GARDEN & ORCHARD.

Otago Witness, Issue 3713, 12 May 1925, Page 11

GARDEN & ORCHARD.

WORK FOR THE WEEFC.

Ry

D. Tannock

the greenhouse and nursery. Chrysanthemums will soon be at their best, and notes should be made of the most desirable varieties with a view to the propagating the right quantities later on. Maintain a dry, buoyant atmosphere, and put on a little artificial heat at nights to { prevent the temperature from falling too ow Continue to box or pot up plants which have been lifted from the flower borders, and make and put in hardwood outtings. Freesias and other bulbs which were potted up some time ago can now be brought inside and placed up near the glass in the cool house, to encourage growth. THE FLOWER GARDEN. Continue to rake up leaves, to' trench and prepare new beds and borders for planting, an lift dahlias, gladioli, and other summer-flowering plants which it is intended to save. THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. It is now getting late in the season, but peas and broad beans can still be sown, and cabbage and cauliflower planted out. Clear off spent crops, earth up celery and leeks, and lift and store parsnips and beetroot. Cut over asparagus and mulch the beds with half-rotted manure, mulch rhubarb with manure, and clean up leaves and diseased fruits in the orchard. SPRING BEDDING. The summer flowers are now quite over (in some districts they have been cut down by frost, in others spoiled by the wet), and they can be removed to make room for the •pring-flowering plants which have been growing in the nursery or reserve garden. Where manure was dug in, in the spring, it will not be necessary to put any more in now, but a dressing of lime, bone meal, or basic superphosphates will be an advantage. First dig over the beds and borders, then spread the manure or lime on the surface, and work it in while breaking down the ground and levelling it. Wallflower is one of the sweetest scented and most useful of spring-flowering plants, and if the instructions given from time to time in these notes have been followed there should be supplies of nice, well-grown, bushy plants in the nursery rows. Lift these carefully with a good ball of soil attached to their fibrous roots, and to reduce handling, which means loss o' soil every time, they are packed in box*-« and conveyed to the place where they are to he planted. With the spade or trowel make a hole large enough to admit the roots with ease, and just deep enough to place the plants at the same depth in the soil which they were in the nursery. Put the plants in the hole, cover up the roots with soil before filling in completely, give a good watering to settle the soil round the roots and wash the particles in among the fibres. If extra large, they may wilt a little for a day or so. and may also loose a few of the lower leaves, but they will soon recover and become established in their new homes before the winter weather sets in. Primrose polyanthus are almost as useful as wallflowers in some districts, and they, too, should be planted extensively. They are flowering a little with us at present, but this will not be much of a drawback •when transplanting, for, as a rule, the roots hold on to the soil better than wallflowers, and they transplant with the minimum of check. This is not a good time for breaking up old plants, however, if these are retained they should have been broken up in the spring to give them time to recover and form good flowering crowns I do not recommend keeping plants more than three or four years: they are so easily raised from seed, and the young plants are more vigorous and more satisfactory. I should have mentioned that wall flowers are usually planted at from 18in to 20in apart and primrose polyanthus from 12in to 16in. Violas, forget-me-nots, double daisies, and aubretias can also be planted out now, either as edgings for the wallflower or polyanthus beds, or for carpeting bulb beds. They, being smaller, are usually planted at from lOin to 12in apart. Daffodils can still be planted, and these make good beds when associated with dark ■wallflowers or primrose polyanthus. A bed of dark blood-red wallflower, mixed with daffodils, such as Sir Watkin, Emperor, or Empress, with an edging of yellow primrose polyanthus, is very effective, and so also is a bed of yellow or white primrose polyanthus, mixed with redcup daffodil. Beds of tulips edged or carpeted with forget-me-nots, violas, or aubretia are also effective, but tulips are still too expensive to be used freely. Groups of wallflowers are also very effective in the mixed borders or in gaps in the shrubbery, and violas or primrose polyanthus make good edgings for all kinds of beds and borders. For those who have a difficulty in crowing wallflowers or any spring flowering plants very good effects can be obtained by filling tne beds with dwarf cryptomerias, cuprcssus of kinds, retinosporus, variegated broadleafs, variegated euonymus, Semoeio* Buchanani, and several of the whipcord veronicas. There is no reason why our beds and borders should remain empty all winter, and that there should bo no colour until the summer flowering kinds begin, which is usually near the end of the year.

In addition to planting out the spring flowering plants, beds and borders should be trenched in preparation for planting out roses and shrubs. It is desirable to go to considerable trouble when preparing beds and borders for roses, and deep trenching is always recommended. Wo like to trench to a depth of at least 2ft 6in. . i.d if the soil is good to that depth to bring the subsoil up to the surface. Where the euhaoil is a stiff clay it may not bo desirable to bring much to the top, but as it is soon broken down through the disintegrating influences of frost and other agencies it is an advantage to bring up a little. To improve the subsoil, which is very important in rose cultivation, a layer of vogetabla matter or farmyard manure is put in tho bottom of the trench and dug over to mix it with the soil, a layer of manure is also plaoed on top of tho second 'spit, but none in the top spit until the roses are planted, and then it is for the benefit of the violas, pansies, or carnations which are planted among the rqses. Where the soil is thin or light," and liable to dry up readily, it is better to throw it out to a depth of about 2Jft, and to put in a layer of clay, about 12 inches

thick, and on it to put a layer of manure. The remainder of the bed is tilled in with good loam, to which has been added a good quantity of farmyard manure and bone meal, the manure being kept well down and tho bone meal near the surface. Roses can be grown quito satisfactorily in a soil of a peaty nature, or one rich in organic matter, provided it is well trenched and manured, and lime or basic phosphate added to remove the aoidity, but the addi tion of a little friable clay is always an advantage, and it is worth while going to extra trouble in preparing beds ana border in the first place. After trenching the beds or borders they are levelled roughly, and left to settle for a fortnight before plantEavender (Lavendula spioa ) is a native of the Mediterranean regions, known to have been cultivated in Britain since the middle of the sixteenth century. It is now largely cultivated in the Mitcham district, near London, and a lavender field in full bloom is a sight not readily forgotten. It is an evergreen shrub, with grey leaves and of a bushy habit, growing to a height of from 3ft to 4ft, and though usually "rown in the flower border, is quite suitable for the shrubbery or for forming low hedges enclosing the rose garden, dividing tho vegetable from the flower garden, or as a border to a path. It likes a nice warm, well drained soil, and if the soil is heavy a good mizturo of lime rubble or gravel will be an advantage. It has no objections to farmyard manure, but bone meal or basic phosphate is more suitable, and this can be worked into the soil while planting. Planting can be carried out any time this month or in the spring, and to form a hedge the plants can be put from 18 to 29 inches apart or in groups of three or five, from 18 to 24 inches apart, and in shrubberies in groups of three or five Lavender can be grown from cuttings or seeds. Seeds, if sown in the spring in gentle heat, soon germinate, and the seedlings can be pricked out Tike ordinary annuals, and afterwards planted out in their permanent positions or lined out in nursery rows for the summer, and planted out in the autumn. Hardwood cuttings made from the branches pulled out with a heel, and put in as advised for these cuttings a few weeks ago will also root quite readily, and make nice plants within a vear, or th 9 young tips can be rooted in boxes like pentstemons or Lavendula spica is usually recommended for hedges or groups, but L. vera is the species grown for the production of oil of lavender. If lavender is cut and dried just as the flowers open it will retain its fragrance for years, and this is quite a suitable time to prune a hedge, but it can also be pruned as scon as the flowers fade, and it should always be primed in autumn to enable the young growths to come away before the winter.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. “A. H.” (Waimate). —You can start to use winter rhubarb now, but I would not recommend trying to force it, though a mulching of fresh strawy manure will help it. I would advise you to cut out the branches of the trees which bore the''undesirable varieties of apples, probably the growth is coming from below the union of the stock and the scion. Spanish chestnuts are better planted on a dry, warm bank, but they are liable to die out without the least warning, at any age. If you are planting for landscape effects I would advise planting the red horse chestnut. “Rose” (Timaru). —Climbers for -a trellis would be Paul’s Scarlet Climber, Miss Marion Manifold, Climbing Caroline Testout, and Climbing Liberty or Chateau des Clos Vouget and Climbing Ophelia. I should advise you to leave the one already planted so long as it is satisfactory. “J. E. M.” (Outram).—Your shrub is Myrtus Ugni, at one time called “Eugenia Ugni.” One cf the tropical Eugenias is called Rose Apple. Berheris Darwinii does make a good hedge, and it is the species you describe. B. Wilsoni should make a good hedge, though I have not seen it used as such. B. aristata and B. vulgaris both make good hedges.

“M. G.” (Mosgiei).—There ought to be a market for dried lavender in Dunedin.