THE GARDEN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23517, 4 June 1938, Page 24

THE GARDEN.

ANSWER TO CORRESPONDENT "Novice,” Mornington.—After trenching your ground give it a good dressing of lime and leave it until the spring before applying the blood and bone. Lime will not kill wireworms, and you should set baits of oilcake, carrot, or potato. THE GREENHOUSE AND NURSERY Chrysanthemums are lasting out well •nd still providing a display in the Sreenhouse. as well as useful cut owers for house decoration. As the flowers go past their best the plants should be cut over, leaving about a foot of the flower stems. Though the cuttings which spring from round the base of the stem are the best, some varieties do not produce many of this kind, and we have to be contented with those which develop on the fiowei stem. They should be placed in a cold frame and given plenty of air whenever the weather is favourable, to ensure short-jointed, sturdy growth. Primula sinensis can still be potted up into their flowering pots and afterwards stood on a bed of ashes in a cool houseGreenhouse climbers such as fuchsias, bougainvillas, etc., can now be pruned to admit all the light possible to the plants on the stages during the dull days of winter. They should be spurred back to within an inch or so of the old wood, if they have already fully occupied the space set aside for them. If not, an extension of 18in can be left on the main stems. After pruning, cut away all ties, sponge the plants with warm, soapy water to remove any dirt or insect pests, remove some of the loose surface soil and topdress with well-rotted manure and some clean loam. Asparagus and smilax can be left in the meantime and cut as required for decorations, but all old stems should be cut away before the young growth starts in the spring, and they, too, should be top-dressed. Continue to put in cuttings of hardwood plants, to sow seeds of herba- ■ ceous perennials, and to prick off the seedlings as soon as they are large enough. THE FRUIT AND VEGETABLE GARDEN Seed of early potatoes should be stood up on their ends in shallow boxes and placed in the greenhouse or frame, or in a warm, sunny veranda to sprout. There is still a certain amount of growth and carrots, sweed turnips, parsnips and beetroot are better left in the ground until there is sufficient frost to check them. Old peas and beans can be cleared out and the stakes tied into bundles and stored away in a dry place. All other spent crops should be removed and after manuring the ground dig it over, leaving the surface as rough and open as possible. New gardens should be trenched or bastard trenched according to the depth of the black soil, and the nature of the subsoil, all grass and vegetable matter of any kind being buried in the bottom. Give celery its final earthing up, taking great care not to allow the soil to get in amongst the leaves. Draw the soil up to young pea and bean plants and stick the peas taking care to protect them from birds. Make fresh plantations of gooseberries, currants, raspberries and the various kinds of fruit trees. Prune tree and bush fruits, rake up and burn prunings, leaves and any fallen fruit, spray them with red oil emulsion, and then dig or fork over the surface soil, taking care not to damage the surface roots, A dressing of lime and basic slag can be given now. Prunings of apples, which are to be used as scions for grafting old trees should be collected, labelled and buried in the ground to keep them fresh until required, THE FLOWER GARDEN Conditions are rather dull and dreary in the flower garden, but there is • plenty of Useful work to be carried out while the weather is good and the soil m good working condition. Continue to cut over herbaceous perennials, to weed and overhaul the rock garden, to plant out spring and early summer flowering plants, and to clean

■ 'WORK FOR THE WEEKS

NOTES BY r D. TAN NOCK. AH.R.H.S *

up fallen leaves. If not already done, beds and borders for roses should be prepared by trenching and liberal manuring, and as soon as the plants are available they can be planted. As a rule, there are a few old plants which are not worth the room they; occupy. They should.be dug out. the ground manured, and new varieties planted. This is one way for making room for the new varieties which have taken our fancy during the summer, but another is to lift the plants from a bed or border, to throw away the weak ones, prune the roots, and shorten the tops of the desirable plants and, after trenching and manuring the ground, to replant them. Old plants of desirable varieties if treated in this way will renew their youth, and there will still be room for the new varieties.

Continue to prune the ramblers and climbers. When they make plenty of young growth, pruning is a simple matter. Just cut away all the old wood which has flowered and tie in a reasonable number of the strong young growths, not fewer than three and not more than five. When there is not sufficient strong young growths the old flowery shoots can be cut back to within half an inch of the old wood. After pruning, the stems should be securely tied to their supports with tarred string or binder twine. It is also important to examine the supports and either reinforce or renew them After pruning, they can be sprayed with lime sulphur (winter strength).

FRUITING CLIMBERS So far fruit trees and bushes have been dealt with, but there are a number of woody climbers which are hardy; and which will ripen their fruits if trained against a wail or fence in a warm, sunny situation. Foremost among fruiting cnmners is the vine, and tfiougnt it is usually grown under glass, either with or without artificial neat, the plant itself is perfectly hardy, and there are varieties which will ripen their fruit satisfactorily in and round Dunedin, while in Central Otago they are quite reliable. When preparing the border for the vines, or in fact for any of the fruiting climbers, it is advisable to go to considerable trouble, for unless the roots are happy in their surroundings, good crops of fruit would be impossible. Unless the soil is a good, light loam and well drained it is better to excavate the site to a depth of two and a-half to three feet, to put in six inches of clinkers or brickbats, and on top of these place a layer of turfs with the grass side downwards. The length of the border will depend on the length of wall or fence to be covered, and the width should be from three to four feet. Later on, as the vines extend their growth, additional width can be added. The border can now be filled in with chopped turf if possible, but if it is not available, good, light loam will do, and to it should be added a six-inch potful of bone meal, twice that quantity of lime rubble to each barrow-load of loam, and for every three barrow-loads add a barrow-load of well-rotted manure. A quantity of burnt soil and wood ashes would also be an advantage. The newly-filled-in border should be about a foot higher than the surrounding soil to allow for sinking. The vines, which will be obtained in pots, should have their roots well teased out, and be laid horizontally in the border and just covered with the soil which should be made firnr round them. The simplest method of training is to take up each plant as a single rod, and they should be planted at three feet apart. When planted, the rod will be cut back to two eyes, and when these start, the weakest should be rubbed out and one only taken up. The first year this should be allowed to grow as high as it can, and at the winter pruning it should be cut back to four feet. When growth starts, the upward extension is again confined to one shoot, and the laterals which spring from the axils of the leaves will be disbudded to 15 inches apart on each side. These laterals will probably develop bunches, and they should be stopped at two leave beyond the bunch, and at six leaves altogether should there be no bunch. Sub-laterals should be stopped at one leaf. At the next pruning another four feet should be added to the upright growth, and this will continue until the rod reaches the top of the wall or fence, when it will be clothed with spurs at 15 inches to 18 inches apart all the way up, and eaco year the young growth which arises from these spurs will bear a bunch of grapes, which will ripen welt in j norma] season. Varieties to plant are Dlack, Miller's Burgandy or Gamme Noir. and white Chassels Vibert. Black Hamburg, which is usually grown under glass, will also ripen in the open against o wall of a house with overhanging eaves.

Actinidia Chinensis. the Chinese Gooseberry, is a rampant growing climber better suited for a rustic fence arch or pergola than for training against a wall. There are two sexes and these have to be planted close together, or one has to be grafted on to the other to secure crops of fruit, ft will thrive in a border prepared as described for the vine, and will require liberal supplies of water during the growing season with a top-dressing of well-rotted manure in the spring or a good dressing of a suitable chemical manure, such as is recommended for bush and tree fruits. It will gel on well without pruning, but if it overgrows the position it is to occupy, the shoots can be thinned out a bit and the tips of those left shortened back.

Its fruits are about the size of a small passion fruit, covered with brown hairs, and with an agreeable gooseberry flavour. BLACKBERRIES AND SIMILAR HYBRIDS Though it to collect blackberries from plants growing wild, there is no comparison between these and the various varieties of cultivated plants. These do not require such carefully-prepared soil as the vine, but the position should be well drained and well manured. They do not require a wall, and will thrive on any open fence, either a rustic one, a trellis, or a wire netting round a fowl run The plants are put out at five feet apart in the autumn, and the stems are cut right down to begin with. During the summer not more than five shoots should be taken up from each plant, all weak ones being cut right out. If they are weak, as they sometimes are the first season, cut them down level wit hthe ground in the autumn, but, if strong, three shoots can be retained, and these should be shortened back to from 4ft to 6ft, according to their strength, These will produce laterals, which will bear fruit, and these are pinched off at the third or fourth joint. Next season the canes which have fruited are cut right out, and younc shortened canes (not more than five) should be tied in to take their place. The cut-leaved or parsley-leaved variety of the blackberry is the most desirable, but of the hybrid kinds there

is the Youngberry, a hybrid between a blackberry, loganberry, and raspberry, with fruits the colour of a ripe loganberry from 2in to Sin long, said to be delightful for desert or jam. Boysenberry is said to be similar, and other fruits requiring similar cultivation are the Lowberry, Laxtonberry, and loganberry, all of which are very desirable.

The purple-fruited passion fruit is hardly hardy enough to be grown in the open, but Tacsonia qultensis, sometimes called Passiflora quitensis, is hardly, and is a rampant climber, with pendulous red flowers and long, edible, creamy-white fruit.