THE GARDEN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25659, 6 October 1944, Page 7

THE GARDEN

Contributed by D. TANNOCK, A.H.R.H.B.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS , “ Inquirer," Oamaru.—The dropping of the flowers is due to lack or excess of manure. Tomatoes require plenty of water during dry, sunny weather, especially In your district. When the fruit has set and is developing the trusses could be supported with a string to the stake or wire. You should give a good watering before applying a top-dressing, and afterwards to wash the manure down to the roots. Syringing the foliage in the mornings would assist the fruit to set. "New Chum,” Ranfurly.—There is scale on your gooseberries and you should have sprayed them and the currants and raspberries with an oil spray when they were at rest. Spray now with kerosene emulsion. You could also spray with lime sulphur 1 in 80. The washing water would kill aphis, but not scale. "Apricot," Kaitangata.—Your apricot grown from seed i.4' not. likely to be much good even if it did bear fruit. It may be useful for pollenating the tree which does bear fruit. “Elm Tree," Milton.—The weeping elm is a sport, and ft has to be grafted on to the stem of an ordinary one. If you have a good seedling with a stem, say. of nine feet, you could graft on a piece of the weeping one. “ Opoho,” Dunedin.—You could plant an olearia hedge la.ter than October, but the sooner the better. Two-year-old plants would be the most suitable. J. R.. Green Island. —It Is unusual for a trumpet daffodil to have two flowers on a stem, but freaks occur In many plants. It may not occur again. “ Magnolia," Oamaru.—The name ol magnolia is Soulangeana, a cross between M. Denudata and liliflora. There are several varieties.

The Tomato It is not necessary to stress the importance of the tomato as an article of diet, either eaten raw or cooked, though it is not so very long since it was grown only as an ornamental plant, known as the love apple. Those who are fortunate enough to possess a greenhouse should have their plants in the ground by now, either in a border or in tins, boxes or large pots. The importance of growing this crop in sterilised soil, or at 'least one as clear of. pests as possible should recommend the pot, tins or boxes, for they represent a distinct saving of soil, and the plants are better under control, though they require more attention in regard to watering and feeding. It is not advisable to grow the plants in the same soil two years in succession, but it Is not necessary to have turfy loam, as is so often recommended. Good garden soil with a reasonable amount of compost to bold water, and some opening material such as coarse sand, lime rubble or coke breeze to secure aeration and good drainage, will do. The soil should be made very firm to prevent soft sappy growth, and though it should not be rich In nitrogenous matter, such as is provided by animal manures, a mixture 'of two parts of bone dust, and one of superphosphate can be added at the rate of a five-inch potful to a barrowload of the soil. , , Those who are not fortunate enough to possess a glasshouse but have a cold frame need not despair, for very good crops can be obtained which will ripen before those in the open. Sink a few pots or tins filled with the soil already recommended (say, three in a three-feet wide frame), at the lower end, and train the plants on strings or wires within six inches from the glass. A standard garden frame is six feet by three feet, and (he plants should reach the top of the frame by the end of the season. The sash should be titled up a bit at the side, or top, at first, but afterwards when the weather is calm and Warm it can be removed altogether duririg the day, but put on again at nights, and tilted up. If tins or pots are not available the soil can be made up In a bed, and held in position by a plank or bricks. Those residents with neither a glasshouse nor frame can still grow quite good crops of tomatoes in the open, at the foot of a wall or fence facing north or northwest. Here, again, new soil is necessary, but this is easily provided by taking out a trench a foot wide and 18 inches deep, breaking up the bottom to provide drainage. If the subsoil is impervious clay, it will be necessary to go six inches deeper and put in a layer of broken bricks or. clinkers to moke sure that there swill not be any stagnant water about the roots. Do not add animal manure, but a dressing of two parts of bone dust or blood and bone and one of superphosphate can be added at the rate of four ounces to every six feet of row, this being mixed with the surface soil. , It. is not advisable to purchase the plants from a seedsman and plant them straight out in the open, for though the position is sheltered from tht\ cold south-west winds (which it should be) and we have spells of-warm spring weather, we are also as likely to have spells of cold wet weather with perhaps a light snowstorm, and if the plants are checked in their infancy tliev are never so satisfactory. , The right thing to do is to purchase the plants from a seedsman or nurseryman now—nice sturdy plants with purple stems at the* ground level, Which have been partly hardened oTff. These can be put into boxes six inches deep'at from four to six Inches apart. The boxes can be put in a cold frame, or an improvised, frame, made out of a packing case with an old window sash on top, and be grown on gradually until the beginning of next month, before planting them out m then permanent positions. When planting out they should be lifted with as much soil as possible on their roots, and watered well in A much better way, and the one which I adopt myself, is to get the plants now, pot them up into three or four-inch pots, in sterilised soil if possible and place them in a cold frame, which is ventilated during the day but shut up at nights at first As soon as the roots reach the sides of the pots, aiid are working their way round them, I shift them on to six or seven-inch pots, using a soil similar m composition and texture to that in which tliev are to be planted eventually. They are' then grown on in the'frame, being kept fairlv close at first, but ventilated more freeiv as they become established in their pots and the days and nights become warmer, but they are never exposed to cold, cutting winds. They are then grown on until the first bunch ot flowers appear before planting them out, which should be done about the begin-i ning to the middle of November. They are watered regularly and sprayed overhead after a warm, sunny day. To pro-, tect them from cold winds, a sash macie up with light fibro-glass is fixed in front of them. Any old window sash woulq do so long as the plants get light. It is not desirable to plant close up to the wall or fence, and the 'supporting stake’ should be driven in from six to nine inches out before planting is done. When planting, make a hole an front of the stake, turn the plant out of the pot, and, place it just a little deeper, say, an inch below the surface, and make the soil firm. Tie up the plant to the stake at once, anti water in well. As the plants grow remove the side growths, which are easily rubbed out when young, and when four or five bunches of flowers have formed pinch out the top of the stem two leaves above the top one. This is as many as one can expect in an ordinary season, and it mav be necessary to ripen die last bunches inside in some way. The main points in growing tomatoes in the open, in or near the city, is to put out wellgrown and well-hardened-off plants, to shelter them from cold winds, to give plenty of water and a little feeding after the first bunch has set. In Central Otago and other warm districts the tomatoes cap be grown in the open, as a field crop.