GARDEN & ORCHARD.

Otago Witness, Issue 3556, 9 May 1922, Page 9

GARDEN & ORCHARD.

WORK FOR THE WEEK.

By

D. Tannock.

GREENHOUSE AND NURSERY. It is not too late to put in cuttings of villas and pansies. In fact, we have not yet commenced, and we never have any difficulty in rooting them in frames ill the open. Continue to house the chrysanthemums as soon as the buds show the first signs of colour, for we may have frosts which would destroy them at any time, and those which are growing in beds can be covered with calico to keep off the wet and to keep out the frost. It is really better to have a permanent framework in a sheltered part of the garden in which to grow the plants, and it is all ready for the cover in the autumn. Chrysanthemums keep for a long time so long as the blooms are dry, and by growing varieties to provide a succession they can be kept until the spring flowers come in. Plants growing outside can also be lifted with a good ball of soil and replanted in a tin or box and stood in a verandah or an open shed, if a greenhouse is not available. Caloc-olaries can be potted into their flowering pots, which will be 6in or 7in in size, and a soil composed of turfy loam two parts, leaf mould one part, well rotted cow manure half a part, and half a part of sharp sand, with a sprinkling of bonemeal. Do not pot too firmly; give one good watering, and stand them on a bed of ashes on a cool part of the greenhouse. When growing calceolarias it is most important that, the growth should be slow and steady right through the winter, with as little fire heat as possible. THE FLOWER GARDEN. The frost has now cut down everything in the flower garden except the chrysanthemums and a few of the bulbous and hardy herbacious plants. Lift the tuberous begonias, cut off about half their foliage, and put them in a dry frame to ripen off. When the stems fall off, which they will soon do, the tubers can be dried and then stored away in boxes of dry sand or soil in a cool frost-proof shed or dry. airy cellar. Dahlias can also be lifted, the labels being tied on securely to the stems, and after drying them a little they, too, can he packed away in dry soil or sand, and stored beside the begonias. Fuchsias, which were used as pot plants, can also be lifted, but in Dunedin they can be heeled in behind a hedge, where they will spend the winter quite comfortably, and can be potted up in the early opring, when growth commences. Continue to plant out wallflower*, primrose, polyanthus, violas, double daisies, and forget-me-nots, and complete the planting of spring flowering bulbs at once. Also plant out anemones, ranunculus, sweet williams. carnations, and hardy herbaceous plants. Ornamental trees and shrubs can also be plnnied now and preparations made for carrying out any proposed alterations (o paths, lawns, beds, and borders. After the leaves are raked up and the spring flowering plants bedded out there is a period when some time should he available for alterations, and no time should be lost in getting on with them. Though gladioli and montbretias will stand the winter all right if left in the soil, they really do better when lifted, rested a Inland then replanted in well manured, well cultivated positions in the mixed borders. THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. Continue to earth up celery and leeks and to clear off spent crops, digging or trenching all vacant land leaving the surface rough to expose it to the actions of frost, etc. Cabbage for spring and early summer can be planted out now, but a well-drained posi- „ tion as well sheltered as possible should be selected. They can be planted very close —say Ift apart, and in early spring when greens are scarce every second one can be cut out as soon as it begins to head, to make room for the rest to develop. Lettuce of the all-the-year-round cabbage type can also he planted out on a wellsheltered border, and in districts where frost is very severe they can be put 'in cold frames. Dwarf jieas and broad beans can also be sown now to provide early crops next summer, and seeds of cabbage and cauliflower can also be sown to provide plants for putting out early next spring. In every case plants which have to stand the winter should have well-drained positions in as warm and sheltered a part of the vegetable garden as possible, and though seedling cabbage and cauliflower will stand the winter in the open if a cold frame is available they are better sown in it; but the sashes should not be put on except in very wet. cold, stormy weather. Rhubarb for forcing can lie lifted now, and the roots left on the surface exposed to frost and all kinds of weather, but if it is desired to form a new plantation this is best, done in August just when growth is about to commence. PRUNING BUSH FRUITS. A start can lie made with the pruning of gooseberries and currants. Gooseberries bear their fruit on both the old and the new wood and though they will continue to fruit for some years

if unpruned, the berries become small and picking becomes a painful operation. They are really most satisfactory when allowed a certain amount of latitude grid a considerable amount of young wood retained, but this can only be done by adopting a rather drastic method of thinning out —- removing whole branches to make room for the young branches which are gradually built up by extending them from year to year. In the first place all dead wood should be cut out and also all suckers which spring up from the surface of the soil and choke up-the middle of the bush. It is . better to pull the suckers off so that they will not grow again, or to wrench them away with a sharp spade. Next out away a few of the branches altogether if the bushes have fully occupied space allotted to them, removing all which cross one another and rub, and those growing inwards towards the middle of the bush. Prune back all the lateral shoots to about half an inch from the old wood a.nd just tip the main shoots, leaving not more than 12in and pot less than 6in of the young owod. \ arieties which have a drooping habit should be ■ encouraged to grow upwards, all the lower ones which would droop down too near the soil being out away. The shape of the bush should also be considered, for the more even the distribution of the sap the belter the crop will be. and the ends of the branches should all be about the same distance from the roots. When young bushes are being built up they usually begin with three stems, and these are next increased to six, and next to 12, and so on, the number increasing a* the branches radiate outwards and upwards from the main stem, but in every case there ought to be sufficient space between them to enab’e the fruit to he picked in comfort, and to allow the sun and air to get in to every part to ripen the wood and the fruit. Gooseberries can also he grown as cordons on a wall or fence, and by this method the best fruits can be obtained, and a useful and satisfactory screen formed between different parts of the garden. One or two year old plants can bo put out at from 12 to 18 inches apart, and two shoots taken up from each, extensions of from 12 to 18 inches being made each year until the top of the trellis is reached, and all side shoots cut back to about half an inch from the main stem. ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. “Tuapeka.”—There are some varieties of pears which do not keep, but if yours was a keeping kind, no doubt the wet, dull weather we had in March is responsible for the early decay. “West Harbour.”—lt is necessary to apply nitrate of soda dry when it is desired to kill weeds on a lawn, and to make it spread out a little better it is often mixed with fine sand. This is not necessary, however, but it should be dropped directly on to the weeds. “D. F.,” St. Leonards.- —There is no doubt that the amount of moisture in the soil has a lot to do with carrots splitting, but it is usually found that the early stump-rooted varieties are the worse when they are left in the soil too long. It is just possible that the virgin soil in which yqju grew them was richer than the ordinary kitchen garden. I think splitting is mainly due to the prolonged season of growth, the result of the unusually wet weather in March. I find that even where they were not thinned out much they have split, and the soil was not rich. “Gladstone,”—lt would be quite a good idea to mix your manure with weeds or spent vegetable crops and. other garden refuse. but not couch grass—it is too difficult to kill, and every little bit of root will grow. When sowing down a lawn it is really better to sow plenty of seed. It does not really cost so verv much, and it means getting results quickly. For a lawn 20 yards by 20 yards one hushed would not be too much, though half that quantity is often used. I could give you the names of grasses necessary to make up a good mixture, but it is really better to buy the lawn grass as made up by the seedsmen. I know that thev are blamed for the weeds which so often come up. hut the weeds may either be in the soil before it was sown down or they may have blown in from outside. Do not prune your moss rose very much, just thin out the weak and spindly growths and shorten back the main branches a little. “Inquirer,” Mosgiel.— Your seedling hollyhocks should come away all right in the spring, for unless the seed is sown early they cannot be flowered the first year. If vou have a greenhouse or frame sow the hollyhock seed which you have at once, and a soil composed of two parts loam, one leafmould, and half of sand will do. If you have no glass of any kind it will he better to keep thq seed until the spring.