THE GARDEN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22356, 1 September 1934, Page 7

THE GARDEN.

NOTES BY *D.TANNOCR. A.H.R.H.S.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS * Maize,” Duncdin.-r-You should sow your maize in a box of light sandy soil and afterwards transplant to an'eightinch pot. The soil most suitable would be fibry loam three parts, leafmould and old rotted manure one part and half a part sand and lime rubble. Do not fill the pot full at first, but leave room for three inches of topdressing later on. When growing well, give liquid manure made by dissolving one ounce of sulphate of ammonia in two gallons of water. Give this once a fortnight. * Subscriber,” Oamaru. —To put a piece of copper wire or a copper tack in the stem of a tomato plant to prevent disease would not do_ the plant any harm, but I do not think it will keep off disease unless you maintain a dry, buoyant atmosphere and attend to the usual cultural details.

THE GREENHOUSE AND NURSERY Chrysanthemums are making_ lots of young growths round the base of the old flower stem, and these can be taken and put in as cuttings, the large flowered kinds in small pots and the border kinds in boxes. The last sowings of half-hardy annuals should be made now.

Continue to prick out the seedlings as soon as they are large enough to be handled, and put the most advanced out into frames to be gradually hardened off. Stake out the growths of schizantbus and Clarkias, and when the pots are filled with roots give a little weak liquid manure once a week. Pinch the tope of the shoots of pelargoniums and geraniums to cause branching* and to keep the plants in a reasonable shape. Lachenaliaa and freesias are making a •how in the cool greenhouse, and as soon m they are past their best they should be removed to a tunny frame to be ripened off gradually. Take off dahlia cuttings with a heel and put into pots of sandy soil, which should he plunged in bottom heat. _ _ . Start tuberous begonias and gloxinias by watering the boxes and placing them in the warm greenhouse. Pot up tomatoes, egg plants, and cape gooseberries into three-inch pots.

£WORK FOR THE WEEK 0 ■ " ——

Sow seeds of melons, cucumbers, pumpkins, and vegetable marrows. Repot orchids as they go out of flower if the rooting medium has become exhausted or%iuddy. If in good order topdress with fern fibre and sphagnum moss. Start vinca in uuheated bouses by shutting up ventilators, and syringing the rods night and morning. Water the border if it is at all dry. THE FLOWER GARDEN Continue to trench or dig herbaceous borders and to divide and replant them. Keep the rock garden clear of weeds and fallen leaves and keep a sharp lookout for slugs. Fork among growing bulbs and hoe among wallflowers and other spring flowering plants. Plant out carnations, gladioli, and lilies. Complete the planting and transplanting of hardy trees and shrubs as soon as possible. Rake over lawns to open the surface, and to remove moss, and afterwards topdress with lime, superphosphate and some fine soil. Sow some fresh seed if the grass is thin. Complete the pruning of roses and the manuring and digging of the beds and borders. Afterwards spray with lime sulphur. ' THE VEGETABLE AND FRUIT GARDEN Continue to make small plantiugs of early potatoes, and stand seed of later kinds on their ends in boxes to green and sprout. Sow broad beans and dwarf early peas, also Shorthorn carrots, globe beet, white turnips, radish, and mustard and cress. Sow spinach and cabbage lettuce. Plant artichokes, cabbage, and cauliflower. Thin and transplant autumn-sown onions. Plant asparagus and lift and divide up rhubarb, replanting it at once. Sow onions and turnip-rooted beet. Spray fruit trees, and complete the planting of fruit trees and bushes. AQUATIC AND BOG PLANTS Wherever there is water, either in a tub, a small artificial pond, a lake, or a slow-flowing creek it is possible to grow water lilies and suitable moisture-loving plants, a combination which provides an interesting and beautiful landscape feature. When planted in a natural pond with a muddy bottom it is not necessary to lift and replant water lilies unless they have become overcrowded, but .when grown in artificial ponds or tanks, in pots, boxes, or mounds of soil, it is better to lift them, to renew the soil and replant every year. This is done as soon as growth commences in the spring, and the present is a suitable time. The soil for water lilies should be composed of three parts turfy loam, one part cow manure, one part leafmould, and one part sand. The containers can be large pots, boxes, or brick pits, and, though drainage is not necessary, it is an advantage to put a layer of crocks in the bottom. The tubers are planted with the top just level with the top of the soil, and a layer of clean sand will prevent the surface soil from washing away. When growing in a tub or artificial pond or tank in which the water level can be controlled it should be kept just about three inches above tue soil at first, to be raised later as growth develops. An ultimate depth of 12 to 18 inches above the soil is suitable for most varieties. When planting in ponds with a muddy bottom the lilies can be enclosed in a basket of wire.netting or wickerwork and sunk in the pond, the maximum depth being two to three feet, and the minimum 18 inches to two feet for the smaller varieties.

In addition to Nymphae alba, the white water lily, which is always a favourite, there are now a large number of coloured varieties. Atropurpurea has intense crimson flowers with golden anthers; Gladstoniana is a strong-growing variety with enormous snowy-white flowers with golden anthers; James Rrydon has large flowers, a beautiful soft rosy red, and is a very free bloomer; Marliacea camea has large vanilla-scented flowers, colour soft flesh, shading to white, with golden stamens; Marliacea chromatella has large and fragrant primrose-yellow flowers suffused with rose, is a strong grower and free bloomer; Marliacea rosea has deli-cately-scented flowers opening to soft flesh pink, changing to blush white. It should be mentioned that water lilies require full sunshine and that the objectionable slimy growth which often appears on ponds and tanks can be removed by putting some copper sulphate crystals in a piece of scrim and drawing it through the water. Two ounces and a-half would be enough for 10,000 gallons of water. Plants for a moist place and the edge of ponds or tanks are Japanese iris, Iris Siberica, and Iris pseudo-acorus, Astilbe Davidii and the various hybrid astilbes. Podophyllum emoidi, Saxifraga peltata, primulas of the japonica and pulverulenta types, Caltha palustris and polypetalae, Aponogeton distachyon, Trollius varieties, Lobelia cardinallis and Seneeio clivorum.

THE PRUNUS FAMILY (INCLUDING THE PEACH AND ALMOND) The various members of the pruuus family are amongst the first trees to come into flower in the spring, and as they do not grow large and can be kept to a reasonable size by pruning they are specially suitable for the small town garden, either as standards in the shrubbery or as specimen trees on the lawn. Their blossom is also very useful for house decoration as it lasts well in water and is light and graceful. The various varieties of the cherry plum (Prunus cerasifera) stand more exposure and wind than the almond and the peach, and the dark bronze foliage is always attractive during the summer and autumn. Prunus cerasifera var. Pissardi is one of the commonest grown, and being a very accommodating plant, will thrive in any reasonable soil and situation. It has also the advantage that it can be grown from cuttings. P.C. var.' Nigra has foliage several degrees darker than Pissardi, anj the flowers are flushed with pink. P.C. var. Blireiana is very much like Pissardi in growth, but the flowers are semi-double and of a delicate peach-pink. The young growths are also a bright copper, which blend with the pink blossom. P.C. var. Moseri is another variety with bronze leaves and semi-double pink flowers, but not so attractive as Blireiana. It is a weaker grower and liable to canker. In some districts these dark-leaved cherry plums bear crops of fruit which is every bit as useful as that borne by the ordinary green-leaved species. ALMONDS The almond (Prunus Amygdalus) is one of the finest of the early flowering small trees, requiring similar treatment to the varieties of the cherry plum. The flowers are a deep pink, and are produced on the previous season’s wood, usually in pairs. _ There is a variety culled praecox which flowers quite three weeks earlier than the ordinary almond. The flowers are one inch to one inch and a-half across and vary from rose to blushwhite, each on its own stalk. Prunus Mume is a dainty shrub or small tree belonging to the apricot section of Prunus. It is a native of Japan and has blush-pink flowers, generally m pairs. The blossoms are slightly scented. Prunus Pndus (Bird Cherry) is a deciduous tree found wild in Great Britain and Northern Europe. The flowers are creamy white and are borne on long, close racemes and are slightly scented. This is not an early flowering kind, but has the advantage of flowering when most of the plums and crab apples are over. Prunus Persica, the ordinary peach, is quite ornamental, but is eclipsed as a garden plant by the double flowering varieties, which are every bit a B hardy. The variety Clara Meyer has bright rosypink flowers borne right along last season’s wood. The variety cameliiaeflora is a beautiful double crimson form very much like Clara Meyer, but is not quite as vigorous in growth. All these flowering trees are perfectly hardy, they grow rapidly and soon produce an effect and still they can be kept within the bounds of « small garden.

They have also the advantage of withstanding all the frost we usually have in spring without damage to their blossom. THREE SMALL BLUE-FLOWERING BULBS Scilla siberica (Siberian squill) is the gem of the squill family, its intense blue flowers appearing with the crocus and snowdrop making a plcasiug contrast. It is suitable for the rock garden, carpeting rose and shrubbery beds, edging borders, and for naturalising in thin grass where there will be little treading and little close mowing. It seeds freeb', and if care is taken not to destroy the little seedlings, which look like onions at first, beds soon thicken up. Chionodoxa, Glory of the Snow-, is the common name of this charming early-flowering race of bulbs. It likes a similar position to Scilla siberica, and soon spreads by means of self-sown seedlings. The colours range from blue through several shades of lavender and lilac to white. G. Lucillae is one of the best, with deep blue flowers with a white centre. The Muscaria family is also very useful in spring, its common name being grape hyacinth or match heads. They are even more accommodating than the scillas, and can be naturalised in grass or grown as a carpet for deciduous shrubs or as edgings for herbaceous borders. When planted in grass, care has to be taken to avoid cutting off the foliage which appears early in the autumn. When these bulbs have to be transplanted (and they soon become overcrowded) the operation should be carried out as soon as they ripen off in early summer, for root action starts early. CARROTS The carrot, Caucus carrota, is a native of Britain, and is found as a roadside weed in the wild state. The thick, succulent root is highly esteemed as a vegetable, and, being quite hardy, it is available all the year round, the old roots keeping in good condition until the new ones are ready. Like other root_ crops it likes a free and fairly rich soil, but not one which has just been manured heavily with farmyard manure. Seed is sown in drills about an inch deep, the distance betweon the drills being 14 inches for the shorthorn varieties, and 16 to 18 inches for the main crop kinds. Sow the seed thinly, cover with fine soil, and firm. When the seedlings are large enough to be handled, they are thinned out to one or two inches apart, and afterwards, when the thinnings are fit to use, the shorthorn kinds are thinned to four inches apart, and the later kinds to six to nine inches. Varieties to sow are Early Franch Horn, Sutton’s Favourite, Chiswick Beauty, and James’s Scarlet Intermediate.