THE GARDEN

Otago Witness, Issue 3961, 11 February 1930, Page 11

THE GARDEN

WORK FOR THE WEEK

NOTES BY "

D. TAN NOCK, F.R.H.S.

SHOWS

February 15.—Tapanui Horticultural Society. February 26 and 27.—Riverton Horticultural Socdety.

THE GREENHOUSE AND NURSERY. It will soon be time to start the old corms of cyclamen into growth and to 3 repot them. Though the best Howers are obtained from the young plants which are grown right on from the seedling stage without a check, very fine, large specimens are obtained from corms one or two years old. They will go on flowering for years, but when the corm becomes very large and gnarled the flowers are small and less satisfactory. Stand the pots up on a bench, and give a good watering to moisten the soil, then spray lightly overhead on all dry days until growth becomes evident on the top of the corm and new loots begin to form. They should then be shaken out of the old soil and potted up in new. This will consist of two parts loam, one part leaf mould, half a part dry cow manure or old stable manure and half a part sand and lime rubble, with a dusting of bone meal and powdered charcoal. Pot them fairly firmly, keeping the corms on the top of the soil; stand on the greenhouse bench, and give one good watering, afterwards spraying lightly once a day until the roots become active, but at no time do they require a lot of water. Should there be any signs of leaf mite, spray with diluted nicotieide or fumigate with X. L. All. Tomatoes are ripening very slowly, and wherever possible a little fire heat should be provided at nights. This will also help to keep the atmosphere dry and prevent disease. Continue to pot on primulas and cinerarias as they’ become large enough. Tuberous begonias seem to like the weather we are having, and though they receive no fire heat at all, they are flowering very well.

THE VEGETABLE AND FRUIT GARDEN. The early’ potatoes should now be fit to dig, and after selecting the sets which will be exposed to the light to green the larger tubers can be stored away in boxes or sacks in a cool, dark, airy shed or cellar. They will come in for use in the early part of the winter, but they will not keep like the main crop varieties. So far the potatoes are quite free from disease; the crop is good and the tubers are nice and clean. Continue to plant out winter greens and leeks, and make sowings of spinach and other quick maturing crops. As a rule we have plenty of green peas at this time, but though they have grown and flowered well they are slow at filling. I notice, however,* that the small round seeded kinds are doing better, and it is quite evident that they are hardier than the large wrinkled kind. A further list of unusual fruits which thrive in tins district would include the fig, vine, medlar mulberry and Feijoa sellowiana. The figs ripen with us in a normal season. The little green ones form during the previous autumn, stand during the winter and develop and ripen during the summer. Most figs have a tendency to grow too much, and they are most satisfactory when planted in a border composed mainly’ of brickbats in a warm, sunny corner against a wall or fence. Feijoa, growing in an ordinary shrubbery, has made good growth, but so far has shown no signs of fruiting. The fruits are said to have a sweet, pineapple-strawberry flavour, and if planted in a warm, sheltered corner it would no doubt be a success. The mulberry and medlar are well known, and perfectly hardy, and, as both are gpod ornamental trees, they’ are worthy of a place in the shrubbery, or thev can be grown as lawn specimens. CA~ 'ATIONS. Dianthus Caryophyllus is said to be a native of Britain, but has been cultivated in gardens • for many centuries. There are now a great many kinds of carnations varying in their hardiness, their habit of growth, their colours, and their time of flowering. The perpetual flowering or tree earnations differ from the others in their habit of growth. They grow upright forming a stem from which young growths arise, and they flower more or less all the year round. They are the type usually grown under glass for flowering during the winter, b they are fairly hardy if planted on a well-drained and sheltered position. It is better, however, to grow the perpetual border type in the open, for these have all the colours of the old border type with the continuous flowering qualities of the perpetual flowering kinds. Their growth is short and compact like the old border kinds, but in constitution they are much hardier and are freer flowering in the open during spring, summer, and autumn. They will continue to grow and flower for years in a well-drained sunny border, if topdressed with a mixture of loam, lime rubble, and sea sand. To keep the plants short and bushy, it is most important to cut the flowers with long stems, and to shorten back any long growths in the autumn. They can be propagated by means of layers or cuttings and are quite easy to raise from seed.

The hardy border Carnations arc most useful for providing a show in the flower garden after the first crop of roses is

over and before the second one commences properly, and they are most effective when planted along with or among the roses. When grown for cut flowers it is better to plant them in rows or beds in the vegetable or reserve garden, or they can be planted in groups in the mixed or herbaceous border.

When grown for exhibition or to provide cut Howers, it is better to disbud a little,- say to one or up to three Howers on a stem, but for garden decoration it is better to leave them all, and to pick off the old flowers as they wither to allow the younger ones to develop. It is most unfortunate that exhibitors will persist in exhibiting their Howers plastered down on boards and dressed up in paper collars. They are so suitable for arranging in vases with their own or other suitable foliage, and, as they last well, there is little wonder that they are so popular for house decoration. At one time flakes, bizzarea, and pieotees were the most popular, but I think the modern tendency is to grow self colours. Border carnations can also be propagated by means of layers and cuttings, and they can be grown from seed. 1 hough carnations can be grown from cuttings they are a bit uncertain, they take a long time to root, and do not as a rule make good plants the first year. \\ hen layered there is no trouble. They form roots before they are detached from the parent plant, and make good strong plants which are sure to flower the first year. In fact, border carnations are better when raised from layers every year. They are easier to stake, and look better when grown among the roses. Layering is -done as soon as the flowering season is over, and as the operation is not at all difficult and very interesting everyone who grows carnations should try it. All that is necessary is a sharp, thin-bladed knife, a pad* to kneel on, a number of pegs, a fork, and a quantity of light soil composed of loam, one part; lime rubble and sand, one part;, and one part leafmould. \\ ith the hand fork stir up the soil about the plant, and then spread a layer of the prepared soil round it, forming a kind of mound. Select the best shoots which spring from round the base of the plant, and remove the leaves from two joints or nodes where the shoot takes a bend upwards. Holding the shoot firmly in the left hand, make an upward cut, beginning a little below the lowest node which was bared, and cut ting upwards and inwards until half way through the stem and up to the second node. This will form a tongue about three-quarters of an inch to an inch long, and, holding this'back f-oni the main stem, press it down into the soil and secure it with a wire peg. Cut off the tops of the leaves, and press the soil firmly round the shoot, put 1 ' g about an inch of the prepared soil on top of it. It is most important that the tongue be kept well back from the stem, for, if it comes close against it, it will heal up without forming roots. As a rule six layers will be quite enough to put down at one plant, but there is nothing to hinder anyone from putting down all there are of specially’ good varieties. Watering is done after layering, and, if the weather should be dry it will need to be continued until the layers are rooted. While the layer is still attached to the parent plant it continues to draw its supplies of water and plant food from it. That is used to heal over the cut surface with a layer of callus, and to form roots which usually arise at the node near the end of the tongue. Hooting will take place in a few weeks, but there is no advantage n severing the layer from the parent plant until it is to be lined out. or transplanted to its permanent position in the autumn.

Carnations raised from seed do t flower the first year, but they make nice, strong, bushy plants and flower freely’ the second. The best varieties can then be selected and layered, to be grown on, and the singles and poor ones thrown out.

I he marguerite or annual earnation is most valuable, both for bedding and for supplying cut flowers, and, as it comes on after the border ones are over, it is really’ most useful. It is quite easv to raise from seed, which is sown at the same time as the half-hardy annuals and grown on in the same way’. The plant® are very small and bushy* and, as they can be had in separate colours and can be depended upon to come true, they are very useful for bedding schemes and for grouping in the mixed border. Over 90 per cent, come double, and they are sweetly scented. If sown a little* later than the annuals, they flower well into the winter when there is little else to be had besides chrysanthemums, and, if sown late and planted out about the present time, they will stand the winter and come into flower before the border varieties. With the perpetual border and marguerite sections it is possible to have carnatio in flower in the open for nearly the whole year round. Messrs Allwood Bros., of Haywards Heath, who have done so much with members of the dianthus family, have raised a new annual called Sweet Wivels field, a cross between Dianthus Allwoodii and a Sweet V\ illiam. It is said to grow like a Sweet William, and have flowers

like a Sweet William, but is more com pact and flowers from midsummer on to autumn. It is treated like an ordinary-half-hardy annual, and is said to be as easy’ to grow c - the antirrhinum.