THE GARDEN WORK FOR THE WEEK

Otago Witness, Issue 4074, 12 April 1932, Page 11

THE GARDEN WORK FOR THE WEEK

*' NOTES BY

D. TANNOCK, A.H.R.H.S.

THE GREENHOUSE AND NURSERY We are liable to get frost at any time now, and it is advisable to overhaul the heating apparatus, and have it in good working order should it be required. All preparations should also be made for housing the chrysanthemums and putting covers over those which are growing outside to provide cut flowers during the winter. Plants growing in the open can be lifted and taken inside and either planted out in the border in the tomato house or put into tins, pots or boxes. First give a good watering if the soil is dry: then tramp it firmly all round, and lift with as good a ball of soil and as little root disturbance as possible. After planting, or potting, give a good watering, and spray overhead once or twice, if the weather is dry and sunny. Plants set with buds which have no chance to develop in the open, will develop quite well if treated in this way, and, placed in a greenhouse or on a sunny veranda, they will provide valuable cut flowers during a time when these are scarce. Cinerarias are still quite safe in the frames, but primulas and ey-’teanen should be taken into the greenhouse now. THE FLOWER GARDEN All spring-flowering bulbs should be planted by now. and a start can be made to put out wallflower, forget-me-nots, and other spring flowering plants as soon as there is space in the mixed border, or as goon as the summer occupants are removed from their beds. Continue to top-dress the rock garden and to transplant any of the plants which are becoming overcrowded and those which are not doing well.

AUTUMN-SOWN PEAS AND BEANS I have often emphasised the advantage of sowing and planting in the autumn to secure supplies in spring and early summer. The winters are not as a rule so severe that the hardier kinds of seedling vegetables will be destroyed, provided the soil is well drained and open, and established plants have a great advantage over spring sown or planted ones. Drainage is most important, and more plants perish through having their roots in moisture than as the result of frost or cold winds. It is. however, an advantage to select as sheltered a position as possible, and. where hedges or fences are not available, a few twiggy branches or pieces of manuka scrub provide a lot of shelter from the cold southwest winds.

The position selected for peas and beaus should be deeply dug or trenched, and the plot where the second early potatoes were grown would be very suitable. Both crops like lime, and a good dressing should be worked in while preparing the soil. Other dressings at intervals during the winter will keep away slugs, and help to keep the soil sweet. Farmyard manure should not be necessary, but a good dusting of bone meal or superphosphate will be appreciated by young plants when growth commences. It is not desirable to encourage a strong, soft, sappy growth in the autmun, as this is more likely to be damaged than is short jointed, sturdy growth. After forking and breaking up the soil, and making it level and fine with the rake, draw a flat drill with the hoe about six inches wide and two inches deep. Sow the seeds thinly, and evenly. allowing about one inch and a-half to two inches between each seed. Cover with the fine soil which was taken out of the drill and make firm. As birds are very fond of the young growths of peas it is better to protect them with wire netting, or by stretching a few strands of black cotton about two inches above the soil. As soon as the seedlings are well up they should be staked with pieces of twiggy manuka, which will afford both protection and support. Varieties to sow in the autumn are English Wonder, American Wonder, and Dwarf Defiance. Broad beans are treated in a similar manner, except that the drills are an inch deeper, and the seeds are sown in two rows, one on each side of the drill at a distance of six inches apart. Seville Longpod or Broad Windsor are good varieties.

WORK IN THE VEGETABLE AND FRUIT GARDEN

Potatoes should be dug by now, and, it the soil is liable to become waterlogged during the winter or if the space is required for planting or trenching, crops of both beet and carrots can be lifted and stored in soil or sand in a cool shed or cellar, or they can be buried in a convenient place. When lifting beet it is

most important not to break any of the roots, or they will bleed, and the tops should be cut off a few inches from the root. The tops of the carrots can be trimmed off neatly. Celery should now receive its final earthing up, and strong growing leeks can also have some soil rawn up round them to increase the length of the white. Cabbage, cauliflower, and lettuce can be sown on a well-drained bed. or in a cold frame, where they can receive some protection during the winter. Continue to collect and store apples and pears, to root prune fruit trees, and to prepare land for planting both fruit trees and bushes. AUTUMN FLOWERING BULBS AND TUBERS At the present season, when most attention is given to the planting of spring flowering bulbs, it is worth while noting that there are a number of autumn flowering bulbs and tuberous plants which are quite hardy and very useful in the rock garden and the flower borders. Most of these are natives of countries where conditions ar e very dry and hot during the summer. They flower during the autumn before the foliage, which usually’ appears shortly’ afterwards, or it does not appear until the spring. Our difficulty with these plants is to give them a sufficient check, or ripening, during the summer, and it is often necessary to plant them in very hot. dry corners at the foot of a wall or fence, or on a very dry, sunnv part of the rock garden to get them to flower. In this respect they are useful, for they’ will often thrive in places and under conditions where few other plants would live, let alone flower.

There are a number of true crocus which flower in the autumn, but, though they are bright and interesting, they do not command the same attention as their spring flowering cousins, which are careful to open when there is little else about and have things practically all their own way in the flower garden. In the autumn there are so many other bright and attractive hardy’ flowers that the humble crocus is apt to be overlooked. Three species suitable are Crocus zonatus, C. sativus, and C. speciosus. The Colchicums, sometimes. though wrongly’, called autumn crocus, are. however, closely related to the true crocus, the difference being that the true crocus has three stamens and one style, and the colchicums have six stamens and three styles. The treatment is also different, the crocus liking a well-drained or really dry place, while the colchicums like moist meadow conditions, and thrive among shrubs and on shady borders. Colchicums send up their flowers in the autumn, and the foliage and seeds appear above ground in the spring. C. autumnale is the common meadow saffron, a very vigorous plant, which increases rapidly. Though better left undisturbed for about four years, the plants soon become overcrowded, when they’ should be lifted and replanted without delay. There are several varieties, a double purple, white, and striped, being the most common. C. specium is a far better plant than the common meadow satiion. It has large, rosy, purple flowers which appear nearly’ a foot above the ground They are thus not so liable to be spattered with mud, and are more useful for cutting.

Amaryllis belladonna is a noble bulbous plant, a native of the Cape of Good , 13 one °‘ the bulbous plants which does not like to be disturbed, and flowers best when starved and baked during the summer. In the autumn it sends up feat less flower stems, one and a-half to three feet in height, bearing many’ delicate silvery-rose flowers. When the leaves appear in the spring they should be encouraged by watering and feeding to develop as strong and quickly as possible, but as soon as they- show signs of ripening this should stop. Though nerines are usually grown in pots, they do quite well ,+1 US ’r and ?°" er better when planted at the foot of a wall on a dry, sunnv bolder. They are natives of South Africa, out, unlike the Amaryllis, the leaves appear immediately after the flowers. N. sarniensis (Guernsey Lilv) is one of the most suitable for outdoor' cultivation. Zephyranthus is sometimes called the crocus of America. It has grass-like foliage, and white or rosy pink crocus-like flowers Z. Candida is the hardiest and best of the group, making tufts of evergieen rush-uke leaves and glistening white flowers which open flat in the sunshine It likes a sandy soil and is suitable for a border or the rock garden. Crinum, is a pati'e of Soutu Africa, but is perfectly hardy in most places in New Zealand- The best one to grow is Powellii a hybrid between C. Capense and C. Moorcanuni, which has large club-like bulbs with spreading leaves many feet in length, and massive spikes of fragrant pink flowers. The bulbs should be planted deeply, only- showing the upper neck, and in frosty districts they should be mulched with leaves or straw durin” the winter. °

Sternbergia (Lilies-of-the-Field) are charming bulbs, with flowers of a firm texture which are better able to withstand bad weather than the Autumn Crocus. S. Lu tea has clear bright yellow flowers like a very large crocus, several appearing from the same bulb. It likes a sandy or gravelly soil on the rock garden or a well-drained border. The hardy cyclamen are neat little plants, suitable for a cool or shady- part of the rock garden. They are perfectly- hardy, and Tike a well-drained soil with plenty of rocks or gravel and leafmould. C. hereraefolium (Ivy-leaved Cyclamen) lias handsome ornamental leaves, which spring from tubers which are sometimes a foot across. The flowers precede the leaves. C. Europaeum produces its flowers along with the leaves. The hardy cyclamen are easily raised from seed. Liliuni speciosum is one of the most desirable of the autumn flowering lilies, the type having large, deep-rosy-blossoms, richly spotted, and there are a white and several other varieties. Tt likes a well-drain-“fl place in the shrubbery or mixed border, and, being a stem

rooter, it should be planted deep and liberally treated.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS A. IL, Clydevale.—Your pear tree appears to be attacked by fabracca-scald, a disease wlych is controlled in a similar manner to black spot. When growth commences spray with lime sulphur (1-10); when pink buds appear. hme sulphur (1-30); when the petals tall, lime sulphur (1-100); 10 days later lime sulphur (1-100), and every month until the fruit reaches its maturity. \V. J. M.. Hakataramea.—Sulphur yellow and bright yellow asters are fairly common, though these colours are not much in demand. Y elling t on Resident/’—The berries were those of the common lawyer. They r,' re £ ertainl .v not worth planting. A- B. South Dunedin.—l do not know what caused the rot in your carrots, unless it was the wet. You should lift them and store in sand in a shed or dry place. Iris, Roslyn.—Your narcissi bulbs appear to be attacked by Basal Rot. It would be better for you to burn the affected bulbs and plant the good ones in new soil.