THE GARDEN. HORTICULTURAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3274, 13 December 1916, Page 6

THE GARDEN.

HORTICULTURAL NOTES.

OPERATIONS .FOR THE WEEK

FLOWER GARDEN. Where staking Mid tying have been neglected much damage has doubtless occurred. Such plants should bo gone over, cutting out all -damaged choots and tying in all straying growths. Tall chrysanthemums especially have suffered owinj to their brittle nature. Any of the plants which are showing their flower buds should have the points taken off to a lower growth, which should be taken up as a leader. These plants must be kept in vigorous growth; if suffering any cheek either from want of food or water, the lower leaves show it in a few days, and no after-treatment can replace these. If good flowers are wanted for exhibition, table, or garden decoration, there must be ample and healthy foliage. Verbenas should be kept pegged down to tho soil, and old faded trusses cut ofF twice a week to keep tho plants, fresh. Hedges of privet, pittosporum, hawthorn, and cuprossus should now bo clipped back with the shears, and all walks and borders have a general clean up. T:*eo carnations should have neat stakes before tho growths- aro damaged. Young plants should not havo too many blooms, tho firefc season. This section is very free-flowering. A strong growth of grass is preferable tho first season to a quantity of bloom.

FRUIT GARDEN.—Late stone fruit should bo thinned out, as in many gardens far too heavy a crop has sot, and j unless thinning is resorted to inferior fruit I will be produced. Raspberries should bo , kept mulched liberally in order to improve j the quality of the fruit. The suckers which persist in coming up between the stools I should be removed and the others thinned | out. leaving five or six at each stool. This I is better clone now, and secures stronger canes for another season, as allowing all that form to grow only to be cut away in the winter is bad practice. The time rci quired to go over the bed now is of small ' value compared with the increase of strength I afforded to those which are to produce next I season's fruit. During rainy weather the j great advantage of mulching strawberry I beds is apparent, as without this protecI tion a largo quantity of the fruit is spoilt j by grit and sand. All runners must still I be kept cut close off both newly-formed ! beds or those fruiting. If it is intended i to plant out new quarters of strawberries ' next or following month, give closo attention to watering the runners selected, as adviscd some time ago, and give them every i encouragement to make rapid progress. J.he ground "they are intended to occupy should be trenched and manured at once, if not already prepared in that way, and allowed to become consolidated again before planting. Red currants should have a good cutting back of the young growth now. Ex- : vept such shoots as are required to form the bush or increase its size all lateral growths should be pinched close in so as | to favour the formation of fruit spurs. j KITCHEN GARDEN.—Advantage should ; be taken of the moist condition of the soil ! to finally thin out all crops of carrots, pars--1 nips, beet, turnips, etc., which may require attention. Herbs may now be cut back for drying purposes. The best time for cutting is just as they are going out of flower. The steins and leaves should be quite dry at the time of cutting, and the shoots should bo tied up in small bunches and hung up in a. dry, warm shed or store to dry. If they are tied up in huge quantities together mildew occur.'* and destroys the flavour. While the soil is moist a planting out of cabbage plants should be made for cutting in early autumn, just as many of the summer vegetables are failing. Due attention should he paid to sowing successional crops of kidney beans. Two or three drills should be sown as soon as the previous sowing has commenced to run freely. In picking the beans, which on the earliestsown crops should now be fit for use, care is required so that all beans may be gathered as soon as fit. If only a sma-11 portion is allowed to ripen, there will be but a poor crop. If seed is required, a row or portion thereof should be set apart for this purpose. Broad Windsor beans should be pulled up as soon as the crop has been picked, and the land manured and dug. As this is a very exhausting crop, if the land is not required for immediate use it should j be left a 3 rough on the surface as possible,

which can be readily broken down with a hoe or fork when required for planting. Growing crops of onions should have the surface loosened up with the hoe, and a topdressing of soot will improve the crop. An excellent plan for blanching celery is to place a common earthenware drain-pipe, 4in or sin in diameter, according to the size of the stalks, over each plant. This, without any further trouble, will result in beautifully-blanched sticlfs, for the foliage will in a short time block up the upper end of the tube, so as to effectually exclude all light. Should the pipes be rather taller than the plants when placed in position, good rather than harm will accrue, for the foliage is certain to rise up into the full light of day, and the sticks will become so much longer in consequence. A third plan, and a very good one, though, perhaps not quite- so effective as the .last, is to wrap each stem round with several turns of stout brown paper. This should be done by degrees, as the plants gain in height, and byno means tightly at first, so as to leave room for the stalks to swell.

GREENHOUSE AND FRAMES. —A supply of autumn-growing plants should bo grown on in order to keep the greenhouse gay, as well as to provide a change of plants for table and room decoration, as such plants as ferns and palms are much improved by removing to the greenhouse dr - warm shaded frame for a few weeks at a time. Rouvardias. tree carnations, cinerarias, primulas, and streptocarpus are all suitable for winter-flowering. The two first-named should be grown on from young plants now. while the othere may bo raised from seed sown during the next month or two. If the plants are required to bloom early, sow at once; and. if later, sow in succession. Fuchsias which have Iwen kept pinched back may now bo allowed to grow and flower, so as to supply the, places of the pelargoniums as they go out of bloom. Green fly must be kept down upon all kinds of growing plants, or llio points of tender growth arc soon seriously injured.

By .T, Gkrbih PETUNIA P. .For the decoration of the conservatory or greenhouse few plants will make a "renter d : splay during the summer and aulninn months than petunias. Both doub'o and single flowered varieties make attractive plants for the greenhouse. Although the plants are easily grown, there is a vast difference between well-grown and badlygrown specimens Now is a good lime to secure a number of these plants in small pots, and grow them first in a frame, and then, as they Increase in size and commence to form flower-buds freely, remove to the greenhouse. From seed a good strain will produce a largo percentage, bear-

ing double flowers. In a batch of seedlings it will l)e noticed that some of the plants are of stronger growth than others, and the inexperienced cultivator generally transplants these robust seedlings. These will probably turn out to be single-flower-ing; but as the double-flowering varieties are wanted, the dwarfest seedlings should be retained, as they more often bear double flowers; so care in the selection should be the rule. Petunias thrive best in a rather dry soil—that is, those that are grown in the open borders. With those grown in pots it is different, as the bulk of the soil for the sustenance of the roots is comparatively small, so that it is necessary to have the soil of fairly good quality, and not too sandy and light. The well-being of tho plants will depend to a great extent upon the watering and feeding afterwards. Soil that would suit a fuchsia or pelargonium would do for a petunia. The young plants should -not be allowed to become potbound before they are shifted into larger pots, because any neglect in this matter would cause premature bud formation, and when this takes place free growth ]S arrested. To secure a bushy habit of growth pinch off the growing points of the shoots. Petunias delight in sunshine and dry heat, and flower profusely _ as a result There arc many colours which may be secured from a packet of seed, sueh_ as double white, red. pink, purple, besides blotched and striped. Grown in masses, they have a charming effect.

PROLONGING THE BLOOMING SEASON.

With a little attention many plants, such as delphiniums, pyreth ff :ns, herbaceous phlox, and many others may have their season of flowering prolonged if tho first flower spikes arc removed as soon as the flowers begin to decay, and the plants given a soaking of water. A good mulching of well-rotted manure round the plants will help to keep tho pots and soil round the plants cool and moist, and help materially to keep up the display. With annuals and plants that seed freely, the blooms should be removed as soon as they begin to decay. Many plants cease to bloom as soon as seed begins to form. Sweet peas, for instance, will cease to bloom in <i few weeks if seeds are allowed to form ; but by cutting freely the flowering season will extend over several months. Single dahlias are another class that require attention in the way of removing the blooms as fast as they show signs of decay; otherwise their beauty is of short duration. If prevented from seeding, they will continue blooming until destroyed by frost. RIIODODENDPvONS.

Rhododendrons which have passed their flowering period should have the bunches of decayed flowers and sccd-pods removed, for the swelling of the pods detracts greatly from the growth, so much so that it is a common thing for the plants left with their seed on to fail altogether to produce bloom for the next year; therefore as soon as the bloom fades, take off the bunch of seed-pods and continue this. If there be any disposition to grow out of form, prune in any very long branch before growth begins. Hardy azaleas require, similar treatment. STREPTOCARPUS. This is a novel race of free-blooming greenhouse pot plants.. They are natives of Africa and Madagascar, and are called the Cape primrose, and were introduced into England in 1854. A few years ago a number of hybrid varieties were obtained by cross-fertilisation. These are much superior to the older varieties as flowering plants, and in the Old Country have bocome very popular with horticulturists. With ordinary attention they will produce a continuous succession of flowers, ranging in colour from pure white, red. rose, blue, mauve, and pink, and they are readily propagated by division or by seeds. The leaves may also be rooted similar to the gloxinia. .Seeds should be sown in a temperature about 55dcg to 65dcg. Perhaps the beet place in which to put the seed s in a mild hotbed. One advantage of put ting it in a hotbed is that the soil docs not dry as fast in a. mild hotbed as it does in the greenhouse. The soil must be kept, moist, as if it is allowed to get dry it would be fatal to most of the seed. When large enough, the seedlings should be pricked off. putting several in a 4-in pot, subsequently transferring them to a single pot. The most suitable compost is a mixture of rotted turf leafmould and sand. Like all Cape plants, they like a plentiful supply of fresh air and sunshine. If grown in a close atmosphere and under a shaded roof there will be only very few flowers and a largo amount of foliage, which will be soft and brittle; whereas, if grown in a light, wellventilated house, the flowers will be plentiful and the leaves short and sturdy. In sheltered positions out of doors they will bloom all summer. Strcpforarpus wendlandii is a curious species, which produces only one leaf, which sometimes attains a width of 2ft, with a proportionate length. From the axis of the leaf flower-scapes lOin to 20in high are thrown up, bearing large, violetblue flowers. It is an interesting and curi ous plant LIFTING BULBS. Bulbous-rooted plants which have finished flowering and their leaves decaying should be carefully taken up and stored in some dry shed until the season of planting arrives. It is not requisite that all bulbous-rooted plants be taken up annually; but it is necessary for all the finer sorts in order that the roots may bo examined and the offsets or young bulbs removed. Anemones and ranunculuses so treated flower stronger than if they were left altogether in the ground Tulips, hyacinths, and polyanthus narcissi should also be taken up. dried in the shade, and then placed in a dry, airy room until the season for planting arrives. Jonquils should not be taken up every season, like other bulbs, as they arc found not to flower so well the first season after planting. Their removal should be considered necessarv only onco in two or throe years in order to thin out their clustered roots, or for the purpose of propagation. Many require to take them up of necessity to get other plants introduced into their places; so there is no option but to rest them as rccommcndc-cl above. The great danger to continued flowering is in the bulbs being taken up before their leaves are thoroughly ripened and the bulbs consolidated in tissue.