THE GARDEN

Southland Times, Issue 21894, 21 December 1932, Page 12

THE GARDEN

WORK FOR THE WEEK

(By

J. A. McPherson.)

Next week I shall be severing my connection with this column and before doing so would take this opportunity cf thanking the many readers for their interest and support. In answering correspondence it has brought me in touch with many gardens and their owners throughout Southland, and I very much appreciate the kindly letters of appreciation that have reached me week by week. May each and every one of you enjoy to the full the many pleasures that a garden can provide. Season’s Greetings. The Greenhouse. ‘ Schizanthus and Cinearias have finished blooming and all should be thrown out with the exception of a few good plants required for raising the seeds. These seedbearing plants should be placed in a sunny position and kept well watered. Liquid manure can be given once a week to foliage plants and ferns. It keeps growth up to standard and stops the yellowing of the foliage. Excessive sunlight will take all colour out of delicate ferns especially maiden hairs. Readers having a little heat in their greenhouses will find that the multicoloured foliage Coleus make splendid pot plants. They are easy to handle a_nd should be potted into five inch pots this coming week. Seedling Begonias must be grown steadily on. and shifted into larger size pots as required. See that all perennials and biennials are sown, before the end of the month. The Reserve Garden, Go carefully through all seedling beds and have them thoroughly weeded before the holidays. Bulbs that have been heeled in so that they may ripen off their foliage will now be ready for lifting. Place them in well ventilated boxes and store in a dry place. Never let Tulip bulbs lie on the surface of the ground for any length of time. They are more delicate than most other bulbs and will quickly suffer from sun scorch. Wallflower. The seedlings in the beds will soon be large enough to handle and can then, be lined out in neat nursery rows. Space the plants six inches apart with a spacing of one foot between the rows. Give them a good watering as soon as they have been planted; but unless the weather is exceptionally dry they will require no more. When autumn comes round a splendid supply of plants will then be available for the next spring display. Sweet William may be treated similarly and Forget-me-nots pricked off into boxes, giving the plants plenty of room to develop. Chrysanthemums. All large blooming Chrysanthemums should be in their final pots by the end of this week. See that the plants are securely staked for at this stage growth is exceedingly brittle. Stand the pots in full sunshine and on very hot days spray the foliage with clear water. It will not hurt these plants if they are sprayed during the brightest sunshine. Train cascade varieties to fairly firm wires bent over the sides of the pots. Border chrysanthemums should be gone over and pinched hard back. This will make them break freely and prevent them growing too high. The Flower Garden. Good weather has enabled routine work to be brought well up to time and most gardens are looking particularly tidy. A thorough run through all beds and borders with the hoe will keep things in order till after the holidays. Winds are troublesome, so see to it that all plants are securely staked. Sweet Peas will require plenty of water during dry weather and an occasional application of liquid manure. When once the plants commence to bloom make sure that no seed pods form otherwise the flowering period will be greatly shortened. Cut over Oriental Poffies, Delphiniums and Pyrethrum as soon as they have finished blooming. Tie in all creepers to walls and arches while the growth is young and pliable. The last of the annuals should be ulanted out by the end of the month. Stake Lillies as they grow; but do not have the stakes higher than the bloomheads otherwise damage through rubbing of the flower buds will result. Lilium Regale will be in bloom at Christmas time and will require mulching during dry weather. Pentstemons are good border plants when well grown, and should be treated as biennials to do best. Young plants produce far larger blooms than old woody and worn out ones. Keep a supply up by sowing some seed each year about this time. Roses. The very dry weather experienced in early spring has had its effect on many varieties of roses. The blooms are not nearly so large and open out very flat and occasionally misshapen. It will be as well to feed the plants liberally with liquid manure in order that the second blooming may be of a better type. If asked for a selection of roses I would certainly include Shot Silk, Madam Butterfly, Margaret McGready, Golden Gleam, Ville de Paris, Padre, Norman Lambert, James Gibson, Lady Forteviot, Mrs Henry Morse-, Mabel Morse, W. Kordes, Lucie Marie, Lady Barnaby, Sir Basil McFarland, Molly Darragh, Coral, Trigo, Attraction, Barbara Richards, William Orr, Madam H. Pate, Marion Cran, Adele Crofton, Betty Uprichard, Comtesse de Castilleja, Dame Edith Helen, Desmond Johnston, Edith Nellie Perkins, Gaiety, Jules Gaujard, Julien Potin, Lady Inchiquin, Lady Worthington Evans, Lord Castlereagh, Maud Cumming, Mrs G. A. Van Rossen, Mrs Chas. Lamplough, Pateense, Portadown, Sir David Davies, Souv. de H. A. Verschuren, Madame E. Herriot, Mrs H. Stevens, Angele Pernet- and Gwyneth Jones. From the foregoing a splendid collection can be obtained and any nurserymen’s catalogue will give a description of the various colours which space will ot permit of including. The Vegetable Garden.

Plant out Celery and Leeks to provide the main crop. Do not let them suffer from want of water, especially the former plants. Main crops of Potatoes, if a little backward can be given a dressing of mixed manures prior to the final hoeing up. Mix eaual quantities of sulphate of ammonia, sulphate of potash and superphosphate together and apply at the rate of one and a-half ounces to the running yard.

Swede Turnips may be sown this month. If the brown beetle is in evidence, spray the young plants with arsenate of lead. Greenfly will trouble them during very dry weather and must be kept in check by spraying with any good nicotine compound. Commence to plant out Savoys and winter cabbages. Planting several

batches at weekly intervals will give a continued supply during the depth of the winter. Do not neglect to plant Broccoli; the plants take a long time to mature and if given good ground will well repay any trouble spent on them. ' Thin all crops and tidy up the vegetable garden before the holidays. IDEAL APPLE TREES HOW TO MAKE A SUCCESS OF CORDONS. Cordon-trained apple trees are ideal for the garden of limited space. As an edging to pathways and the lawn, a harrier or division between vegetable quarters and flower beds, or a background for the flower border and against fences and walls of any aspect, they grow neatly, and provide crops of excellent fruits. They are also easily managed (says ‘Popular Gardening,’ London). The mistake many amateurs have made and are still making, it seems, is to plant unsuitable trees and try to train them into cordon form. To make good cordons the trees must have been “worked” on to a dwarfing Paradise root stock in the nursery, on to the Doucin Paradise or the even more dwarfing Jaune de Metz Paradise. To train as cordons fruit trees that were budded or grafted on a vigorous Crab Stock is to invite disappointment and trouble for such trees persist in making nothing but coarse lateral growth, and soon grow out of bounds. The attention which cordon apple trees need at this time of year (November in England, May in New Zealand) includes manuring. Too much rich manure will throw them into rank, unfruitful growth, and they will develop into untidy and altogether unsatisfactory trees. The manures that most cordons will require just now are those that will improve cropping, and quality, not growth, and potash and phosphates are the materials to choose. A suitable dressing consists of two parts basic slag and one part sulphate of potash (measured out by weight, mixed together), and applied to the ground along either side of the cordon row and about the base of the trees at the rate of about Jib to each yard run of row. Scatter the manure evenly and fork it lightly into the top soil. Few people trouble to greaseband their cordon fruit trees, but it pays to take this simple and effective means of preventing spring plagues of caterpillars. It is true that each band has to be placed rather near to the ground, and that after a few months it becomes splashed with grit and litter, and may have to be renewed. It is not a costly business to do that, however, and it saves much trouble and spraying in spring. Put a greaseband round the base of each cordon tree stem, about 9in or 10 in up from the ground if it can be managed, and if this is done at once it will not be too late to catch the majority of crawling moths. Each cordon stem is, or should be, secured to a bamboo cane or flower stick, which, in turn, is fastened to the support wires, for it is not wise to tie the tree stem in close contact with the wires. These securing ties need renewing now. This, again, is an attention the cordon trees do not always receive, but it is unsafe to neglect it, for a tootight tie or chafing wire may lead to serious damage before many months are out. Every year at this time the ties should be removed and replaced with new.

If certain of the cordon trees persist in growing much too strongly, making too much vigorous lateral growth at the expense of fruitfulness and neatness, they should be root-pruned now, before the leaves fall. If it is convenient, and the trees are not too old, they can be lifted clean out of the ground, the long, coarse, fibreless roots shortened by about half, and the tree replanted in the same spot at once. Trees older than five or six years won’t stand such drastic treatment, however, not without perhaps too severe a check, and the roots must be dealt with in some other way. Many gardeners find it sufficient just to drive in the spade to its full depth along the sides of the cordon trees, about 15in or 18in out from the stems, so that the spreading roots are chopped through. This, while effective in some cases, means that any down-striking “tap” roots are still uncurbed, however; and where the trees are over-vigorous but too old to lift, the usual plan is to take out a trench about 2ft deep along the side of the trees, and work the spade beneath the “ball” of the trees, to chop off the “tap” roots. The trench should be quite 15in or even 18in out from the tree stem, and only markedly overstrong trees should be so dealt with. Cordon apple trees should be pruned directly the leaves have fallen, all lateral or side shoots, whether summer pruned or not, being cut back to within two good buds of their base. On fairly young trees the leading or terminal shoot should be shortened by about one-third, although on old trees that have filled their allotted space this leader shoot can be cut hard each autumn, the resulting new growth from the top being “disbudded” and shortened in spring and summer to keep it within bounds.