THE GARDEN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23731, 11 February 1939, Page 21

THE GARDEN

notes BY u»D.TANNOCK. AKR-H-S."®^

THE GREENHOUSE AND NURSERY Continue to stake and set out the chrysanthemums in their summer quarters, and keep a sharp lookout for aphis and caterpillars. For the former you spray with soapy water, or dust with tobacco powder, and the latter have to be picked off or sprayed with arsenate of lead. Continue to pot on the first lot of cinerarias to their flowering pots and stand in a frame on a bed of ashes, which should be damped regularly during dry weather, and the plants shaded during the day when weather is sunny. Shake out and repot the old plants of Primula kewensis and Primula obconica; pot up the seedlings cinerarias and primulas into three-inch pots and keep them as cool and moist as possible. Seedlings of double daisies, forget-me-nots and biennia' stocks can be pricked out into-boxes of light soil and shaded until they take to the new soil. Give the vinery plenty of air in warm sunny weather, and also give tomatoes plenty of air. Pot up bulbs of freesias, lachenalias. daffodils, hyacinths and tulips for forcing. THE FLOWER GARDEN Dahlias will now require a lot of attention as to.thinning, tieing and manuring. Continue to layer carnations, to plant spring flowering bulbs in beds, borders or the grass, and keep the lawns mown regularly. When gladioli are past their best, cut over the flower spikes but leave the leaves to ripen. Cut the first spike of antirrhinums off as soon as it is nearly finished flowering to encourage the side growths, which will continue the display. Clip hedges and prune evergreens which have to be kept to a desired shape. THE FRUIT AND VEGETABLE GARDEN Continue to plant out broccoli, winter cabbage and savoys and leeks. Sow silver beet, winter spinach, white and golden ball turnips, lettuce and radish. Earth up the early celery, dig second early potatoes and keep the soil stirred among all growing crops. Give runner beans liquid manure prepared either by soaking animal manure in water or by dissolving a tablespoonful of sulphate of ammonia in two gallons of water. Keep the side shoots pinched off the tomatoes growing in the open and stop the stem when (ive bunches of flowers have formed. Harvest onions and shallots and remove all spent crops. Continue to spray for codlin moth, leech, red spider and powdery mildew, and to summer-prune fruit trees and bushes. Prepare ground for planting strawberries by trenching or double digging it, adding a liberal dressing of farmyard manure. Remove runners from the old strawberry plants unless they are required for planting. Collect fruit as it ripens. FORCING SPRING BULBS Spring flowering bulbs can be potted or boxed up now and if brought into gentle heat after they have formed their roots, they will flower during the winter when flowers are scarce and when they are appreciated for house and greenhouse decoration. They can be grown in fancy bowls in specially prepared moss fibre which can be obtained from seedsmen, but for ordinary purposes they are better potted up into fivi. or six inch pots which can be fitted into fancy bowls when used for house decoration.

The soil for forcing bulbs can consist of three parts loam, one of leafmould, half a part of sand, half a part lime rubble and a six-inch potful of bone meal to every barrowload of the mixture., The pots, which should be clean and well drained, should be partly filled with the soil and the bulbs pressed down to the correct depth, which will be just about an inch deep for freesias, lachenalias, chionodoxas, scillas, crocus and snowdrops. Tulips and hyacinths should have about onethird of the bulb showing above the surface of the soil, and daffodils should have the necks of the bulbs showing. The number in each pot will vary according to the size of the bulbs,

WORK FOR THE WEEKJ

but they need not be large—well ripened clean medium-sized bulbs are to be preferred. Hyacinths, one bulb in a five-inch pot and three in a six, tulips and daffodils are three in a five-inch pot and five in a six, and the smaller bulbs are six in a five-inch pot and from seven to nine in a six. The smaller bulbs are also very effective In pans and lachenalias do well in wire baskets. These are lined with moss, about an inch of soil is put in. and the bulbs placed in position pointing through the bottom of the basket. It is then filled up with soil, f slate or piece of wood is placed the top and the basket inverted on to it. In this position it is placed on the greenhouse stage until shoots show. The larger bulbs such as hyacinths, tulips and daffodils should be watered stood in a. frame or a cool, moist place and covered with about two inches of ashes, tan or leafmould. The smaller bulbs do not need to be plunged, but should be watered and stood in a cold frame with the sash on to prevent the pots from being saturated in wet weather. The glass should be painted over to provide shade. To provide cut flowers during late winter and early spring, before they are available in the open, polyanthus narcissi Soliel d'Or should be boxed up in soil as recommended for pots. The bulbs are placed an inch or two inches apart, stood in a cool, shady place and covered with about two inches of leafmould. When growth starts they are brought into the cool greenhouse, and when the buds appear they can be placed into heat to hurry development. Freesias can also be grown in this way to provide cut flowers, but they need not be covered with leafmould. Propagating Border Carnations and Pinks Border carnations differ from the tree or perpetual flowering kinds in that they produce all their new growth, usually called grass, round the base of the flower stem, whereas the trees have new growths right up the stem like branches. They are very useful and are justly popular as they produce beautiful and

shapely flowers suitable for either garden or house decoration. They can be grown in beds or borders by themselves, grouped in the mixed border or planted among roses where they fill in the gap between the first and second flowering. They are very beautiful at the present time and as the grass or new growth is developing this is the time to consider raising new plants. The old plants will flower for several years if not disturbed, but the best results are obtained by raising new plants every year. The flower stems can then be trained on the spiral wire stakes which are neat and not conspicuous.

They can be propagated by layering or cuttings, but as layering is a comparatively simple operation, I recommend that method. By layering the shoot is able to form its roots before it is severed from the parent plant and while these roots are being formed it can draw its supply of moisture and food from the parent. The tools required for layering are a sharp, thin-bladed knife, a number of stout wire pegs to fasten down the layers, a hand fork to loosen up the soil round the plants, a supply of light sandy soil, and a pad to kneel upon. The sail will consist of loam one part, sand one part and leafmould two parts.

First loosen up the soil round the plant with the hand fork, and then put a layer of the prepared soil two inches deep all round it. Select a shoot which is well grown, with a natural bend about two or three inches from the old plant. Remove the leaves from two joints, and holding the shoot in the left hand, begin to cut into the stem halfway between the two bared nodes. Cut in until halfway through the stem and cut upwards to about halfway to the next node, but not any deeper than halfway through the stem. This forms a tongue which is kept out from the stem with the blade of the knife, and then pressed down firmly into the prepared soil. You have to be careful to keep the tongue away from the stem, otherwise it will fall back into its original place and heal up instead of forming roots. The tips of the leaves are then cut off to reduce the demands for water and the soil packed firmly round and over the cut part. Unless it is a very*scarce variety, six to eight lavers will be sufficient to put down on each plant, and these should be distributed evenly all round What happens is that the shoot continues to draw its supply of water and raw plant food from the parent, and, after elaborating it, some is returned down the stem for the production of roots. Half of this will go down into the tongue. First, it will be used to heal up the cut surface with new tissue, and later to form roots at the node near the end of the tongue. If the weather is dry, water well and keep the soil moist until new roots are formed. Later, the layer, which will now have its own roots, can be severed from the parent, lifted, and planted out in its permanent position, or lined out in a bed of prepared soil or potted up into three or four-inch pots.

Carnations can also be grown from cuttings, but they take longer to form good, strong, flowering plants. The cuttings are pulled off with a heel, which is trimmed. The tops are reduced slightly, and they are put into pots of soil prepared as recommended for layering, these being placed in a cool frame and shaded until they form roots. They can also be put into a speciallyprepared bed made up with soil as recommended for layering. Pinks can be layered but with their thin stems this is not easy, and they root quite easily in boxes, pots or specially prepared borders. It is not easy to get the cuttings with a heel and they are just cut across immediately below a joint or node. The stem is then cut up for about hali an inch and to prevent it from closing up, a little bit of the leaf is put in to keep it open. The soil is made up of one part loam, one leafmould and half a part sand This is made firm, a layer of clean sand is spread on top and the cuttings, or pipings are oushed into it at about two inche apart They are then stood in a shady frame or cool greenhouse until they callus and form roots. All woodii pinks, hybrids and species of rock garden pinks can be propagated in this way. WATSONIAS (Bugle Lilies) The various species and varieties of Watsonias are beautiful hardy bulbous plants belonging to the iris family and natives of South Africa. They are in i.ower at the present time and are most effective when planted in generous groups in the herbaceous border or among shrubs. They are also suitable for cutting for house decoration, and for large decorations in halls and churches. Watsonia iridifolis var O'Brieni has pure white flowers and is a desirable plant for the border, but the Australian kinds all show colour; Adelaide is a fine orange shade; Ballarat is pale blush pink; Hobart is white with frilled petals; Melbourne is salmon pink; Perth is magenta; Sydney rose-pink and Geisha is salmon pink. They can be lifted and divided up while at rest but if the bulbs are put at 12 inches apart in the first place, they can be left undisturbed for a few years. Needless to say they like good treatment and plenty of water during dry weather.