THE GARDEN

Southland Times, Issue 20011, 27 October 1926, Page 15

THE GARDEN

VEGETABLES

(By

“Horticola.”)

The weather during the past week has not been all that could be desired by the gardener, but conditions have been fine enough at intervals to enable many long overdue operatidns to be carried out. Those who took advantage of the opportunity should now, at least, have their main crops of vegetables in the ground. From now on finer weather will probably be experienced and the planting of nearly all kinds of common vegetables can be continued until December. Frosts are probably over by this time and-the planting of such delicate vegetables as ■- French beans, French climbing beans and runner beans can be made. Early potatoes should be earthed up while the soil is a trifle moist and sun-warmed. A little nitrate of soda may be sprinkled along the rows before this is done. Cabbage and cauliflower seedlings may be put out on richly manured ground. Before planting the seedlings cut off the long tap-roots to encourage the growth of fibrous ones. Mix a little bonedust in the soil in each hole. Where manure is obtainable, mix some with water till it is like a thick paste. Dip the roots of the seedlings in this, and also put a little of it in the holes with the roots. Remember that cabbages are gross feeders, and that quick growth is essential. Keep cabbages, cauliflowers, lettuces, spinach and silver beet growing steadily. Hoe between the row’s once a week, and feed once a fortnight with weak liquid manure, or with nitrate of soda, using one ounce in a gallon of water. The ground should be wet before liquid manure is given. Hoe between the rows of peas and beans, and attend to the staking. As soon as the flowers of broad beans shows signs of setting, nip off the tops of the plants. FLOWERS Among newer flowering shrubs, two very beautiful ones are in flower at present. These are Abutilon Vitifolium and Viburnum Carlesii. Abutilon Vitifolium has pale blue flowers which are borne in loose bunches. It is a very graceful shrub, or small tree, and when covered with its dainty flowers is charming. It likes well-drained soil, rich in humus, and a semi-shaded position, and grows very quickly, reaching, in two years from the time it comes from the nursery, almost its full height—about six feet. It may flower a little in its first' season, but in its second it simply covers itself with its dainty blue blooms. Viburnum Carlesii is a little deciduous shrub, growing only about four feet high, and is an absolute gem for small as well as large gardens. In a small garden it may be planted among perennial plants, and grows happily among them as long as they don’t overcrowd it. The flowers are its great charm. These are white, borne in small tight bunches like daphne, and are intensely fragrant. The plant is quite hardy, and likes well-dug soil rich in humus. The large flowers of the Japanese irises are wonderfully rich in colour, and in some cases curiously marked. It is advisable to cut off all flowering stalks as soon as the flowers are over, 6 for by doing so immediately one helps the plants to produce large flowers for several years without being distubed and thinned out. Japanese irises like sun heat and plenty of moisture. The soil for them should contain plenty of humus and sand, and mulching and watering during summer should be strictly attended to. Sweet Williams look very fine when they are grown in big clumps of only one colour. As the plants are low growing, they should be placed near the front in a mixed border, and each plant in the group should be given plenty of room to spread. Provided that the plants are put into well-dug soil, to which a little bonedust and some gritty material, such as coarse sand and road grit, have been added, and are given a sunny position, they will send up thick, strong flowering stems bearing huge bunches of showy sweet-scented flowers. Wh?n the plants become too big they should be Lifted and strong young pieces should be replanted. Seeds may be sown now, and the seedlings will have a chance to grow into large plants before their flowering season. STREAK DISEASES A SWEET PEA TROUBLE. Is this disease heriditary, or does it develop through certain conditions of soil; do climatic conditions favour it; does it develop on some soils more than others? These Questions are prompted by experience over several years, but more especially during the past- two years. Let me say right here that I am fully cognisant of the fact that this subject is no new one, and it a evident that others have had had experience of the trouble as well as myself. As I am out to grow sweet peas as well «s they can be grown and my efforts in this direction are frustrated by the plants going off wholesale, I want to know why this comes about. Perhaps it is unnecessary for me here to detail all the points about methods of cultivation adopted; suffice it to say that it has been the endeavour to give the best possible; such as trenching the soil, incorporating with the soil a fair amount of manure, liming, autumn seed sowing, noncoddling of the young plants—but, even with these precautions, we have disease badly. Plants attacked are not only those grown on the single stem system, but also those which are unrestricted. The puzzling thing about the who|b matter is the fact that there are certain plants under both conditions which are in good health and robust. So fax, I cannot see that any variety differs from others, as all are alike in being diseased. If there is any difference in the plants grown under the two systems, it is found in that those grown naturally certainly show a less percentage affected, while the soil preparation for these was not so elaborate. It is as well to mention that the soil is part of the kitchen garden which has been under cultivation for years, and consists of a light, sandy loam overlying gravel, of fair depth, but very hungry. I wonder if this is a cause of non-success? The plants do well during the earlier stages of growth, after being planted out, and excellent flowers with good stems are obtained, but after a month or six weeks from commence-* ment of flowering the trouble begins. As a test, this year feeding has only been done at long intervals, and it seems, therefore, that feeding is not the cause. On pulling up affected plants, both roots and stem are in a bad condition. I find little evidence of the nodules which should be found on the roots of healthy plants. Of course, the unnatural system of disbudding and removing the tendrils obviously must throw the plants out of gear, but that success is obtained, nevertheless, under the system is equally certain. I refrain frpjn further remarks at present, but leave the subject here, in. the hope of obtaining some definite information that will enable myself and others to overcome the trouble.—J.H.H. Twickenham, in The Garden. SCENT OF ROSES When we read that at the recent rose show held under the auspices of the National Rose Society of England no rose was judged worthy of the gold cup offered by the Daily Mail for the best gew scented

rose,, we might be tempted to the reflection that, unless our plant raisers devote more deliberate attention to this quality of perfume, it may either depart altogether from the modern rose or only linger in occasional plants. The old roses will always be grown, and probably will always retain their fragrance. The raisers have given us beauty of form and colour without stint in the new roses, but little perfume. Everyone knows that the raiser of new varieties of roses—and, for that matter, of anything of the .plant kind—has to submit to a thousand disappointments for a single conspicuous success. Nor in his search for a method to keep a hand on fragrance can he look for any real help from science. So far as we know, the genetics of plant fragrance have never been elucidated, though why this should be so it is hard to say. It would be of some help to the raiser of novelties, says the “Gardener’s Chronicle” if he knew, for example, whether odour is- a dominant or a recessive character, and whether it is inherited in constant manner whichever way a cross between a scented and a scentless variety is made. There is ground for thinking that in some plants fragrance is dominant; at all events, in a hybrid wall-flower under notice, the parentage of which is known, the scent which came from the male parent is conspicuous in the first generation. It would, of course, be incorrect to aver that rose growers have neglected the search after fragrant novelties. We need only call to mind the new and fragrant Bedford Crimson, Mrs George Norwood, and Lady Helen Maglona. But fragrance is an elusive property, and does not manifest itself to its full degree in all soils and situations. It may be that in the future some learned person will discourse on “manuring and fragrance,” and it would certainly seem probable that the systematic application of mineral fertilisers, and particularly potash, salts, and phosphates, might result in the full evocation of this quality. It is almost certain that many carefully-tended rose gardens receive more nitrogenous manure in proportion than is good for them, and it would be interesting to know whether those who have tried additional fertilisers have observed any increase of fragrance of the plants so treated. EDGING PLANTS There is a certain completeness about a garden of which the beds and borders are fringed with flowering plants in their respective seasons, and, incidentally, there is something lacking where edgings are not to be seen. In former years, when the bed-ding-out system held sway, a deal of trouble and, in some instances, not a little expense were incurred to make the garden bright for a few months, and edgings were one of the chief features. Plants are still used for this purpose of an annual character, but not to the same extent, and I think the reason is because it is being realised more every year that one may employ those of a more enduring nature that will give just as much, if not more, pleasure, without so much labour. It is a far cry to the time when it was regarded as fashionable to have not merely a single row of some tender subject, but a double row of edging plants; and it will, no doubt, be within the recollection of many readers that blue lobelia, dwarf and prim, like the old Crystal Palace compacta, was planted in conjunction with the even more formal Echeveria, the flowers of which w r ere often pinched off. Happily, I think, we live in a day when hardy plants are becoming more recognised every year, and for their usefulness as edgings we may claim some of them. When garden paths are edged with rough pieces of stone, opportunity offers for planting among them close-growing things like mossy saxifrages, such as SS. muscoides, caespitosa, or hypnoides. Sedums also afford suitable plants to wander about a stone-edged walk, as SS. album and lydium. Who does not know the country flower border where, along the verges, cushions of pink and white thrift are to be seen in spring and summer; and equally familiar are pinks whose foliage is compact, and in their season of flowering bring such fragrance to a garden. Mrs Sinkins is still one of the sweetest whites! Senecio argeqteus is noted for its silvery foliage growing only 2in or 3in high. It is hardy if planted in a well drained border, and is a capital plant or a permanent edging. A little border in my garden has been a mass of blue and white bells from the fact that along the side of the path some tiny pieces of Campanula pusilia and its white form were planted a year or two ago; but there are others more showy, like G. F. Wilson, with deep blue blossoms; in fact, we have in campanulas quite a number capable of making a brave show year by year. Spring beauty among edging plants ought not to be lost sight of. Aubrietias offer a selection, and when once established it is mainly a question of keeping them within bounds. Raised beds are sometimes difficult to deal with in the matter of edgings. One known to me, planted with the dwarf Iberis correaefolia, has covered most of the stones, and for some weeks this summer was full of its white flower. It is not the difficulty of finding sufficient hardy subjects for edging purposes that confronts one about to plant, as there are so many, but in choosing one or two that will best suit one’s purpose.—W. Linders Lea, in The Garden. HOW TO KEEP CUT FLOWERS The experiment station of the Sugarplanters’ Association in Honolulu has discovered that a small amount of sulphurous acid (H.2 5.0.3, not sulphuric acid), placed in water, prolongs greatly the life o fcut flowers. The experimenters found this in attempting to keep sugar-cane cuttings, which they wanted to maintain in good condition for several weeks. This was impossible with ordinary water, or with any other chemical treatment. They tried many chemicals, and none was satisfactory, says the Horticultural Advertiser, except the sulphurous acid, which produced the results they desired. By use of this acid they kept sugar-cane cuttings more than a month in an actively living condition. They tried the same method on various flowers, and found that many kinds, though not all, could be kept for from one to two weeks in fresh condition. The Hawaiian Experiment Station recommends the following proportions:—Commercial sulphurous acid in about 6 per cent, solution; a teaspoonful to each quart of water.