THE GARDEN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23945, 21 October 1939, Page 16

THE GARDEN

FOR THE WEEK'||||

NOTES BY W»fW® D. TAN NOCK. ARR. HSiwWfc

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS ‘‘J. M. 5.,” Gore.—l am afraid it is the variety of your cauliflower or broccoli which is to blame, and watering with any kind of liquid manure would not make them white. As the curds develop bend the leaves over them to keep out sunlight, which will discolour them. “S. T.,” Hillgrove,—You should not try to prune your pear tree now. It would give it, a severe check now that the young growth has started. In the autumn you could thin out the growths a bit. ‘‘Flower Lover,” Kakanui. —The most popular violet for market is Princess of Wales, which has large flowers, long stems and splendid foliage. Mrs Lloyd George has also large flowers, rich blue with white centre. Violets are grown from runners and not from seed. These varieties could be obtained from nurserymen or violet growers.

spray. This spray is important, for it catches the fungus spores on their first activity. Another spraying is given when most of the petals have fallen and these two under ordinary circumstances should be sufficient to control black spot and powdery mildew. SALADS The various plants used in salads should occupy an important place in the vegetable garden, especially during the summer and autumn months, when they are more abundant and more appreciated. It is doubtful if salads form as important a part in our diet as they should, and part of this may be owing to the difficulty in obtaining perfectly fresh materials. In fact, it is hardly possible to get (lettuce for example) as fresh as it should be unless it is grown in one’s own garden. Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) is one of the principle salad plants, and fortunately with care and forethought it is possible *to have supplies available right throughout the year. It is said to be a native of India and Central Asia, and can be classed as a hardy annual. Fortunately, lettuce Is not at all particular as to soil, provided it is deeply cultivated, well manured, and well drained. To get crisp, succulent leaves the quicker it is grown the better, consequently the soil can hardly be too rich, and if supplies of farmyard manure are not available, blood and bone manure should be given liberally when sowing seed or transplanting the plants, and a little sulphate of ammonia or nitrate of soda given as a liquid. manure (loz dissolved in a gallon of water) once or twice during growth will stimulate it. As lettuce is a crop which matures quickly, it is often grown as a catch crop, between rows of greens, alongside rows of peas or beans or on the top of the celery ridges. To get crops early in summer seeds are sown in boxes in August like the half-hardy annuals, the seedlings being pricked out in other boxes of rich soil as soon as they are large enough to handle, and after being hardened off the plants are put out on a warm, sheltered border in October. The next sowing can be made in the open in October and alongside a row of peas or beans is a suitable place. The soil should be fine and the seed sown thinly in drills about an inch in depth, and covered lightly. When the seedlings are large enough to handle easily, they are thinned out to from six to nine inches apart, and it is a good idea to transplant a row of thinnings for they will take longer to mature than those which have not been disturbed and thereby help to maintain a succession. During the summer sowings can be made at intervals of three or four weeks, and about the end of March or in April a sowing can be made to stand through the winter and develop their heads in the spring. They can also be transplanted into cold frames if they are available, or they can be planted out in tomato houses, if they are not required for any other plant. There are two distinct types of lettuce, one which forms a close and firm bead called the cabbage type, and one with long and smooth leaves with a prominent midrib called Cos. As the Cos kinds are seldom seen in the greengrocers’ shops I conclude that the cabbage types are the most popular, though the Cos is extensively grown for the market in other countries. For a private garden I prefer the cabbage types such as Luxury, which forms a loose but crisp head, and all the year round which forms a more compact head and does not run to seed For the Cos varieties Superb White is suitable for summer use, and Winter White for autumn sowing. There are. however, a great many varieties to select from. Seed is sown in shallow drills 12 to 15 inches apart, and when the plants are large enough to handle they are thinned out to from 12 to 15 inches apart. Good endive has to be blanched both for appearance sake, and to reduce its bitterness; and this can be done by tying up the leaves with soft twine, or they can be covered with inverted flower pots, the hole in the bottom being plugged up. or slates can be laid on top of them. A s a rule it takes three or four weeks properly to blanch endive. Winter Curled, Moss Curled, or Batavian are suitable varieties. . . , . , Chicory (Clchorium Intybus) is a useful plant for providing a variety in salads in winter and early spring. Seed Is sown in December on wellmanured ground in rows 12 inches apart, and the seedlings can be thinned out to nine inches apart In the rows. In winter the roots are lifted and placed thickly together in large pots or boxes, which are covered over to keep them perfectly dark, and placed under the greenhouse stage or m a warm cellar. Mustard and cress are two important ingredients of a salad, and as they are both easily grown there is no difficulty in maintaining supplies. During winter and spring sowings can be made in boxes at intervals of a fortnight, and in summer small patches can be sown from time to time on a spare border or any odd corner. When sowing in boxes, place a sheet of thin scrim over the soil, sow the seed on this, and cover with a sheet of paper until germination takes place. In the open the soil should be made fine, the seed sown and just pressed into it, but not covered. Put a sack or mat over the patch until germination takes place, which will be in three or four days. Water cress is a popular salad, at least, it is popular in London, and is better grown beside a running stream or in a shallow pond.

THE GREENHOUSE AND NURSERY The chrysanthemums which are at present in three-inch pots will have practically filled these pots with roots, and they will be ready to be shifted on to five-inch pots. The soil mixture will also be richer and rougher, and can consist of turfy loam chopped up, three Sarts, well-rotted stable manure or orse droppings one part, half a part sharp sand, leafmould one part with a six-inch potful of bone dust, one of wood ashes, and one of lime rubble or oyster grit to every barrowload of the mixture. Crock the pots carefully and ram the new soil in firmly, but not quite as firmly as for the final potting. After potting stand the plants back into the frame, but keep the sashes partly closed for a few days until the plants recover from their shift. Later rooted cuttings can be potted up into three-inch pots, and the tips of the plants intended to be grown as specimens, with a number of flowers, can be pinched out. Tuberous begonias to be grown in pots or baskets should also be potted up into five-inch pots, a soil similar to that prepared for the chrysanthemums will do, witfr cow manure substituted for horse droppings, and a sixinch potful of crushed charcoal added. They are not potted firmly, and are stood on a bed of ashes in the greenhouse in which a moist atmosphere is maintained by frequent damping of the floor and benches. Sow seeds oi cucumbers, vegetable marrows, pumpkins and melons, and continue to prick out and to harden off annuals. Give calceolarias and hydrangeas a little liquid manure once a week. Put in cuttings of hydrangeas, and break up dahlias which have now started into growth. THE FLOWER GARDEN Daffodils are lasting well, especially those growing in grass, and their foliage is developing nicely, which is a good omen for next season. Wallflower and polyanthus primroses are also making a good show, the plants having suffered very little from the snowstorm, except where they were .trampled on. Continue to plant out the hardier of the bedding plants, such as Calendulas, nemesia, antirrhinums, pentstemons and violas and pansies. The last-mentioned are specially suitable for edging or carpeting rose beds and borders, and the old plants which were left in from last season are at present providing a lot of colour. Owing to the dry weather, it is necessary to water the plants well before they are lifted from their boxes, and to water them in well afterwards. A light sprinkling overhead after a not, sunny day is also an advantage, but they should not be maintained in a saturated condition. Sow hardy annuals, covering them up with scrub until germination takes place. They should be removed, however, as soon as the seedlings appear and they should be thinned as soon as they are large enough to handle. Thin out the shoots of delphiniums, perennial phlox and Michaelmas daisies and keep the hoe going among the shrubs and the herbaceous perennials. It will be necessary to water the rock garden, for the plants.are in exceptionally light and well drained soil, and the sunheat radiated from the rocks dries them up. Aubretia is making a great show at present, and it demonstrates its suitability for growing on the rock garden, the dry wall or the stoney edging of paths. The best forms should be marked with a view to taking cuttings later on. Continue to pollenate the best varieties of polyanthus primroses with a view to collecting seed later. THE VEGETABLE AND FRUIT GARDEN The present is a busy time in the vegetable garden, for. not only have the sowing of the mam-crop kinds to receive attention, but the early varieties will require hoeing, thinning, and weeding. Birds are very destructive among the young peas, turnips, lettuce, and beetrooot; and strands of black cotton should be stretched along and above the rows as 3090 as germination takes place. Continue to plant second early and main-crop potatoes, cabbage and cauliflower, and make sowings of peas, broad, kidney, and runner beans, parsnips, beetroot, carrots, turnips, lettuce, spinach, radish, parslev. and mustard and cress. Small sowings- of. cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, leeks, and celery can be made in boxes, or in a special border to provide plants to be put out later on. Keep the soil stirred among all growing crops, thin out seedlings as soon as thev are large enough to handle, and water if the soil is very light. Mulch strawberries and spray them overhead on warm evenings. Hoe among all fruit trees and bushes to keep down weeds and where desirable to work in a dressing of artificial manure composed of super (four parts), bone dust (two parts), and sulI phate of potash (two parts). This should be applied at the rate of three ounces to the square yard. Apply the cluster bud spray to I apples, which is a combined one for | both insect and fungoid pests. It consists of IJlb of arsenate of lead paste 1 to 50 gallons of water and one part i of lime sulphur to 100 parts of the