THE GARDEN

Southland Times, Issue 21853, 2 November 1932, Page 12

THE GARDEN

WORK FOR THE WEEK

(By

J. A. McPherson.)

The Greenhouse.

All hardy annuals will now be outside and becoming accustomed to the cooler conditions. This leaves room for attending to half hardy kinds and such tender subjects as salvia, bonfire, marigolds and zinnias. The former must only be grown on an extra sunny border and given a plentiful supply of rich, welldecayed manure. If such a position cannot be given then they may be grown as cool greenhouse plants, providing a wealth of colour in the late summer and autumn. Marigolds enrich the autumn display and for low edges or small beds it is advisable to grow dwarf varieties such as the well-known Legion of Honour. Zinnia seed, if sown now and brought quickly on, can be planted out in mid-December and if given a position similar to that advised for salvia, will do very well. They also make good plants for the cool greenhouse. , Begonias are fast coming away and each shoot should be carefully staked out to give plenty of room for development. Pot on seedlings as they become available. Sometimes it will be found the seedlings of both annuals and indoor plants when pricked off into boxes, do not grow away as quickly as one would wish. There are several reasons for this, and all can be remedied. The soil in the boxes may be sodden and wet, in such a case stir the surface soil and withhold water until the right conditions are obtained. In Invercargill the water supply is not the best for seedlings and often a black slime forms on top of the soil. If possible save all rain water and reserve it for young seedlings. When boxes of seedlings refuse to move it is best to prepare fresh soil in fresh boxes and prick them off into the new soil. Some of the largest nurseries in New Zealand prick off their annuals twice before they finally reach the public. If commercial concerns can do this and find it beneficial both financially and in producing better plants no other recommendation is needed to prove the soundness of re-boxing seedlings. Tomatoes. Under glass it will be found that tomatoes are growing rapidly this season. Go over all the plants, remove side shoots and give each plant a light shake to distribute the pollen. Above all things, do not over water. If readers were troubled last season with the fruits being slow in ripening, especially at the stem junctions, a dressing of sulphate of potash should be worked into the soil at the rate of one ounce to the square yard. If the plants are slow in coming away give a watering with liquid manure; but do not over do this treatment. The Flower Garden. It must be admitted that this . has been a wonderful spring, due chiefly to the absence of high winds and on account of the great warmth from the sun during long hours of many days. Frosts have unfortunately occurred, but these are to be expected and demonstrate the desirability of not planting tender subjects too early. Dahlias have been nipped a bit, but they will soon recover. The rose garden must be given constant attention during the coming week. Remove any shoots that are obviously crowding each other out, and keep a sharp lookout for greenfly. Any nicotine compound used as directed will keep this pest in check. If mildew appears, spray with lime-sulphur, a compound that will also help to prevent the spread of Black Spot. Look over standard roses and carefully remove any suckers that are springing up from the base. The dry weather will have its effect on pansies if they are not kept moist and the seed pods removed to prevent the blooms from becoming smaller. Wherever possible carry out a little broadcasting of annual seeds. Under trees, along narrow edges, and over the ground occupied by Narcissii. the following will do very well: Virginian Stock, Mignonette, Nasturtium, Linum rubrum, and Eschscholtzia. Commence to plant out large batches of annuals in beds and borders. See that th® are properly watered in when dumg so. When planting out geraniums, see that the main stem is set at an angle of forty-five degrees or even more. This encourages the buds at the base of the leaves to develop and well furnished plants are obtained in half the time. If narcissii are in the way they may be lifted and heeled in somewhere out of the way. In sUch a position the leaves will die off naturally and no harm will result. The same procedure can be carried out with tulips when they have finished blooming. Wallflower should be treated as an annual and the plants thrown away when they have finished blooming. The raising of young plants will be dealt with at the proper time. Iceland poppies that were sown in the autumn are commencing to bloom and are most useful for filling the gap now that narcissii have finished blooming. Plants in Bloom. There are many fine garden scenes in the province at the present time. Many people have successfully grown our native Clematis (C. indwisa) to a high standard of cultivation and as such, it takes a lot of beating for a hardy climber. It should on no account be pruned unless to keep it within due bounds. The little pink clematis (C. montana rubra) can stand heavy pruning immediately the flowers have finished. The hardiness of Laburnum is not always appreciated and if it is grown as a small tree or over arches the effect is very fine. Wisteria is another plant in bloom at present and does best on a sunny wall or porch. See that it is not starved at the roots and in the autumn remove the numerous spindly growth that shoot at various intervals along the main branches. The best rhododendron in flower at present is Chas. Lawson, a hybrid with a much disputed name. Its delicate pink blossoms are firm and waxy and the plant should find a place in all gardens. Giving the appearance of a miniature hawthorn in flower, the shrub Spiraea Van Houteii makes a splendid subject for small gardens and never fails to bloom at this time of the year. A rich purple can be obtained by planting Phostanthera rotundifolia; at present it is a mass of small flowers while the leaves, when crushed, give a eucalyptus scent. P. violacea is a larger flowered type with lighter coloured blooms. The above plants represent just a few of the desirable shrubs and climbers at present in bloom. The Vegetable Garden. Frost unfortunately caught many extra early crops of potatoes. Except for setting them back a week or tw T o it will do no other harm. The best thing to do is to hoe them up and they will quickly come away again. Before applying liquid manure to young growing crops, see that the soil

has had a good watering, especially in dry weather. It is too early to plant out winter greens, even the earliest varieties. Make sure, however, that a supply is available for planting out in December and January. The small-hearted, quick-growing cabbage may still be planted with advantage. Main crops of peas, beans, carrots, and parsnips must be in the ground this week. A constant supply of lettuce is obtainable only when care has been taken to keep up a supply of young plants. Once the seedlings become drawn in the seed-bed, they never do well when planted out. The main crop of long-rooted beet can be sown and a further sowing made of the turnip-rooted varieties for pulling early. Carrots were attacked last year by aphis which crippled the leaves and reduced the size of the roots considerably. Get in early this year and at fortnightly intervals spray with Black Leaf 40, at the rate of one ounce to a gallon of water. Remember that constant hoeing and working of the soil between crops, reduces excessive evaporation and warms the soil as well. Answers to Correspondents. “A.J.” (a) The buds of sweet peas will turn yellow and drop off for several reasons among the chief of which are excessive moisture at the roots, coldness at the roots, overfeeding with liquid manures and having too strong manures in close proximity to the roots, (b) Wallflower and pyrethrum in November and antirrheniems in February. “Lumsden”: The flower head of narcissii forwarded is often quoted as semi-blindness. I cannot say definitely the cause. Some growers put it down to leaving the bulbs in one place too long (especially Poeticus) and others say that it is caused by leaving the bulbs too long out of the soil. I shall make further investigation.

GREEN MANURING To the farmer who keeps himself up to date the term “green manuring” conveys a clear meaning; to the average amateur gardener it is a term casually met with, seldom fully explained, and but little understood. There are, however, very decided advantages in adopting a system of green manuring when conditions are such as to warrant it, and, generally speaking, it is of greatest value when dealing with a newly made garden that is at present in an unfertile state. When describing garden soil, it is difficult to avoid the statement that it consists of clay, sand, and humus. If the. sand represents a larger proportion than the clay, it is called light, dry soil, or if the proportion is reversed, it is heavy. Both may be made fertile, but that is largely . dependent upon the addition of a judicious proportion of humus which is the ultimate result of decomposition of vegetable matter. It should be added that decayed animal matter also forms a certain amount of humus. Discussion of the functions and. value of humus in the soil would provide an engaging topic, but, at the moment, it must suffice to say that its absence will render any soil unfertile, and its excess will cause a degree of acidity that reduces or even destroys fertility. When gardens have been under cultivation for many years, dead roots, buried leaves and garden refuse, the vegetable matter in manure, and the carcasses of dead insects and small animals combine to form as much humus as is necessary, and, in time, more than is beneficial. It follows that green manuring is seldom necessary or helpful to old garden ground. In the case of newly-made gardens, the soil is generally either too sandy, gravelly, chalky, or stiff, unwieldy clay, and all of these require decayed vegetable matter to improve them. That is when green manuring is of greatest benefit, and should play an important part in the plan of soil preparation. The definition of the term is simply to sow a crop of a quick-growing subject, thickly, and dig the whole of its herbage in when it has attained considerable size. Common mustard, rape, tares, annual lupins, clover, and sainfoin are the usual kinds of plants recommended for the purpose, but those who have surplus seeds of any of the cabbage tribe may put them to use by broadcasting them on vacant patches of ground. The one point to watch is that plants of this character must be dug in while still young, before they begin to make hard stems. The whole aim should be to get the maximum quantity of soft, sappy, leaf growth which will rot quickly when buried. Such material returns to the soil all it has extracted in the way of plant food, and, in addition, will leave a goodly deposit of decayed fibre, which helps to open tenacious clay, and to improve the spongy, moisture-holding capacity of gravel, chalk, or sand. Woody stems take more nourishment out of the soil than soft green leaves, but, as they decay more slowly they do not return their full complement, and are therefore extravagant. There is no one season for green manuring; it may be practised whenever seeds will germinate and grow freely, and at any period between spring and autumn a vacant patch of ground may be dug and sown for this purpose. March is quite a good month, but it is seldom profitable to sow later than the middle of that month because growth will be too slow to produce a crop worth digging in before winter. It is always better that ground should be occupied than that it should lie idle until it becomes covered with weeds, and, as it takes only a brief spell for mustard, rape, or tares to grow to a height of four or five inches, two or even three such crops may be dug in during the period required for getting new ground into good planting condition. It should not be expected that one crop alone can convert hungry, uncultivated ground into fertile soil, but each instalment will effect progressive improvement. Sulphate of ammonia has often been described in Amateur Gardening as a chemical that encourages rapid and rank leaf growth. That is precisely what is required for the purpose under present consideration, and when the plants become strong enough to make good growth a light sprinkling, not exceeding two ounces per square yard, will quickly have the effect of forcing the pace of progress. The whole value of the ammonia will be returned to the ground when the crop is dug in. Growers of gladioli, irises, and other bulbous subjects which like a fairly well nourished soil, but do not like close contact with fresh manure, cannot adopt a better plan than to prepare the site by digging in a good dressing of manure, and immediately sowing a green crop, so calculating that a period of six months may elapse before planting time. Thus, for gladioli the manuring should be done in September, one green crop being immediately sown, and dug in as soon as ready, a second sowing taking place

ning of September. For tulips or daffodils manure in August, and get the second green crop dug in by February. The ground will then be in good trim for bulb planting in early autumn. It is never advisable to transplant young seedlings or small, fine-rooted plants until a month after burying green crops, but strong-rooted shrubs, fruit trees and bushes, hedging plants, etc., will suffer no injury through contact with the rotting herbage.