THE GARDEN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26232, 16 August 1946, Page 2

THE GARDEN

Contributed by D. TANNOCK, A.H.8.H.8.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS' " Breeze," Oamaru.—There is nothing harmful in coke breeze and it is certainly the best inorganic substance for opening up stiff soils. Green dressings, leaves, strawy manure and rough compost are also useful when- dug or trenched in. A. J., Lawrence. —I cannot think that the moon has any influence on the time that seeds should be sown or seedlings transplanted in the vegetable garden. The weather is more important. Do not sow when the soil is wet and sticky or transplant when it is dry or dusty. You can get seeds of Ipomea Heavenly Blue or Imperialis, known also as " Morning Glory.” It is an annual, and will not become a weed. You can buy plants of the true Virginian creeper "Ampelopsis hederacea ” from any of the seedsmen or nurserymen. The Journal of Agriculture is obtainable from the Department of Agriculture, Post Office Building, Dunedin. Vegetable Growing in tire Home Garden is obtainable from the same place. , „ , , C. C., Kelso.—Mildew on onions is fairly common, and is always more destructive in a wet season. It is caused by a fungus which hibernates on any of the perennial members of the onion family or on any diseased bulb left in, or on the ground. It. appears as spots on the leaves, and these enlarge and increase in numbers until the affected leaves are weakened and fall over and shivel. Moisture with warm days and cold nights is favourable for the spread of the disease. In the early stages spray with Bordeaux mixture or dust with Bordeaux powder. It would be better to shift the onions to a new position. Any collapsed leaves should be collected and burnt. BROAD BEANS Vicia faba is a native of North Africa, and has been in cultivation in Egypt and Arabia from prehistoric times. Fortunately, it is a very hardy piant which can be sown at any time during autumn and winter, for it is not damaged by frost. The pods will begin to form m early summer, and these can be cut up and' cooked like runners - when quite voung, or thev can be allowed to form their seeds, w'hen' they are a very nice vegetable. They .like a good strong soil, and are better sdtvn on a position which was well manured for a previous crop Fresh stable manure encourages soft, sappy growth which is inimical to the production of pods. Lime is essential for all members of the bean and pea family, and a liberal dressing can be worked in when forking up the soil in preparation for sowing. 'Subsequent dustings will help to keep slugs away, as well as assist the crop. Method of Sowing Sowing is usually done in a wide drill three inches deep, and the seeds are placed with the eye downwards in a double row, six inches being allowed between the rows and six to nine inches between the seeds in the rows. Dust with superphosphate, cover with the soil taken out of the drill to a depth of two inches, firm with the head of the rake if tile soil is moist, if dry, with the feet, and make the surface fine with the rake. Birds do not interfere with broad beans, so there is no need to take any precautions. After germination takes place, give a dusting of blood and bone manure, two ounces to the yard of the rows. As beans are usually planted in rows at intervals through the dwarf crops, they have to be supported by putting in a number of stout stakes and stretching strands of binder twine along the rows. When a reasonable crop of pods have set the tips can be pinched off. thus concentrating the energies of the plants on the development of the pods which have set and preventing attacks of black fly. When sown in the spring to provide a succession, black fly is usually very troublesome, but it seldom attacks the autumn or winter-sown crops. In districts where owing to excessive wet or very hard frost it is not possible to winter broad beans in the open, they can be sown in boxes four inches deep, in a light sandy soil at two inches apart each way and germinated in a frame or greenhouse. When hardened off they can be planted out at six to nine inches apart in double rows, some time in the month of September.

To get a crop in the autumn the old stems can be cut over as soon as the pods are picked, or better still before they have set pods, when they will come away again from the base and in time provide a crop of pods. The bean is an excellent vegetable, but if picked too young the seeds have a bitter taste, and they have the best flavour when full grown but still lender. There are two kinds, one being the long pod such as Seville Long Pod or Mammoth Long pod, and Broad pods such as Broad Windsor or Giant Windsor. Should the black fly appear before the plants have made sufficient growth spray with nicotine sulphate or dust with derrls dust and for rust which is sometimes common spray with Bordeaux mixture or sulphide of potassium. FUCHSIAS. HYDRANGEAS AND GERANIUMS Geraniums are very effective when grown at the foot of a wall, and there they will stand through the winter quite well, in all except the very frosty districts. If they have been left untouched they should be pruned back a bit now. ana all the dead and thin spindlv shoots cut out to make room for the new growth. At the same time they should receive a topdressing of blood and bone manure, and if the soil has been washed out of the border some clean loam will also be needed. Pelargoniums require the same treatment. The fuchsias have come through the winter very well in spite of two fairly severe frosts early in the winter. They are breaking into new growth now, and r.s they flower on the young wood like roses, they should be pruned back a bit. To form standards all the growths on the main stem should be cut off, also all dead shoots and snags, and the thin spindly growth. Shortened back to about three inches, should leave sufficient buds to make a satisfactory display during the summer. If they are to be trained over a pergola or arch, or up a trellis fence, for which purpose they are very suitable, two or three of the young shoots should be left their complete length, and all others cut away. When they make young growth, three inches ©in length, a few of the shoots should be taken off with a heel and rooted as cuttings in the same way as chrysanthemums. Pruning of Hydrangeas Hydrangeas can also be pruned now, and this operation consists of cutting back the old shoots which have flowered to a few inches from the ground and thinning out the weak ones. Last season’s shoots which are terminated by a resting bud are left to provide the flowers this season. Where they are blue, and pinks are desired, lime can be applied as a top-dressing, and where pink and blue is wanted, alum can be applied. This work should really have been carried out last autumn to be completely effective, but it may still be done and partial success achieved. Both the fuchsias and the hydrangeas should receive a top-dressing of fowl manure or blood and bone. Abutilons are also very effective shrubs when planted in a border against a wall or fence. There are nine varieties listed by nurserymen, and these vary in colour from pure white through salmon buff, claret red, crimson scarlet, yellow, orange, pink, rosy red and soft pink. Now that severe frosts are, or should be, past they can be pruned back a bit to keep them in shape and within bounds, and cuttings Of ripened wood can be put in to increase the stock. They, too, are suitable for growing onj arches and trellis fences where they can be looked up to. Attention to Climbers Climbers of all kinds except those which flower early like Clematis montana and- its variety rubens can be pruned a bit and their growths regulated to cover their supports. If left they become a tangled mass full of dead leaves, and liable to attacks of green fly and other pests. Cuttings of chrysanthemums can be put in now as they become available, the young growths which spring from the soil level round the old flower stem being selected. ’ VISIT OF MR HUDSON Mr John P. Hudson, George Medal and bar, M.8.E., B.Sc., chief horticulturist to the Department of Agriculture, is coming to Dunedin to deliver a lecture at the meeting of tin Dunedin Gardening Club in the YM.C.A Building, Moray place, on Tuesday evening next. As his subject is " War-thne Gardening in England,” and the need for food production is as great as ever, the lecture should be of special value to all interested In gardening.