THE AMATEUR GARDENER

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 830, 7 October 1916, Page 5

THE AMATEUR GARDENER

GARDEN CALENDAR. OCTOBER. Average rainfall, I.GBIII. Under Glass. Put on and repot plants as > necessary. Prick off seedlings and pot on> when fit. Ventilate freely unless the weather is cold and windy. Harden oft tender plants for planting out. Thoroughly harden off tomatoes. Outside. Sow culinary peas, broad and French Leans, and runner beans. Plant main crop potatoes. Sow vegetable marrow, pumpkin, and hardy cucumber seed. Thin out seedling crops as soon as large enough to handle, and keep the hoe going between the rows. Continue to sow hardy and hallhardy annuals. Huh off superfluous shoots nn fruit trees and roses.

SEASONABLE HINTS

Under Glass. Bedding plants should be well hardened oh" in a frame before planting out, leaving the lights off at night when there is no danger of frost. Plants raised from seed for growing in the greenhouse should be potted on as soon as the roots are well through the soil of the small pols, as liner plants are obtained where growth has been continuous and without check. The same remark aplies equally to cuttings of greenhouse plants, but ovcrpolling must be avoided, as a rule from a 3in pot to one of sin in diameter is ample, or from a 4in to a 6in pot will usually be sufficient increase to give at one time. Tn giving ventilation at this season of the year it is very difficult to regulate it just to one's liking, so that where it is not possible to give fairly constant attention it is best to inure the plants to plenty of air at all limes, as, should ventilation he given according to what is considered ample on a dull, cold morning, which may later develop into a bright, warm day, the greenhouse will get very warm and oppressive if the air is liot increased, producing the very conditions under which greenfly and insect pests multiply. With the advance of warm weather there is generally the advent of greenfly, which should he kept under control by the evaporation of one of the nicotine preparations used according to the accompanying directions. The earlier prepared tuberous begonias should now be ready for potting, and if care is taken for a time after polling so that the soil shall not become waterlogged before the roots have had a chance of taking possession, they may be put at once into the pots in which they are to flower, and it is much the most satisfactory way. Given a good, free, sweet soil the roots run through it quickly, hut until they have done so water must be given sparingly. A good soil compost is equal parts of fresh fibry loam, leaf mould, or thoroughly old rotted manure and coarse sand. When the pots are full of ••oots and the plants coming well into flower weak liquid manure may be rt ivcn at each alternate watering. Hood drainage should be provided, "nd the soil made moderately firm . lien potting. Azaleas when they go out of flower should hav-e the seed heads picked off, and the plants encouraged to make growth by keeping a litlle closer ami by daily syringing. After growth is complete they should be hardened off and placed outside during the summer in a sheltered, lightly shaded place, to ripen up the wood.

Chrysanthemums grown for large blooms should now be sufficiently advanced to be potted into live and six inch pots, putting the more weakly growers into the smaller size.

(By "AOTEA.")

Ovcrpolling is one of the principal causes of failure in growing pot chrysanthemums. Vegetable marrow and pumpkin seed may now be sown under glass for planting out later. Tomatoes for planting outside should not be crowded, but given plenty of room, whether pricked out in boxes or singly in pots. It is well worth while potting each plant separately, giving plenty of room and growing in a hardy manner, with just slight protection from frosts. They can then be retained without danger of deterioration until all danger of frost is past. The Flower Garden.

Now is a good time Jo make fresh plantings of chrysanthemums, provided that the ground has been prepared previously. Booted pieces of the old slocks will be found quite satisfactory. They should be planted in threes, in the form of a triangle. It is best to put the pieces in without cutting back, which may be done during the second week in November after they are established. The early flowering varieties should be chosen for out door planting, as the late flowering varieties are very likely to get cut down by frost before they come into bloom. Excellent strains of early flowering single varieties are now obtainable, so that they may be treated as a hardlv annual and the old plants discarded after flowering.

Sweet peas should be slaked as soon as the plants form tendrils, and where the seed has been sown in drills, the plants should be thinned out, giving at least six inches space between the plants. The thinnings, if taken up carefully with roots intact, may be transplanted into other positions, and if watered in will receive but a very slight check. Continue to sow seeds of half hardy annuals in the flower borders where necessary. Keep the flower borders \'voc from weeds, and keep the hoe going lo maintain a free tilth. Unoccupied spaces should he kept well pulverised with the hoe ready for receiving bedding plants, or they mav be planted with seedlings taken up from where they have been sown and thai require thinning. Early flowering trees and shrubs have been very profuse of bloom this spring, ami where they require pruning those sorts that flower on the voting wood of the previous season should have what pruning is required done directly after the (lowering is past. Vegetable Garden.

The season has been excellent for the germination of seeds, and their after growth. Thinning will be necessary and should not be delayed after the young plants are sufficiently large to handle. Peas have come on very fast, and promise to give early pickings. Successional sowings should he made fortnightly, Some gardeners make a practice, of sowing again as soon as the previous lot shows through the ground. The principal work in the vegetable garden now is to encourage the growth of advancing crops, keeping down weeds, and the surface of the soil in a good tilth. Clear away the refuse of broccoli crops as soon as the heads are cut, and manure and dig the ground, burying the surface soil two or three inches deep in the bottom of the trench. This will put a good few insects and their eggs, etc., out of action. AVhere runner beans arc wanted early it is a good plan to till a few four inch pots with some good soil, and to place one bean in the centre of each. If the pots are then stood in a cold frame there will be some nice strong plants to put out in the first week in November.