GARDENING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3304, 11 July 1917, Page 6

GARDENING NOTES.

By D. Tannock. NOTES FOR THE WEEK. FLOWER GARDEX. Narcissi and other bulbs are now beginning to peep through tho ground. They will benefit considerably by having tho soil pricked up with a fork and left loose. This admits air, and at the same time enables us to remove all wends and leave tho beds and borders neat and tidy. Where shrubs_ and small trees are planted in tho grass it is good practice to keep a circlo about four feet in diameter clear of weeds and cultivated, as recommended for fruit tree 3. After pruning, these circles can bo manured and dug over in preparation for planting pansies and violas for the summer, ir, if planted with small bulbs, they can bo forked. VEGETABLE GARDEN. The orders for vegetable seeds should bo made up as soon as possible and sent on to the seedsmen, for it will soon be necessary to mako the first sowings. The following list has V>een prepared mainly to indicate what is required to maintain a Supply of vegetables throughout the year, and to provide a considerable variet". As ft rule people- grow too few varieties, with the result that there are times of abundance e.nd times of want. The varieties I have indicated are types suitable for a cottage garden—good ordinary kinds. Every seedspia.ii has his own particular strains of each, Borne perhaps better and some worse. Ii must be remembered that there is a great difference- between varieties of the same

vegetable in earliness, cropping, and flavour, and as tho best_ kinds take up no more room and require no more cultivation than tho inferior and cheap kinds, it pays to grow the best. This applies particularly to small gardens where space. is limited. Early varieties of vegetables are those which require only a short period of growth. They mature early, but do not provide a heavy crop. They are intended to carry on until the main crop varieties come. We make, therefore, only small sowings or plantings of them. Potatoes.—Early varieties are Ashleaf Kidney, Early Puritan Snowdrop, and Jersey Bennes. Second early are Sutton's Supreme, Sutton's Epicure, British Snowdrop, and Dalmeny Beauty. Main crop are Up-t -date and Sutton's Abundance. As potatoes are usually scarce and dear .in December and January ,_ it will, where only a small patch is available, bo best to plant a few of the first earlies and fill up with second earlies, for if they are sprouted before planting they will be ready for digging by Christmas. (Other Vegetables.—Broad beans —Harlington Windsor and Slhiel's Border Hero. French bean—Canadian Wonder. Butter bean —Fillbasket. Runner bean—Girtford Giant Scarlet. Beet —Egyptian Turniprooted and Dell's Crimson. Brussels sprouts —Christie's Model. Broccoli —Nimmo's Prosperity and Veitch's Self Protecting. Cabbage—Early York, Enfield l Market, and Winningstadt. Cauliflower: Early London, Eclipse, and Veitch's Autumn Giant. Celery: Henderson's White Plume and Colo's Superb Red. Carrot: Early French Horn and Chiswick Beauty. Leek: Musselburgh and The Lyon. Lettuce: All The Year Round and Luxury. Onion: Brown Spanish, Ailsa Craig, and Cranston's Excelsior. Parsnip: Hollow Crown, Sutton's Tender and True. Peas: English Wonder, Sutton's Dwarf, Defiance, and Duke of Albany. Radish: French Breakfast and Icicle. Spinach: Round or Summer. Tomato: Holmes's Supremo for the open air, Hippcr's No. 2, and Sunrise for under glass. Turnip: Early Snowball, Golden Ball, and Laing's Garden Swede. Parsley: Emerald Green, Silver Beet. VINERY. Grape vines should be pruned not later than this month. If the rods liavo grown' their full length, all that is required is to cut back the young shoots to two buds from tho old wood. One bud is all that is required, but two are usually left at pruning, and tho less desirable one is rubbed out later on. The rods are taken down, all loose bark rubbed off with the hand, and some people paint them with a mixture of clay and Gishurst's compound to destroy all lurking blights. The glass and all ivoodwork should be washed with soft soap and hot water and all the brickwork should be lime-washed. When growth commences tho sap flows to tho top of the rod and the top buds start first. To secure- % more oven break tho rods are often loft in a horizontal position for a few weeks after cleaning. SMALL EARLY FLOWERING BULBS. fhcre are a number of small early flowering bulbs suitable for the rock garden, for edgings or clumps in the border, and for growing as an undergrowth for roses and deciduous flowering shrubs and trees They are all quite easy to grow, and do not in any way resent the applications of manure or feeding given to the overgrowth.

Snowdrops, which grow everywhere m I the Home Country, are not at all common I out here, and are somewhat difficult to do. I tried them in every position I thought I they would grow in, at first without suc- ! cess. Then I planted them on a sunny, exposed, dry position in the rock garden, and they have thriven ever since Scilla siberica. a bright, blue flowering bulb, much admn-ed and very hardy, thrives with us under the roses. It is peeping up just now, and will be a sheet or blue in a few weeks. It seeds itself all the bed. Little things like seedling onions, are coming up now, and these will form flowering bulbs in a few years. They aro better lifted and replanted every three years. Chionodoxia lucilla (Glory of the Snow) is also a desirable blue flowering bulb, taller and looser than Scilla siberica, but not so easily established. It is now seeding with us, and the seedlings are coming up quite thickly. Muscaria (the Grape Hyacinth) is another blue flowering bulb suitable for the rock garden and carpeting shrubbery borders. The ordinary species is a 6mall thing, but the variety Heavenly is much stronger and moro prolific. When doing well the flower stalks are about a foot long. It grows so strong that the bulbs soon become crowded, and aro better lifted and replanted every two or three years. Muscaria armenicum is also a strong growing species with fragrant bluo flowers. They all produce abundance of good seed, and tho seedlings flower in two years. Crocus: This bright though evanescent flower is always appreciated. It comes so early, and is very effective when planted in masses and broad rows on front of the flower border. Tho crocus likes good soil, and thrives among deciduous shrubs. Though freesias aro usually grown In pots for greenhouse decoration they aro quite hardy, and when planted in good, Well-drained, rich soil at the bottom of a wall in a sunny position thoy will flower profusely. The stalks are nob so long as those grown in pots and in the north, but they aro quite a useful length, and the flowers have quite as strong a perfume. They increase at such a rate that they arc quickly overcrowded, and are better lifted and "thinned out every year. ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. " Smith " (Invercargill) wants to know tho cause of rust on chrysanthemums, blooms showing tho eye, and tho cause of moss on fruit trees. Rust is caused by a fungus, and if it appears early will spread until tho whole of the leaves are affected. It is worst when the foliaga is not well ripened, when the plants are over-fed. and when tho weather is warm and moist. Dip the cuttings in a solution o( sulphide of -potash (half-ounce), dissolved in a gallon of water; spray again when potted into small pots, and ngain before housing. If only a few spots appear the leaves can bo pulled off and burned. The eve in the blooms is usually onnsrd by taking the wron.? bud, unriponod foliage, or over-feeding. Moss on fruit troos is an indication of dampness and unhealthy treci*. Spray with Woburn winter wash. i "Inquirer" (Dunedin) wants to know what phrufea aro suitable for covering a steep bnnk. 'Escn.llonia pend-nla. Cotoneaster microphylla. Berberie stenophylla, Eorsythia euspensa, Berberis aquifolium, and Hypericum callcynum arc recommended.

" Amateur " (South Duiiodin). —You havo failed with potatoes in tho second year, and and broccoli have also failed. Your soil seems to be sour and to have benefited very little from the application of beach sand. Your trenching is right, and you will find tho application of lime beneficial. Use manure with plenty of straw litter; plant good seed potatoes. " Milton" asks tho names of shrubs for small lawns that will not grow very high. Some aro_ Andromeda japonica, Kalmia latifolia, Erica Melanthera, Choisya ternata, Rhododendron (Countess of Haddington), and Corrca alba. " E. H. W." (Ea.rnsclough).—Maize is very tender, and easily damaged by frost. I should say it would not bo safe- to plant it in your distinct before the end of October. Green peas are- hardier than maize, and not readily killed by frost, but if chocked and stunted never produce satisfactory crops. As a protection against slight fronts, stake with twiggy branches as soon as the plants appear above ground.