THE GARDEN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23691, 24 December 1938, Page 17

THE GARDEN

GREENHOUSE AND NURSERY Continue to prick out the seedlings of cinerarias and primulas as they'become available and after a week in a warmer and closer atmosphere they can be placed in the cool .greenhouse or in a frame where they, can be shaded during sunny weather but exposed to full light when dull. Cinerarias are prefectly hardy and should not be coddled or drawn up at any time. Seedling cyclamen should be ready to pot on to their flowering pots which should be six-inch size for the strongest plants and five-inch for the others. After potting, stand them on a bed of ashes in the greenhouse and maintain a moist atmosphere by frequent spraying and damping of the paths and benches. The seedling tuberous begonias should be lined out in a frame over a mild hotbed, or the strongest can be potted up into five or six-inch pots, in which they will flower in the autumn. Hydrangeas are making a fine show in the cool greenhouse at the present time and they will no doubt last for several weeks. Hydrangeas make excellent house plants and are suitable Christmas gifts, for they can be planted out in the garden when the flowers are past their best. Attention is drawn to the fact that, the showy flowers are really sterile, and real flowers are seldom produced on the newer varieties. Ordinary garden potting loam, with oyster frit, will produce the pinks and reds, and the blues can be obtained by potting the plants in a soil which is known to produce blue flowers naturally. Geraniums and pelargoniums may be depended on for a display in the greenhouse over the holiday period, with tuberous begonias to follow on. As soon as the pelargoniums are past their best they can be stood outside in a sunny position to ripen their shoots with a view to taking cuttings later, on. The chrysanthemums should be potted up and n'aced out in their summer quarters now. Soray night and morning on sunny days, but water carefully until the roots penetrate the new soil. THE FLOWER GARDEN So far it has been rather an effort to keep down weeds, but regular hoeing should be carried out, for, even if the weeds do not die, they receive a severe check, and it is as important to keep the surface soil free and open during rainy weather as when it is dry. Complete the planting of dahlias and plant out fibrous and tuberous begonias, cannas, and scarlet salvias. Staking and tying will have to receive regular attention, for growth is usually very rapid at this season, and it is very annoying to have plants broken by strong winds. Strips of native flax or, soft string are the best material for strong-growing herbaceous plants and dahlias, but raffia will do for the sweet peas. Sweet peas should be tied up regularly, all side shoots and tendrils being nipped off if flowers for cutting are desired. Buds frequently drop during cold, wet weather, especially if the soil has been heavily manured. Michaelmas daisies should be staked out with a stick for each shoot. This allows for flowers to develop all the way up the. stem, which extends the flowering period. These plants, and also perennial phlox, require plenty of moisture, but they should not require either watering or mulching' at present. A little blood and bone manure dusted over the surface and hoed in will help them to develop. The rambler roses are making their young growth now, and these should be thinned out a bit, retaining sufficient young growths to replace the old ones with one or two to spare in case" of accidents Spray with liver of sulphur or lime sulphtfr for mildew and soapy water for green fly. Bulbs of all kinds, if to be lifted, should receive attention. Daffodils are better replanted as soon as possible, though they can be kept out of the ground for some time. Tulips and hyacinths ai*e better stored in shallow boxes in" a cool, airy placel until the autumn. VEGETABLE AND FRUIT GARDEN Weather has been favourable for the growth of leaf vegetables such as lettuce, spinach and cabbage, but not too suitable for root and pod kinds, and it has been rather cold for French, runner and butter beans. Peas which are growing too tall can have their growing points nipped out, and they can have dustings of lime and superphosphate. Broad beans should also have their growing points nipped out as soon as they have developed a reasonable number of flower clusters. This not only directs the energy of the plants into developing the pods which are left, but it also removes the black bean aphis, which is often troublesome. Keep the surface stirred up with the scuffle hoe among all growing crops, earth up potatoes, cabbage and cauliflower, arid thin carrots, turnips and beet. Make further sowings of. French and runner beans, broad beans, and peas, also lettuce, spinach, radish, white and golden ball turnips, shorthorn carrots and round beet. Plant out leeks, celery, cabbage and autumn cauliflower. The growing tips of vegetable marrows, pumpkins and ridge cucumbers should be pinched out to cause branching, and a light dusting of sulphate of ammonia will assist growth. Fruit crops of all kinds have set very freely this season and, to get good specimens, thinning will be necessary. First remove all misshapen fruits and all small and undeveloped ones. Peaches and apricots should be left at three inches apart, and the apples and pears r ~ r

should not be touching one another. Spray apples and pears for codlin moth and mildew, and plums and cherries with helebore powder dissolved in water for leech, which, if left alone, will soon skeletonise the foliage. CARE OF POT PLANTS The care of pot plants ...uring the holidays is really a problem, for, as : most people go away for at least 10 days, that is too long for 'hem to go without attention, especially if there should be hot dry weather. One method is to give them a good soaking and then to stand them in a bath or the wash tubs in about three inches of water. This not only provides moist condition, round them, but they can soak up the water if required. Another is, after soaking them and allowing the surplus water to drain bff, to plunge them in a box of damp sand or moss right over the rims of the pots, and to stand them in a cool shad ' room or shed. Still another method is to stand the pots in a bath or wash tubs, to place a bottle or jar of water beside each, and put a few woollen threads or a piece of woollen cloth into each which would* soak up the water like the wick of a lamp anu deposit it on top of the pot. This ensures a regular though small supply so lont- as the water lasts in the jars, and, if the plants are well watered to begin with, it will be sufficient to keep up the supply. Pot plants are not aquatics and unless the roots can get air as well as moisture they will perish. Tomatoes if given a thorough soaking should stand for over a week without watering, but it should not be forgotten to open the ventilators, for a hot stuffy atmosphere will do more harm than a comparatively cool one. Perfectly hardy plants like geraniums, pelargoniums, fuchsias and tuberous begonias are better put outside in a warm sheltered place and plunged in sand or soil up to the rims of the pots, and mulched with moss, or leaves. COLLECTING NATIVE PLANTS During the next few weeks many will be spending their holidays in the country, by the seaside or near the mountains, and there is a general desire to take back some of the plants to cultivate in the gardens. People should be warned, however, against the indiscriminate digging or pulling up of plants which they have no intention of growing afterwards, for one so often sees ferns pulled up with little root which wither before they reach the garden, and are consigned to the dust bin. Ferns have a great attraction, especially in a place like Stewart Island or on the West Coast, but there is little use in collecting them unless you have a greenhouse or properly constructed fernery, or a naturally moist and shaded place where conditions can be created similar to those found in nature. There is likely to be more success with shrubs, small trees and the mountain plants which are much easier to accommodate, either on a rock or scree garden or in an ordinary border. The first consideration should be to collect specimens which are easy to pack and transport, for vou are more likely to be successful with the smaller and younger plants. Many of the alpines begin to go off after they have reached the flowering stage, and in the case of ranunculus, and celmisias and gentians, it is much better to collect young specimens which have not flowered. The next important point is to lift the plants carefully so as to damage the roots as little as possible. When collecting one should have a proper tool, either a trowel, preferably one with a narrow blade, a hand fork, as a small miner's or geologist's pick. Though it is most important to secure the roots intact, it is not usually necessary to have a ball of soil attached to them. This would be desirable if transport was easy, but a few pieces of a mountain soon make a heavy load. The next important point is to pack the plants so that the roots may remain moist and the folliage as fresh as possible, for, after all, the middle of the summer is not the most desirable time to transplant plants which may have to be out of the ground for several days. Pieces of moist newspaper wrapped round the plants with a little fresh moss round the roots will be found suitable, and if they are not to be taken home at once or within a day or so it is better to take them out of the bag and heel them in in a cool moist place until you are going home. If there is a suitable position ready for the plants on their arrival they can be planted out at I once. If not, they can again be lined out in as cool and moist a position as possible, and sprayed I frequently during hot sunny weaI ther until the autumn. If planted ! out at once they should be shaded I for a few weeks with green j branches and of course sprayed I overhead occasionally. The following are some of the j plants which are desirable for a j town garden and which are likely to ' succeed:—Rata, red and black i beech, red, black and silver pine, j totara, celery top pine, ribbonwood, I veronicas of various kinds, olearias I and senecios. If in Stewart Island the beautiful Olearia angustifolis is a plant well worth collecting. Feins 1 of various kinds other than flimsies j are Ranunculus Lyallii and other : members of the buttercup family. j celmisias or mountain daisies, ouri- ; sias, gentians, vegetable sheep, vioi lets, and many of the spi-eading and cushion plants. The time is usually too earty for collecting.seeds, but if by chance they are found and are ripe they should be collected, for if sown at once many will germinate, and in this way it is much easier to establish many of the native plants. If botanical specimens are being collected be sure that you get a representative specimen showing root, stem, leaf, flower and if, possible, seed, so that it may be identified with certainty.

FOR THE WEEKMp

NOTES BY JJ&B. TANNOCH, AH R.H.S"«W»«Mfe

tions in this article concern every gardener in the land whatever kind of soil he may possess. In all soils, acids accumulate as a result of the decay of organic matter. The effect is cumulative, the degree of acidity becoming so great that in time vegetables grow so feebly as not to be worth the ground they occupy. By neutralising those acids, lime keeps the soil healthy and sweet, making it possible for the various foods to pass into solution. Secondly, lime improves the physical condition of all kinds of soil, making it easier to work and readier to fall to the seed bed state. It may seem incredible that lime should give body to light land, and lighten heavy, yet it does, by means of a cement it forms. CONTROLS DISEASES AND PESTS Thirdly, lime helps to control insect pests and diseases. Wireworms, leather-jackets, surface caterpillars, chafer and weevil grubs, foot rot, club root, parsnip rust, and a host of other undesirables do not like it. And, lastly, lime makes it much easier for the army of helpful microscopic bacteria to carry on their good work. The question now arises as to how liming can best be fitted into the economy of the garden. Under normal conditions an application is needed every three years. Time, expense, and the fact that some .land is always under crops, render it difficult, if not impossible, to treat all the land at three-year intervals. A better plan is to divide it into three equal sections, liming one each year. You can do this any time between now and mid-August, the sooner the better. A dressing of lime immediately before cropping has a depressing effect on yields for the first year. At this point we might drop a word about the common mistake of mixing lime and stable manure. Anybody who does that spoils both his lime and manure. The two are sr much opposed chemically that they attack each other, the lime wasting the ammonia, the most valuable food constituent in the manure. In doing so, it entirely loses its power to sweeten, becoming as valueless as so much sand. You can, however, apply manure quite safely a fortnight after the lime, a practice which is very convenient because if you proceed with the liming now, winter cultivation can be undertaken at the right time. If by any chance extreme pressure of work renders the double operation essential, dig in the manure in the ordinary way, and spread the lime on the surface. By the time the two meet, lime will have so changed chemically that no harmful action can possibly ensue. However, we only advise this method as a last resort. WHAT KIND TO APPLY? Now lime is a term that is capable Ox very wide interpretation. We must, therefore, narrow it down. All waste limes and gas lime are excluded from our present consideration. You must have lime fresh from the kilns. Three kinds are offered—Magnesian, lias or blue lime, and Derbyshire cr white lime. Magnesian lime used to be favoured for heavy clay, and the tradition that .t is valuable for some soil still persists in various parts of the country. We would like to break it down, because we know only too well the soilnoisoning properties of magnesian lime. Lias is very slow in its action. Farmers use it with good effect on permanent pasture, where immediate results are not necessarily of major importance. Our recommendation is Milburn lime, which you can buy in all parts of the country. Being pure, caustic, and reasonably quick in its action, it has the maximum effect for good. Buy it in the lump or cob form, and slake it in your garden by taking out a hole large enough to hold the lumps. Cover the latter with 4in of soil, and await developments, which will be somewhat spectacular. You'll see the heap swell and smoke, giving out quite a violent heat. In two or three days, according to the moisture in the soil, the lumps will have fallen to a powder as fine as flour. That is slaked lime at its best. Lose no time in aoplying it. A BAD METHOD Other methods of slaking are to pour sufficient water on the lumps to cause them to break up. This method is not as effective. There are lumps that refuse to fall immediately after the application of water, while there is always the danger of using too much water, causing the lime to puddle. An alternative method is to store the lumps in an open shed, and allow the air to slake them. That, however, is a very slow job. Choose a calm, dry day foi the application, and wear old clothes. Besides making a mess of decent apparel, lime rots it. If you have any cracks or sore places wrap them up, 01 the lime dust will make them painful. Many people wear goggles, too, as lime dust in the eye can be very irritating. The rate of the dressing is 6oz per square yard, and it must be forked in 4in deep. A good way is to empty the lime in heaps here and there, and spread with a shovel, keeping the mouth of the tool as near the ground as possible. ABNORMAL CONDITIONS Earlier in this article we stated that under normal conditions threeyear liming was quite adequate. We must not forget the abnormal, which exists in gardens near the coal fields, and in industrial areas. In the one case natural lime is entirely absent, while in the other atmospheric impurities have an acidifying effect. Under such conditions we advise alternate year liming. Divide the area into two equal parts, treating one each year. If you are in any doubt as to which programme to adopt, carry out a lime test, and let it determine your policy. One way is to empty a tablespoonful of soil into b tumbler. Add sufficient water to make on stirring a fairly thick cream. Pour a few drops of spirits of salts carefully down the sides of the tumbler. Watch what happens when the chemical and the soil cream meet. If there is marked effervescence or fizzing, lime is not needed. If the fizzing is faint or absent, it is. A much more certain method is to use one of the soil-testing outfits

now on the market, such as the Solidol and the B.T.L. Soilometer. These give you a true reading of your soil's condition, and it is well worth having one by you.-VThe Smallholder.