THE GARDEN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27276, 30 December 1949, Page 7

THE GARDEN

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

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS “ Flower Lover,” Cromwell.—The name of the plant sent is Lychnis diurna (Red Campion), a native of Britain. It belongs to the natural order Caryophylleae. Ragged Robin is Lychnis floscuculi. “Interested,” Waikaia.—The foliage of your raspberries is eaten by the raspberry saw fly larvae and also by the raspberry bud moth, which tunnels into the end of the young shoots and eats out the buds. Cut over the old canes as soon as the fruit crop is picked, thin out the young ones to sufficient to replace the old ones, and spray them with arsenate of lead, half a pound to 30 gallons of water. In the spring as growth is commencing, spray again with arsenate of lead, and at intervals of about a fortnight until the fruit begins to form, when dusting with derris can take the place of the arsenate of lead. Clear away all rubbish, weeds, and old leaves, and keep the surface soil stirred with the scuffle hoe. ” Puzzled,” Wendon. Hydrangeas should do very well along a narrow border facing the west, and if frost is severe cover them up during the winter with scrubby branches or straw. Other plants suitable would be Pieris japonica (evergreen), Berberis Thunbergia (deciduous), Weigelia roses (deciduous), Philadelphus coronarius (deciduous), Cornus sanguinea (deciduous), Skimmia japonica (evergreen), Azalea mollis (deciduous), Hamamelis mollis, Cytisus Burkwoodii, Chimonanthus fragrans, and Buddleis Davidii. There is no garden so small that there is not room for some of the bushes or plants of the soft fruits, such as strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, black and red currant and loganberries. Like everything else in the garden they must be well grown, suitably pruned and manured, and renewed from the time when the old plants or bushes become worn out. THE STRAWBERRY The strawberry is a general favourite, and when well grown is very productive. At the present time the crop will be nearly over, but the plants should not be neglected, and if young plants are not required all the runners should be cut otl, the old mulching material and weeds removed, and the ground round the plants lightly forked up If a new plot is to be planted, as soon as the occupants of the proposed site (such as early P°V|' toes) are dug, the ground should be double dug and as much compost or stable manure as is available oug in. To get good plants, the first plantlet on the runners should be Pegged down on to a four-inch pot of good light soil, which is sunk into the ground. Only one plant should be taken f:rom_a runner, and if possible not more than four or five from each plant. In the early autumn the soil should be broken down with the rake, firmed by tramping over it, and the plants put out m rows two feet apart and two feet apart in the rows. Water well and if the weather should continue to be dry. spray overhead occasionally. While preparing the ground for planting, work into the surface a dressing of superphosphate at the rate of 4oz to the square yard. RASPBERRIES Raspberries are also a very useful fruit, and when well grown, sprayed, and suitably treated will provide good crops. They prefer a deep loam, hut can be grown in any reasonable soil vvhich has been trenched and manured with stable manure or compost. They do very well when trained fanshaped against a wall or fence facing the south, where the soil is reasonably moist. Like the strawberries, plants are liable to be attacked by virus disease, and it is most important to obtain clean, healthy canes. These are planted at four feet apart, and three or four canes can be allowed to each plant. When planted, the canes are cut back to nine inches from the ground, and the young canes which spring up and upon which the crop is borne the next season, are reduced to three or four on each plant. As the raspberries have to make strong young canes every year to be productive, it stands to reason that they must be well fed, and a dressing of blood and bone or a manure made up of basic super (three parts), hope dust (two parts) and sulphate of potash (a part and a-half) should be applied in the autumn at the rate of 4oz to the square yard, and lightly scuffle hoed into the surface. A mulch of stable manure, spent hops or compost can also be applied in the early spring, and to keep the feet clean and to retain moisture, and keep down weeds, a topdressing of sawdust can be applied in early summer. The old canes are cut down close to the ground and burned as soon as the crop is picked, and the wood ashes can be scattered on the surface round the plants in spring. The young canes are sprayed with arsenate of lead as soon as the old ones are cut out, and tied up to their supports. In the spring, at bud burst, the tips of the canes are cut off, and spraying with arsenate of lead is commenced. Raspberries can be tied up to stakes or trained on a wire fence and bent over until the canes from the adjoining plant meet to form a half hoop, or tied fanshaped, to a close board fence. Loganberries require similar treatment to raspberries, but, as they are much stronger growers, they are planted further apart, and trained fanwise on a wire or trellis fence or over a pergola. Boysenberries and other varieties of the cultivated blackberries can be cultivated and trained in a similar fashion. GOOSEBERRIES The gooseberry is a most useful fruit, quite hardy and prepared to put up with considerable bad treatment and still bear fruit of a kind; but the small tasteless fruit produced under such conditions is not to be compared with that obtained from bushes which are suitably pruned, fed, and kept free of weeds. The fruit is of use for stewing or pies as soon as it is worth picking, when a process of thinning out can be adopted, and at least half ot the crop left to develop to be used for bottling or jam, or, when ripe, as a dessert fruit. ~ At the present time the berries are ripening, and as soon as they are picked the bushes should be summer pruned by cutting out a number of the old branches in the centre of the bushes and those down near the ground to allow light and air to get in to ripen the young wood on which the finest berries are produced. Later on when the leaves have fallen the thin twiggy shoots can be cut out, and the long, strong young ones just tipped, taking care io have them evenly distributed and far enough apart to allow the hands to get in while picking the fruit, without being scratched. As gooseberries and currants are so easily raised from cuttings, it is a good idea to put in a few every autumn so that young vigorous plants are available to replace old and worn-out ones whicn are no longer satisfactory. Some people still persist in pruning gooseberries hard back and depending on obtaining the crop ‘from the old wood, but this is never so satisfactory as when a system of long pruning is adopted. This means that the bushes must be well fed to obtain the necessary young growth, and a topdressing of blood and bone or the mixed manure recommended for raspberries, with a mulch of some kind for the summer, and surface cultivation are desirable. BLACK CURRANTS This, too, is a valuable fruit, easily grown in a cool and moist position. The soil is prepared as for gooseberries. Bushes are the most usual form, but they can also be trained fanwise against a wall or board fence. The most important point in the successful cultivation of black currants is to keep the bushes young by cutting out about a third of the old .branches every year, immediately after the berries have been picked, to make room for young ones which are brought up from the base, for it is on the young ripened wood that the fruit is produced. Young wood has to be encouraged by a suitable method of manuring and mulching. Red currants, which are not so important but still valuable in the home garden, bear their fruit on the old wood, and consequently a different method of pruning has to be adopted. Lateral shoots are shortened back to five leaves now. and at the winter pruning they are cut back to an inch from the old wood. The young wood in the main branches is shortened back to half its length at pruning time.