THE GARDEN.

Otago Witness, Issue 3885, 28 August 1928, Page 11

THE GARDEN.

WORK FOR THE WEEK.

By

D. Tannock.

THE GREENHOUSE AND NURSERY. The present time is a busy one in the greenhouse and frames, for seedlings have to be pricked out, and the regular occupants, such as palms, ferns, and other foliage plants, need to be repotted. The geraniums and the hardier of the bedding plants can be shifted out into the cold frames, but it is too soon to put anything outside yet. THE FLOWER GARDEN. Turfing, patching, and repairing lawns should receive attention, and the verges of paths and beds should be cut with the iron. By doing so now, the clipping during the summer is a much simpler matter. Continue to prune the roses and dig the beds and borders; lift and replant the michaelmas daisies, and complete the digging and forking of the shrubbery borders. THE VEGETABLE AND FRUIT GARDEN. Continue the planting of early potatoes and the sowing of the early varieties of vegetables. Plant fruit trees and bushes, and continue the spraying. PRUNING PEACHES. The buds on peaches growing against walls or fences are now sufficiently well V developed for it to be determined which rf are leaf buds and which flower buds. - . The fruit is borue on the young shoots produced last growing season, and if a certain amount of summer pruning and thinning was carried out there should not be very much to remove now. The buds are produced at the joints or nodes, and these are sometimes single, but are usually in threes. The two outside’ ones (flower buds) are round and well developed and the one between them (the leaf bud) is long, thin, and pointed. The buds near the ends of the shoots ’are nearly all the thin leaf, or shoot buds; the fruit buds being lower down near the old wood. To retain young fruiting wood near the centre of the tree as well as near the ends of the branches it is necessary to cut out some of the old branches occasionally and replace them by gradually taking up young ones which arise near the centre of the plant. All dead wood, and thin twiggy growths which cannot possibly bear good fruit should be removed, and when summerpruning it is usual to leave a few more shoots than there is room for in ease of accidents. It is desirable to have a space of at least from four to six inches between the shoots to .How the foliage to develop properly and to make room for the young growths which have to be tied in during the summer to secure ripening before winter. A few young shoots should be selected a id tied over the old stems which have ceased to be fruitful, and the best of the others should be retained to fill up the tree with branches at the desired distance apart. The ends of the young shoots are fhin and unripened and a portion should be cut away, leaving one shoot bud above the top flower bud. This is required to continue the growth of the stem aud to pro vide the necessary foliage to enable the buds lower down to develop into fruits. After thinning out the young wood and cutting out that which is dead or very weak, and shortening back the shoots as described, the young wood should be tied on to the wall or fence. It is also advisable to cut all the old ties from these. If left too long they will soon cut into the stem and hinder the flow of the sap. Tarred twine is the best for tying, but binder twine can be used. When nailing to a brick or stone wall it is a good, plan tb use strips of cloth.called shreds,’ but when the support is of wood, nails and strings are more suitable. When tying in the growths they should be as straight as possible, and should radiate from the main stem like a fan. . After x pruning and tying, spray with winter formula (Bordeaux mixture), which, instead of being 4 —4—40, should consist of 101 b of lime, 101 b of copper sulphate, and 40 gallons of water. This will keep leaf curl, which is the most annoying of peach pests, in check. Old trees are far more susceptible to attacks of blights than are young vigorous ones, and when a tree becomes really bad it is better to root it out, renew some of the soil with good loam and manure, and plant a young tree. GARDEN PEAS. Pisum sativum, the garden pea, is an annual, and is supposed to be a native of Central Europe and the mountains of Western Asia. It is a hardy plant, and will withstand the winter in any well-drained position. Peas like a good, rich, deep, and well-cultivated soil, and one which is known as sweet is the most suitable. Though peas collect nitrogen from the air by means of nodules on their roots, it is not safe to depend on this process. A well-manured soil,, preferably one rich in organic matter, which will not dry up readily, is required. When the soil is very light and sandy or gravelly, it is an advantage to dig a trench about two feet •deep and one and a-half feet wide, ana put in a layer of well-rotted manure. Some good, clean loam or chopped turf should be added, and all should be covered up with ordinary soil. Peas of all kinds like lime, and this should be applied when the soil is being prepared for sowing, and light dustings

at intervals after the seeds have germinated will keep away slugs and assist the crop. When preparing the soil, if it has been trenched or deeply dug and manured in the autumn or winter, it should be forked over to break up the lumps, and to obtain a fine seed bed the surface soil is kept on top when forking. It is then raked and levelled, all clods being broken or removed and stones raked off. As peas require sun and air on both sides of the rows, it is necessary to sow in drills at least three feet Lpart, but better still to distribute the rows of peas among other vegetables. When the peas are staked they have an abundance of light on both sides of the rows, and they provide shelter for the other crops. It is better to sow in a broad drill or two narrow ones a Tew inches apart, and it is a decided mistake to sow too thickly. The broad drill is probably the best, and this can be taken out about two inches deep and six inches wide with either the spade or hoe. Sow the seeds thinly, give a dusting of bone meal or basic phosphate, cover with the fine soil, and make firm with the feet or the head of the rake. Rake over and leave the surface smooth and level. To retain moisture and to protect the seeds from birds it is advisable to place some pieces of twiggy scrub on top of the rows, but this must be removed as soon as the seedlings appeal through the ground. Birds are very fond of the young growths of peas, and to protect the plants it is advisable to stretch two or more rows of black cotton along the rows or to cover them with wire netting guards. Alice are often very troublesome, and to keep them away it is advisable to coat the seeds with red lead. This is easily done by placing the peas in a tin or pot with the hole in the bottom stopped up with a cork, moistening them with water, putting in a little red lead, and stirring round until every seed is coated. When the little plants are about three inches high the soil should be drawn up on each side and stakes or some kind of support provided. The best stakes can be made from the branches of deciduous trees, but either manuka scrub or well-grown broom will answer quite well, and as the plants are usually strong when well treated it is advisable to provide stakes a foot higher than the height given on the seed packets. When scrub or branches are not available, sheep netting will be found quite satisfactory, and this can be fixed on to stout stakes on each side of the row. Twiggy branches, to which the tendrils can hold, are better than pieces of straight sticks and strings, but any kind of support is better than leaving the plants to sprawl over the ground.

Peas should never be allowed to become dry during the early stages of their growth, and a mulch of manure or lawn mowings is very useful on light sandy soils during dry weather. When special pods are required for exhibition purposes the tops of the stems can be pinched out after three or four lots of pods have set, and a few applications of weak liquid manure will assist development. To get early crops it is usual to make a sowing of a dwarf, round-seeded variety such as English or American Wonder in the autumn, in a warm, welldrained border. They will simply germinate and remain stationary during the winter, but will grow away and flower and fruit in the early spring. To provide a succession, seeds can be grown in boxes or spouting frames and the seedlings planted out when they are well hardened off. The first sowings in the spring can also be the dwarf early kinds which mature quickly but do net produce a very heavy crop, and other sowings should be made at intervals of a fortnight during spring and early summer. There are two distinct types of peas, one vhich is grown for the young seeds called shelling peas, and another for its sweet succulent pods. There are also two distinct types of the shelling peas, one with round, smooth seeds and another with wrinkled green seeds. The wrinkled seeded kinds are most esteemed, and the smooth round-seeded kinds are only sown to provide early crops. The wrinkled kinds are also divided into dwarf, medium and tall kinds according to the height to which the stems will grow, and when suitable stakes are available, it is better to grow the medium or tall kinds. Early kinds are William Hurst 12 inch to 15 inches; English Wonder, 20 inches to 24 inches; World’s Record, two and a-half feet to four feet; Gradus, three feet to four feet. Second earlies are Duke of Albany, five feet; Sutton’s Dwarf Defiance, two feet to two and a-half feet; Stratagem, two feet. The third division comprises Improved Dr M‘Lean,. three feet; Fillbasket, three feet; Yorkshire Hero, two and a-half feet. Sutton’s V.C. is a very strong variety, growing to five feet or’ six feet, with very large pods, containing up to 12 and 13 peas. To get peas at their best they should be picked as soon as they are fully developed and before they start to become hard and dry. The edible podded or sugar pea is a very strong grower, and should be sown or planted very thinly, at least three inches between the seeds. Stakes from five feet to seven feet in height will be required and this variety is excellent for growing against fences or walls.