is a dwarf tufty plant which produces large deep rosecoloured flowers. D. negiectus has tutty grass-like foliage and rich pink flowers out of all proportion to the size of the plant. D. cassius, the Chedder Pink, D. deltoides, and D. granitieus are just a few of the many species which are suitable for the sunny rock garden.