THE GARDEN

Southland Times, Issue 21428, 24 June 1931, Page 11

THE GARDEN

WORK FOR THE WEEK

By

J. A. McPherson.

The Greenhouse. Greenhouse owners must congratulate themselves on having such ideal weather conditions prevailing at this time of the year. The absence of wind has materially helped in keeping down the coal bill, for it is recognized by all that wind is a very big factor in reducing temperatures of greenhouses. Cinerarias and Primulas are now showing plenty of bloom and do not require any heat in the house, in fact it suits them better to grow in a very cool atmosphere and the only heat required should be just sufficient to keep frosts from entering the house. Take cuttings of Chrysanthemums as they become available and when once rooted avoid coddling the young plants. A cool frame with a bed of clean ashes for the pots to rest on is all they require. All Hyacinths and Narcissi for forcing purposes must be brought indoors. Sow seeds of Begonias and Cyclamen in shallow pans or extra well drained pots. The former seed is very small and dust-like and will require very careful handling. Bring Calceolarias from their present positions in the cool frame and place them in a cool airy corner of the greenhouse.

As soon as Sweet Peas have made sufficient growth place them outside in the shelter of a hedge. The Seed Order.

Make out your order during the first wet day. There will be annuals and perennials to order besides a long list of vegetable seeds. Do not forget to order Wallflower, Forget-me-not, Sweet William and Canterbury Bells along with the annuals. They are not required for sowing next month but must be on hand for sowing in November. Include a packet of salmon perennial Poppy besides one of Pyrethrum and another of Delphinium, they are all good herbaceous plants suitable for cutting purposes. When selecting vegetables sort out a good rotation in essential or main crops. For instance there are good varieties of early, second early, main crop and late Peas while Carrots have both early and main crop types. Even with Beetroot it will be found better to include both round and long-rooted on account of the round variety being much earlier. Wherever possible avoid using seeds left over from last season’s sowing, it is too risky and valuable time is often lost on account of failures. All nurserymen and seedmerchants issue descriptive catalogues specially for the use of the grower and it is up to the grower to take full advantage and make the utmost use of them. Judicious choice of varieties materially assists in keeping up a continuity of crops and also helps in checking a glut at any one particular time. The Flower Garden. Planting of hardy trees, shrubs and roses is now in full swing. When a few Pines are being put in for general shelter purposes they will benefit greatly, especially during the first twelve months, if a separate stake can be given to each plant. This stops swinging about in the wind and materially helps the plants to gain a good hold of the soil. Lawn shrubs must not be forgotten at planting time. A good Rhododendron or dwarf Juniper makes an ideal type of plant while Italian Cypress and Irish Yews provide the narrow and upright growth so desirable for small and formal gardens. Plant Anemones and Ranunculus as soon as. possible, giving them, deeply worked ground. Lilies may be lifted, divided and replanted. Do not keep them out of the ground longer than is necessary. Poorly drained soil never suits any of the Lilies and it is useless attempting to grow them unless thorough preparation has been made beforehand.

Levelling up hollows in the lawns is good work for this time of the year. Lift the turf where the depression occurs, fill up to the required level with soil and replace the turf. Returfing of very worn parts of the lawn especially where traffic is heavy is much better than sowing down with fresh seed in spring. Look over all plants used for edging pathways; trim back old straggling stems and dust some bone meal round them. Pinks make wonderful edgings to borders and at this time of the year a dusting of lime under the stems will kill slugs and benefit the plants. Commence to overhaul and replant the herbaceous border. Divide large clumps of Daisies and Phlox and mulch Paeonies, the latter are best left undisturbed for several years. Arches and Pergolas. When using manuka for arches and pergolas especially if they are to last for many years, care must be taken not to place the manuka, however large in size or solid looking, in contact with the ground. It quickly rots away and the whole structure tumbles. Jarrah or Totara bases may be put in and the manuka bolted to them; but on its own base manuka is a short-lived support. Oiled Jarrah makes a fine type of material with which to build arches and pergolas and if the whole structure is oiled every second year it will keep its rich and solid look. Fruit and Vegetables. Lightly fork all ground between plants of Strawberries and Raspberries, the use of a spade only results in damaging the fine root hairs. Insert cuttings of bush fruits as advised in previous notes, being careful above all things to tramp the cuttings firmly into the soil. Plume all large fruit trees, burn all prunings to prevent the spread of disease and spray with an oil emulsion to kill scale. Bring in a clump of mint, pack it in a box of any soil and stand under a frame or in a sunny porch. Plant clumps of Rhubarb and protect heads of Celery from severe frosts.

AH heavy digging should be completed by the end of this month if one wishes the soil to benefit from the heavy frosts. Stakes. How often do we wait till the Peas (both flowering and vegetable varieties) are ready for staking before we realize that provision has not been made for a supply of good stakes. This month should not pass without provision being made to have ample supplies of brushwood and stout stakes available ready to be called upon at a moment’s notice. A supply of stakes should also be got ready for the flower garden, pointing each one and cutting them into various suitable lengths. A clump of manuka will provide most of the material with the exception of extra heavy stakes required to be in the ground from year to year. GARDEN-MAKING The foregoing article written by H. Avray Tipping (London Observer) is of more than passing interest in that it not only portrays all that a garden should be, but supplies the underlying motive which should actuate the true garden lover’s labour. Nowadays there is nothing narrow in garden methods and garden possibilities. The forms are numerous, and the furnishing—be it with trees and shrubs, annuals and perennials, bulbs and tubers —is ample, not to say excessive, for any and every soil and clime that England may present. Individual taste and varying site can have their requirements exactly suited. We have galore denizens of the meadow

and the wood of the rock and the marsh. We have lovers of lime and haters thereof, delicates that demand a warm climate and hardies that thrive in the frost and snow. The formalist will not be upbraided if he extends his terraces and parterres, his topiary hedges and his set visits to his garden boundaries. The landscapist is .free to begin his undulations at his garden door and to carry his winding lawns between curving plantations of shrubs and plants to the glades of his woodland. The botanical-ly-minded can eagerly collect and separately nurture his rarities, while the lover of broad effects can use a limited number of sturdy and accommodating familie in the mass. One or several of all of these garden modes may we adopt as our own as our leanings and desires (too often regrettably limited by the purse) prompt us. All such phases and their details will find place on some occasion or another, but most specially the last mentioned as being the most inclusive and generally sympathetic. While the botanist sets out the palette, the gardener for effect paints the picture, and is deeply grateful to the botanist for the introduction and testing of a host of new species and varieties Irom which he can eventually pick out new material for his purpose that proves to be not only beautiful, but amenable. To choose what, he likes and what is suitable out of the profusion of pigments offered is no difficult task. But how about his canvas? There he must act with judgment, for the canvas of the garden-maker is not the simple thing, not the clean slate of the canvas of the painter in oils. All artists’ canvasses resemble each other in their plain and even surface. All garden sites differ from each other, They offer infinite variety, and their surface and details must affect and often control the picture to be painted on them. To study his site is therefore the first task of him who starts his garden by creating it. Before he has done this he should have no set plan, no crystallized ideas of what he wants to create. It is entirely wrong to take a design all neatly and comprehensively laid out on a drawing board and impose it on the chosen area, because that area is almost certain to have been given by Nature some features and characteristics of its own, and with these his set plan will surely quarrel. If the latter wins, the characteristics may indeed be obliterated, but as regards its environment the garden will strike the eye forcibly as something alien—akin to the new and quite differently patterned patch which is apt to be inserted in the young street Arab’s trousers. If, on the other hand, the site wins and retains its leading features, then the plan will be distorted and riven, and the garden offer a mere set of jarring and disjointed fragments. No! If drawing board he will have, let him take it to the site, and jot down not merely the general lie and aspect, but every swell and hollow, every tree and incident, and then think out a scheme that will make them —modified perhaps, but not abolished—congenial and apt items in a coherent and balanced whole. Then will his garden be an entity with its own individualism, and also a sympathetic element in the general landscape of which it forms part. Invite the site to suggest a plan with which it may be friendly, and don’t force upon it one which will make it rebellious ever after. RED CABBAGE The red cabbage, which is grown for pickling purposes, has fallen from favour, for at one time every garden had a few red cabbage growing, to be pickled for winter use. Nowadays it is the exception rather than the rule to see red cabbage. Perhaps the plebeian pickle cabbage has been ousted from favour by other more classy concoctions. The seed should be sown now, so that the plants can be put out early and are growing well and forming heads before the fly gets too bad. Too rich soil is not essential, but firm ground is required, so as to produce a firm, solid head. They are usually toady in autumn and should be cut before the heads burst. Although used as a pickle, there is nothing except the colour to prevent them being boiled and eaten the same as the ordinary green cabbage. RUST IN CARNATIONS Rust is a common fungoid disease of carnations, some varieties being more prone to attack than others. Spraying the plants with Bordeaux mixture is a useful treatment, also dusting them with sulphur. Carnations are naturally very hardy plants, and when grown under correct conditions are not greatly subject to disease. The most common cause of unhealthy plants is over-manuring. When grown in good clean fresh loam the plants are not likely to develop any disease, provided the soil contains plenty of lime, which is essential for their well-being. Perfect drainage is also necessary. At this season of the year it is a good practice to dust the plants over with slaked burnt lime, which is the best form of lime for these plants. Wood ashes dusted over the plants is also good.