GARDEN & ORCHARD.

Otago Witness, Issue 3525, 4 October 1921, Page 9

GARDEN & ORCHARD.

BY

D. TANNOCK.

WORK FOR TIIE WEEK.

THE GREENHOUSE AND NURSERY. Continue to prick out seeaings of the tender annuals and place those which are established and growing well out into the frames to harden off gradually. To make i room for the annuals which are coming on it may be necessary to put some of the i geraniums and the most forward of the j annuals outside, but it is hardly safe to ! leave them uncovered at nights yet. We are still liable to have slight frosts, which would seriously check tender plants. Place them in. a sunny, sheltered position and fix a framework over them on which scrim can be spread at night, but it must be rolled up during the day. Vines in unheated vineries will be starting into growth, and ventilation will require to be done with great care. Open the top ventilators whenever the weather is favour- i able, but avoid draughts, and shut up early in the afternoon to shut in the sun heat. Syringe regularly morning and afternoon, J and damp the floors during the day to maintain a growing atmosphere. As soon ! as growth is sufficiently forward disbud to , one shoot on each spar, the strongest and | bset placed being retained, and the others rubbed out. Begin early to tie down the \ selected shoots to the wires, but this operation has to be done with great care, as they are easily broken out. It is better to bring them down a little at a time. Keep the temperature at or about 65deg, but a drop of ICdeg on cold nights won’t , do any harm. i Continue to plant out tomatoes either ; in tins, boxes, or borders, and pot on those 1 intended for planting outside into six or , seven-inch pots. PANSIES AND VIOLAS. Pansies and violas are great favourites j in most gardens, and the soil and climate of Dunedin are specially suitable for their cultivation. They like a cool, moist soil, I rich in organic matter, and a litile shade during the summer months will not do them any harm, though during the rest of the year they are better right out in the open. They arc specially well suited for edging and carpeling rose beds and borders, for edgings of herbaceous and shrubbery borders, and for growing on a moist rock garden where they won't get too much sun. The modern pansy is worked up from The little wild viola tricolour or heart’s-ease, and the old show pansy, now seldom seen in gardens, may be considered one of the stages through which it has passed. Old florists do not think very much of our modern pansies, because they won’t conform to any of ibeir standards. Their flowers were grown for exhibition purposes only, and when dressed up in paper collars were flattened out on boxes in sets of six, 12, or more varieties. The modern pansy is produced for garden decoration. Size is considered. but the main features are distinct and dear markings, good habit of growth, carrying the flowers well up above tile foliage, and a strong, robust constitution. Pansies can be raised from seed, and if this is from a reliable strain and carefully selected a good proportion of the seedlings will be good, and quite a number will be worth propagating by means of cuttings, but if cheap seed is sown the majority of the varieties will be worthless things not worth growing. Once a strain is established the desirable varieties can be grown from cuttings which are inserted in a special bed prepared in a sheltered -jflpition outside, where they can be covered with a piece of scrim until they have rooted, and protected from the rough, cold winter weather. Cuttings which were put in as advised last autumn are ready to plant out now, and the soil in the rose beds is now in good order for breaking down in preparation for planting. This is done with the fork and the rake, the surface being left reasonably fine and level, and if it is very loose a little tramping will not do any harm. Where the roses are not very large and planted fairly wide apart it may be possible to plant pansies all over the bed, but if the loses are fairly old and very vigorous it may be necessary to restrict, them to the edgings. It is best to use pansies for the mix d beds and borders and violas for the beds and gro ps of one colour. ’1 hen we can work out a colour scheme which will set off the rose-s to advantage. When planting out put them at a foot to 13 inches apart, make them firm, and water to settle the soil among the fibrous roots. The violas are often called luffed pansies because cf their compact, upright, vigorous habit of growth. They have been obtained by crossing the garden pansies with the alpine violas, and, being hardier than the true pansies, they are more suitable for spring bedding, and if kept watered and feil and not allow'd to set seed they wfii flower ail through the -iiminer as well. Thev ran also be grown from seed, but it is very hard to get. real first-rate seed, and once a variety is obtained it can be propagated hv means of cuttings, or, simpler still, dividing up the okl plants into pieces. They are better planted as edgings for large beds or borders or for carpeting beds of one variety of rose when suitable colours can bo employed. Bullion is one of the best, yellows, Devonshire cream is a desirable variety for carpeting beds of dark reel roses, Maggie Mott is the best lavender, and Chief Justice is a dwarf, but very free flowering variety. Viola gracilis, the Grecian violet, i s well worth growing either as an edging in groups on the rock garden, and, like V. eorauta, if is easily propagated by division of the old plants either in the spring ot autumn. There are several varieties offeree for sale. 1 :u none are superior to the original species. Sweet violets enn also receive attentior now. The flowering season is over, and though they tn be o ■■ ;■ ,1 quite safely later on, there is no advantage in delay and it is belter to get th<> plants well established before the warm, dry weather set; in. Though they will flower for two year; without dividing up, they are better wliet replanted every poor.ml year at. the least They do qni* well when if te l every year and” thev certainly have more vigoron. foliage and longer flower stalky 1 he plan where■ they are v slum! 1 - fume, over and a libera! dressing of v.ell rob manure dug in I o grow them lo tin best ntn e ild be placed in ; cool. n haded position during the summer and in the autumn shifted inf; an open, sheltered, sunny position o planted out in frames, when they' will flov.-e all winter, more or b’- . and very freel; In the spring. Durihg tne summer the; should receive constant attention. The soi

must be kept stirred with the scuffle hoe, and they like to be sprayed or syringed frequently to keep away; red spider. When propagating the violets the best and strongest crowns should be selected, and to prevent unnecessary' loss of moisture most of the leaves can be cut off. They must then be planted firmly and watered well. If planted in single rows they can be put at a foot apart, and, if in beds of three or four rows, at 15 inches apart each way. THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. The soil in the vegetable garden is now nice and free and easily worked, and the planting of potatoes and the sowing of main crop vegetables should be pushed on as rapidly as possible. •'Make another sowing of peas, and put in the first sowing of runner beans. These are very suitable for growing against a hedge or fence, and, when provided with strings or sticks to climb on, they cover it up. When in flower they are very ornamental, and when in pod are very useful. When sown against a wall the seeds are placed in a single row six to nine inches apart, hut when in the open they are sown in a double row six inches apart and six inches between the two rows. When the sap is rising, which means that the cambium layer is active and new tissue is being formed, fruit trees should bo grafted. The grafts or seiong should have been collected when pruning was done and buried in the soil to keep them fresh. When old trees which have been cut. down are to bo worked, crown grafting is the most suitable method. The bark is cut downwards from two to three inches. The scion is prepared by tapering two or three inches of the bottom end, leaving a shoulder to rest on the top of the stock. The scion is pushed down between the bark and the wood until the shoulder rests on the stock. Bind with raffia and cover up the cut surfaces with clay or grafting wax. ’Two grafts are usually sufficient for each branch, but if out down to the main stem more may be necessary. Tongue and saddle grafting is clone when the stock and scion are about the same thickness, but a description of the methods will have to stand over to next week. ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. “Rata.” —The nntcissi blooms arrived quite withered, and it was impossible for me to name »them with any degree of certainty. The bulbs can be lifted while in flower provided they are replanted in a cool place immeditely. When they are lifted there is no advantage in keeping them out of the ground. Root action commences very early, and the very best time to plant narcissi is the day after they are lifted. “Inangah.ua,” West Coast. —The tulip bulbs frequently break up into small offset looking pieces after flowering, and these take a year or two to develop into flowering bulbs again. You would probably find it better to lift your tulip bulbs every year immediately the foliage ripens off, and to keep them dry for a bit. You can then plant the bulbs which are large enough to flower and line in the off/sets in the nursery to be grown on until they reach the flowering stage. We do not lift the tulips m the gardens every year, every^third year being often enough on our soils. “Maclaine,” Green Island. —The Gallipoli plant is a species of eistus or rock rose, Cistus villosus, I think, and it certainly j thrives in a warm, dry, exposed situation |on the rock garden. It can be grown from | cuttings, but, better still, from seed which ! ripens freely, and seedlings spring’ up round • about the old plants. Short pieces of young ripened wood will root if put in a pot of i sanely soil and stood on the shady side of ! a house or hedge. | “A. 1X,,” Waimaili. —Gerberas ought to ! do well in a well-drained bed next to a brick wall, and it would be better to plant j the old ones next to the wall and the j seedlings in front.