THE GARDEN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23330, 23 October 1937, Page 24

THE GARDEN

notes by «'^^a J*X>. TAN NOCK, AH R ri S.'**S

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS "Earwig,'* Southland.—You should set traps of hollow tubes of small pots with dry moss in them to catch earwigs, or you can lay baits of Paris green and pollard. Trapping is the best. "Trees," Central Otago.— You should not top your old Pinus insignis now; they would not break mto growth again. Better to cut them out and plant a row of macrocarpa ■to stop the ground draught. They would probably grow in the shelter of the two outer rows of pines, It will not kill the young pines to take out the leaders to form a windbreak. "Rhodo," Timaru.—l would certainly shift the rhododendron Aucklandi to a more sheltered position, but it should be making its young growth now, and it would be better to wait until this has firmed up a bit. There is no need to wait until autumn, however. ■Convolvulus," Poolburn.—The only way to get rid of convolvulus when it is growing among other plants is to keep it hoed down regularly and to prevent it from making any leaves. If this is done it will soon die out. "Dahlia," St. Clair.—You should not cut off the first shoots of dahlias If they are too long they may be shortened a bit, but this is seldom necessary. Thev should be thinned out to not more than two or three in each plant. THE GREENHOUSE AND NURSERY Growth on vines is now very rapid, and all surplus shoots should be rubbed out while this operation can be carried out without damaging the remaining shoot and rod. Those left should be tied down gradually, and the shoot

;WORK FOR THE WEEKJ

should be pinched at two leaves beyond the bunch. Continue to spray night and morning to damp the paths and walls during the day, and as air is necessary during sunny weather the ventilators should be shut up early in the afternoon to shut in the sun heat. Continue to pot up the chrysanthemums into five-inch pots, also the seedling cyclamen, and pot on the geraniums and pelargoniums to their flowering pots. Rebox or pot up scarlet salvias and zinnias, these being too tender to plant out before the middle of next month, and continue to prick out the late-sown annuals. Tuberous begonias may be potted up into four or five-inch pots according to the size of he tubers, and after one good watering maintain a moist atmosphere by spraying the plants overhead night and morning during warm, sunny weather and damping among the pots. Tomatoes are growing rapidly and they should be supDorted in some way either by means of stakes or strings fastened to a peg in the soil or a wire up near the glass Keej. all side shoots pinched out. and give a good watering once a week. Continue to give the hydrangeas a little liquid manure twice a week and put in cuttings of chrysanthemums which are to be flowered in six-inch pots. THE FLOWER GARDEN Weather conditions have been very favourable for killing weeds during the past weeks, and all beds and borders should be hoed through. If the weeds are large it may be necessary to rake them off, but if hoeing is carried out regularly about once a fortnight all seedlings will be killed before they become troublesome. The planting of summer and autumnflowering plants may be continued, but unless we get rain it will be necessary to water them in and in very dry. sunny positions to sprinkle them in the evenings until they become established. Continue to keep the rock garden weeded and tidy. and. as soon as

any of the plants go past their best the old flower stems should be cut back to prevent seeding. Roses are making satisfactory growth and though green fly is not expected it is necessary to keep a sharp lookout for them and to spray with soapy water, to which a teaspoonful of Black leaf 40 is added to each gallon. Provide delphiniums, perennial phlox, and michaelmas daisies with temporary stakes"before they are broken or bent over. Other herbaceous perennials, such as Oriental poppies, should also be supported by sticking some twiggy branches round them. As soon as the primrose polyanthus are past their best they should be lifted and lined out in a cool, moist place in the kitchen garden. If seedlings they will not be too large for planting out again next autumn, but if old plants, and if it is necessary to keep them, they should be broken up before being lined out.

The Vegetable and Fruit Garden Plant second early and maincrop potatoes, plant cabbage, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts, and make sowings of broad beans and peas to maintain a succession. Sow runner, French, and butter beans in a position which will be sheltered from cold winds, and sow maincrop beetroot.

carrots, parsnips, and golden ball turnips. Sow lettuce, radish, mustard, and cress for salads, and transplnnt onions. Make a small sowing of cabbage. Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and leeks to provide plants for putting out later on. Cultivate among early potatoes: earth them up. and spray with Bordeaux mbcture. Keep the hoe going among all growing crops to de-troy seedling weeds in their infancy, to keep moisture in the soil .and thu save watering. Except on very light sandy or gravelly soil there should be plenty of moisture in the ground to maintain growth for some time. Give strawberries a dus'.mg ol some chemical plant food, such ax fish manure, Iva plant food, or blood md bone manure, and afterwards mulch with fresh strawy manur?. Thi- will feed the plants, conserve moisture, and, as the straw will be washed clean by the rain before the berrie- form, it will serve to keep them ofT 'he dirt. Spray apples and pears for codlin moth, powdery mildew, and red mite. Keep the soil hoed and cultivated among and round fruit tree- and bushes and give them a dressing of superphosphate and lime in equal parts at the rate of 4oz to the square yard. FLOWERING CHERRIES Fortunately the flowering trees follow in succession. First we have the varieties of plums, almonds and peaches, next the varieties of apples and these are followed closely by the flowering varieties of cherries. These are usually called Japanese cherries and the chief kinds are varieties of Prunus serrulata, a Japanese species, though the double white is a variety of Prunus avium, the Gean. Cherries are most valuable in the late spring and early summer, they will grow in almost any kind of soil, and are not too big for a small town garden, nor do they rob the other occupants of the shrubbery or herbaceous border Most of the Japanese varieties are difficult to identify by their Japanese names, and as some have received names by nurserymen, these generally are in hopeless confusion. In addition to white, there are various »shades of pink, and one of the most reliable and one which can be obtained true to name is J. H. Veltch, or, to give it its full name. Prunes serrulatat, Veitchianan, or Fugenzo. It does not grow into a large tree, and it has large double

rose-pink (lowers winch appear along with the coppery foliage. Primus s. var. Siebolcln (Wateici's Cherry) is also a very beautiful small tree with semi-double pink flowers which are borne in great prolusion. Prunus s var. albo-piena is a low, horizontallybranched tree, probably of Chinest origin, but long cultivated in Japan It is a distinctly striking lawn speci men with white 3emi-double flowers which are sweetly scented, it is probably the variety known as Mount Fuji by some New Zealand nurserymen There is also a distinct variety called Ukoh, with while flowers suilused with pale greenish yellow. CULTIVATION OF POTATOES It is necessary to cultivate the soil thoroughly before potatoes are plantea by trenching or digging deeply and manuring liberally in the autumn or winter and breaking it up thoroughly with a fork In the spring before planting, at the same time working in a good dressing of lime, and a suitable chemical manure. Owing to the wet condition of the soil in early spring it may not have been possible to prepare it as thoroughly as desirable, and if the first operation now should be to fork over the ground between the rows to break up all lumps and reduce it to as fine a condition as possible. When the soil is thoroughly pulverised it is possible to earth up the plants without burying the foliage. The soil may also be stirred up round the plants and any weeds which are showing removed. If the soil is at all sour or peaty it will be an advantage ti give another dusting of lime and to stimulate growth a light dusting of chemical manure ;an be given. This will consist of lib of superphosphate, lib of bone meal. 21b of sulphate of potash and Jib of sulphate of ammonia. These can be mixed and applied at the rate of 4oz to four or five feet of drill, distributing it be tween the drills as well as round the plants. It is not usually necessary to spray the first early potatoes which are to be dug green, but it is a precaution worth taking and it is r ery necessary to spray the second earlies and main crops. The sprays used are either Bordeaux or Burgundy mixtures the one having lime and the other washing soda, and the only advantage which the soda mixture has over the lime is that it can be kept for some time when prepared, whereas the Bordeaux mixture has to be used the same day as mixed or at least the next. ,To prepare Bordeaux mixture, put 41b of sulphate of copper in a piece of thin cloth and suspend it in a vessel containing 20 gallons of water. Slake the lime in another vessel gradually adding water until it is made up to 20 gallons. Strain the milk of lime through a piece of scrim or muslin to remove any pieces of grit which would block up the sprayer, and add the copper sulphate solution, stirring the mixture as it is put in. To detect free copper, the clean blade of a knife can be put into the mixture, and .f it comes out coated with copper add more lime until it comes oqt clean. The mixture should be prepared in wooden vsesels, and the spraying apparatus should be washed clean after use. As it s is most important that all the foliage be sprayed with the mixture, both tht upper and under sides of the leaves and the stem, it is better to use a proper sprayer, which will give a fine, misty spray. The garden syringe is apt to be wasteful and not very effective.

Potato disease is caused by a fungus, Phytophthora infestans, and as it is necessary to have a certain degree of moisture to secure the germination of the spores it is never so bad in a dry season, but if there is moist, warm weather in January or February it is very destructive, often turning the foliage black in a night. The resting spores, which spend the winter on the seed tubers, or in the dirt which sticks to them, germinate in the spring and are -arried up to the surface with the growth of the stem. If weather conditions are favourable, that is, if the leaves and stems are moist and the weather warm and muggy, they soon form more spores, and these germinate and soon do considerable damage. The first appearance is as brown spots on the leaves, but these soon spread until the whole of the foliage becomes a stinking mass. The spores are then washed down into the soU, where they attack the tubers and soon spoil them, too. Spraying is a preventive, but not a cure,-the mixture destroying the germinating spores when it comes into contact with them, thus preventing the disease from spreading. To be effective, it is necessary to spray twice or three times, and the most suitable time is just before the first and second earthing up. As the tubers are simplv underground stems, they become green and are useless as food if exposed to the light, and to cover them with sufficient soil and also to steady the stems it is necessary to earth them up, this operation being performed when the stems are about four inches high, and again about a month later before the foliage spreads out too much. Care has to be taken to pull the soil up under the leaves and not to damaee them in any way. Spraying with either Bordeaux or Burgundy mixture has a beneficial effect on the foliage, apart altogether from its effect on the disease, the leaves look greener, cleaner, and healthier after spraying, and even when there are no signs of disease the crop benefits. Wireworms are very destructive on potatoes grown in land which has been in grass or , weeds for some years, and it frequently ruins the crop by penetrating the tubers and destroying their food value. Little can be done now to check the pest, but by setting baits of slices of beet or carrot, or pieces of oil cake, the pests may be drawn away from the young tubers and destroyed. The wireworms are the larvae of the click beetle, the female of which lays its eggs among qrass and weeds during the summer. Unfortunately, unlike most larva?, it remains in the worm slate from three to five years during which time it lives on anything it can get to eat It is most partial to grass, carnations, potatoes, and turnips. By keeping the "round free of grass and weeds there is little in<dueement for the beetle to lay itsetigs and by burning any growth before trenching or dicing many insects will be destroyed The traps, which should be marked by pieces of stick and buried two inches in the soil near the plants, should be examined from time to time and the worms nulled out and destroyed.