GARDEN & ORCHARD.

Otago Witness, Issue 3774, 13 July 1926, Page 11

GARDEN & ORCHARD.

WORK FOR THE WEEK.

By

D. Tannock.

THE FLOWER GARDEN. The preparation of new flower and shrub--Ibeds and borders should be completed a* soon as possible, so that planting may pe carried out. Continue to repair paths, put fences in order, and to olean out grains and water channels. Growth is plready very evident, and the sparrows have started to pull the primroses, polyanthus about, daffodils are pushing up through the ground, and blossoms are opening on the cydonias. I often think that we neglect violas when arranging for a winter and parly spring display. Most are grown for pummer blooming, but the yellow variety palled Bullion, if left in tfie position it occupied last summer, or shifted with a hall of soil to a sunny bank in the autumn, will flower all winter and well on into the ppring. It is a very strong grower, easily increased either by division or by cuttings, find is making quite a patch of colour in the flower garden at present. THE VEGETABLE AND FRUIT GARDEN

The main work in this department is pruning, planting, digging, manuring, and getting ready for the coming season. Manure and leaves should be collected for forming hot beds or for forcing seakale, or rhubarb. Though stable manure is not so plentiful as previously, it can still be had, and to make a reasonable hotbed about equal quantities of manure and leaves phould be used. These should be thrown up in a loose heap, well mixed together to ptart fermentation, and when this is started turn the heap outside-in, again throwing it VP loosely. In about a- week or so it will h« ready to make up in the position in \vhich it is required POTTING.

One frequently reads of potting up, potting on, and repotting, and though all refer to a similar operation, there is a difference. We usually use the term potting up when phifting a seedling from a seed bed, or a box or pan (into which it has been picked), or a rooted cutting from a cutting box or a pot in which several have been rooted. Potting on refers to shifting a plant from A small pot to a larger one as it develops, and repotting means the shaking out of the old soil in which a plant was potted and replacing it in a pot of the same or a similar size. The work I mean to refer to at the present time is repotting. Now that we are past the shortest day, and sun-heat is stronger, growth has commenced in the warm greenhouse, little fronds are appearing on the maidenhair ferns, which indicates that root action is again active, and early potting has exactly the same effect on greenhouse plants as autumn planting on trees and shrubs. ‘ Another advantage of potting at the present time is that it provides congenial employment when weaker conditions are unsuitable for outdoor operations, and it is at this season that a plass house becomes a necessary part of the equipment of a garden. First get the materials ready, and as turfy loam is the basis of all potting soils, a stack of it, nicely chopped up. should be got under cover, and if the weather is very cold and frosty it will be advisable to heat it up a bit, by burying hot bricks in it before use. We use turfy loam because, being the top of the soil, it is usually sweet and free from organic acids. It contains organic matter in the form of grass roots and the droppings of animals, and while the grass roots decay and supply valuable plant food, they also act in a mechanical way in keeping the particles of soil apart until the roots of the plants can occupy it, and thereby secure supplies of fresh aid. Quite good turf can often be picked up by the roadsides where surfacemen have been cleaning the water-tables, and it should be stacked sufficiently long to allow the grass to die, but not long enough to allow the fibres to decay. The next important ingredient in potting soils is leafmould, and where there, are quantities of deciduous trees supplies are usually plentiful, but it can be gathered under trees in the bush or under hawthorn hedges. It is important, because it holds water, while at the same time admitting air. It supplies the necessary organic matter and keeps the soil from becoming close and * heavy. Sand is also necessary, but its functions are really mechanical. It keeps the particles of soil apart, assists drainage, and ensures the passage of fresh air to all parts. Lime rubble and charcoal are also used as assistants to sand, and bone meal is suitable for plants which have to remain a considerable time in the same pot. It is not advisable to use any soluble or highly concentrated fertiliser when potting, as the plant roots are not ready to absorb them for some time, and s during that period they arc likely to be washed away through the hole in the bottom. It is better to mix up the soil a few days before it is required, and a compost of two parts loam, one part leafmould, half a part sand, with two sixinch potfuls of bone meal to every barrow load of the mixture, would do as a stock mixture, to be varied to suit the requirements of fastidious plants when necessary. Pots should be clean, both inside and outside, for it is impossible for air to pass through their pores if they are blocked up with moss and dirt. They should also be carefully crocked to ensure good drainage. Drainage is so very important, and to secure a rapid exit for surplus water a piece of crock is laid over the hole with the hollow side downwards, and other fine pieces placed round it and on top, the depth varying with the size of the pot, but even in a five-inch and six-inch size one good large piece, with a handfull of smaller pieces, will not be too much. Over the crocks place a layer of rough leaves, pieces of turfy loam or moss, to prevent the particles of soil from washing down among them and choking them up. The plants we will deal with first are mostly those grown for their foliage, such as palms, dracaenas, aspidistras, asparagus, ferns, ficus, and anthericums. As these are frequently wed for house decoration, when they have to stand in fancy bowls, it is an advantage to keep them

in as small pots as possible. There is no advantage in placing a plant in too big a pot, as it is much likelier to remain healthy when under-potted than overpotted, and, providing watering is done with care and feeding given occasionally, a verjr good specimen plant can be grown in from a five-inch to a seven-inch pot. When re potting plants, it will be found that the roots are nearly all in the bottom of the pot. First remove all the top soil in which there are no roots, next remove the old crocks, and if the roots are matted round the ball tease them out a little. Put a little of the new soil in the bottom of the pot, which will be just large enough to admit the roots comfortably, make this firm, hold the plant in the middle of the pot with one hand, and with the other put in soil evenly all round.

Give a good dump to settle it down, and then with a potting stick ram it firmly all round, taking oare not to bruise the roots, and making the new soil quite as firm as the old ball of roots. Finish off level within an inch of the top of the pot and give a good watering. Ferns and aspidistras have often to be broken up to keep them in pots of reasonable size, and this can he done ouite easily at this time. A well-grown plant in a 6in pot will make three good specimens in a short time, and, with feeding, should do for at least a year without a further shift. Turn the plants out, remove the drock, and, with a fork or old knife, break up the ball, removing as much of the loose soil as possible, and teasing out the roota abit. After putting a little new soil in the bottom of the not, fit in the plant in the middle, fill in the 1 evenly all round, ram it firmly and finish off with the crowns just below the surface. Those which have not quite filled their pots with roots can be turned out so that the drainage may be examined. Remove the top soil which has become exhausted, put it back into the same pot again, and topdress with new soil, ramming it firmly. When potting on a plant from a smaller to a larger pot never give a big shift at a time, from a 3in to a sin, a 4in *o a 6in, a sin to a 7in, or a Tin to a 9in being any amount, unless a very rapid growth is desired*

After potting, and watering once, stand the plants on a bed of asnes in the warm house, which should be kept a bit close for a week or two, spray overhead and damp frequently, maintaining a moist atmosphere, butwater with great care. Those who do not have artificial heat should wait for another month before disturbing their plants, and the same applies to house and window plants. This is a good time to overhaul and topdress climbers and other permanent occupants of the greenhouse, whether planted out in borders or growing in tubs Climbers have ways of their own of securing support, but as they quickly get into a tangled mass unless pruned and regulated, it is better to disregard their methods of holding on and fasten them with a string or raffia. They should be pruned back hard if they flower on the young wood and thinned out if they flower on the old growths, but in any case it is better to take them down to* wash and clean them, to clean the wires, wash the glass, and tie them up neatly again. With a hand fork work up and remove as much of the surface soil as possible without damaging the roots, topdress with a soil similar to that used for potting, with a little more bone meal added, and ram it as firm as the original ball of roots. Give a good watering, and syringe the stems regularly to encourage the development of the young growths. It is just as important to give the plant houses a thorough cleaning everv winter as the vinery, and after washing down all glass and wood the brickwork can be white washed, the shingle or coke either washed or renewed, and everv available haunt of either insect or fungus pests cleaned out. A thorough overhaul at present, when there is plenty of time, will save a lot of work later on during the spring and summer, when there is so much to do outside. Continue to sow the earlv kinds of bedding plants and vegetables to pot or box up the geraniums, and to put in cuttings of both the outdoor and the pot chrysanthemums. ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. “Inquirer,” Southland.—Meet of the large flowered chrysanthemums can be flowered outside if the cutt ; *'~ , » are put in early, and the growths stopped early to secure the first buds. Soliel de October, Allendale Beauty, Edith Gavell. are good varieties for house decoration. “Asparagus,” Sawyer’s Bay.—Your asparagus will be better planted out in a border at the foot of the back wall of the greenhouse. It likes plenty of manure during the growing season and also plenty of water, but it will be necessary to shade the glass during the summer to get a dark green colour.