THE HOME GARDEN

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3801, 28 August 1936, Page 10

THE HOME GARDEN

WORK FOR THE WEEK. ' THE FLOWER GARDEN Slugs are looking for ; tender shoots. Discourage them by the use of lime or horticultural napthalene. All perennials should be planted as early as posible. Propagate chrysanthemums from suckers when they are three or four inches high. Hydrangeas are now becoming active. If you have not already done so, remove the thinnest shoots. Hardy annuals can now be planted out ; . „ . . , Shrubs which flower in" spring shauW be planted at the earijsst oppof&Uiity. j Plant out polyanthuses, cinerarias, Iceland poppies; nemesias, stocks, antirrhinums, pansies, violas arifi anemones. THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. Sow tomatoes under glass for early crops. Prepare potato sets for planting in Sept.; a small crop of an early variefy’can be planted in mild districts. Early peas can now be sown. Sqi- broad beans and onions. CAbbage that are well forward will benefit by a light application of nitrate of soda. Plant out cabbage, cauliflower, asparagus, rhubarb and garlic. Sow lettuce under glass and transplant when big enough to handle. Root cuttings of gooseberries and .black currants by inserting them in moist soil mixed with sharp sand. Plant fruit trees and prune. Stone frtiits come into bearing earlier than pip fruits and therefore need earlier attention. Weed all seedling crops and keep thinning them out as growth increases. ; TIMELY TOPICS. What you should know. Ugly fences can be improved by sowing seeds of climbing annuals about 6 inches from the base of th* fence. Nasturtium, canary creeper -and cobea scandens are three that coaid be grown in alternate groups and will look very attractive. The growths now pushing up from rock plants will grow the stronger fol haying the soil about them stirred;and top-dressed with the soil mixture they prefer. The sternbergias make welcome splashes of bright colour in midwinter. —. •' Lawn sand does most effective work when applied while the grass is wet with dew. More even disfributicyi is; secured-by dividing the lawn Actions with string and treatinf one section at a time. Watering the turf with sulphate of. iron solution will clear toadstools fr<jm the lawn. 2. generous mulch of leafmould will prevent the browning which so often disfigures cupressus and other conifers. - ;• I EDGING PLANTS. ", NEED TRIMMING BACK. Jf your paths are edged with London pride, arabis or thrift, give the plants a trimming or very soon you wifi.find that they have trespassed far on to the path. "• Don’t use a line for the job, but chop off cleanly with a spade the overgrown parts, being careful to Icatc the natural outline. The younger portions that have been chopped off may be used for increasing the stock if planted in good soil. ; . HERBACEOUS PLANTS. LIFT THEM CAREFULLY. ‘When transplanting herbaceous bonder plants to more favourable places, it is strongly in the interest of good summer flowers that the job-be done in the correct way. The common practice of driving a spade all round the clump and finally levering it up is not wholly satisfactory, as it always results in considerable root.breakage. The proper scheme is to dig out a little trench around the clump with the-garden fork, and then to dig under it for a few inches. Thus you are able to lift the plant with the loss of very few roo‘ts, owing to the looseness of the surrounding soil. ■ • **•-*.- , A * AURICULAS. .* :: A ROOT PEST. * Ajiricuias, which every year attain greater prominence as spring flowers are. Very Hable to be attacked by a root louse. The leaves droop, though theiie are no obvious signs of the cause. You lift a plant, however, and you- find the roots hanging with a cotton woolly substances inside which the pests are feeding. Ijjitil you get rid of the pests there is not the least hope of progress. YBb can quickly do this by water-

ing with a deep pink solution of permanganate of potash. Give ‘each plant one pint and you will have no more trouble.

HYDRANGEA PANICULATA. METHOD OF PRUNING. The white hydrangea paniculata is one of those shrubs that does much better for hard pruning. This is the time to attend to the matter. First cut out entirely the very weak shoots and any shoots that grow right across the others and finish up in, the centre, which they congest. Having removed this redundant maining. shoots from half-way back to within two good eyes from their base, in acordance with their vigour. Tie stronger the shoot, the more severe does it need pruning.

Finally, work into the soil, 15 inches round the main stems, a 2 oz. dressing of steamed bone-flour. Hydrangea paniculata does not set its trusses freely without the aid of this fertiliser. SOIL FOR ASTERS. PREPARE IT NOW. The soil for asters needs special treatment, otherwise the plants grow somewhat spindly and many of the buds fail to open. With generous treatment you get vigorous branching growth and fine flowers. To give the soil a chance to mellow, get it ready now. Don’t choose last year’s position. Asters are liable to a serious wilt disease, the spores of which persist in the soil through winter. It doesn’t matter whether the new site is in a sunny or partially shaded situation, provided it is well drained. Asters are in that very limited company which succeed equally well in sunshine or shade. When grown in deeply-dug soil, they form a long branched tap root. When in shallowly dug land, the roots range near the surface. This renders them susceptible to draught and also to wilt. Dig two feet deep, therefore, and mix with each square yard of bottom spit a pailful of littery manure and a quarter of a pailful of lime rubble. If you can get well-decayed cow manure, thoroughly mix a similar quantity of that and lime rubble with every square yard of top layer. Leave the top spit rough, but break up the bottom one and, after digging, sprinkle on the surface a 2 oz. to the square yard application of basic slag. The phosphates and free lime in this fertiliser, acting together, make a great contribution to successful aster culture.

WINTER FOODS. FERTILISERS TO USE NOW. You must not use nitrate of soda, sulphate of ammonia and nitrate of potash in winter. These are forcing fertilisers which stimulate the development of growth so succulent that the first sharp frost does serious damage—indeed, often administers a check from which recovery is impossible. There are, however, fertilisers which it is not only permissible, but beneficial to ure in winter. Bone manures are in this category. They ’are slow in action and, when applied now, yield their phosphates during the coming summer. Thus, when preparing sweet pea or dahlia sites, or an herbaceous border, you should mix with the bottom spit crushed bones, and with the top spit bonemeal, both at the rate of 2 oz. to the square yard. Basic slag is a fertiliser containing both lime and phosphates. It brings valuable aid to roses, especially in heavy soil, because the lime in the slag releases some of the reserve of potash which these soils contain. Fork in the fertiliser now, 4 to Bin. deep, according to the depth at which the roots run, at the rate of 3 oz. to the square yard. You have in your garden quite a lot of plants whose great difficulty in winter is to maintain sufficiently vigourous, root action to prevent the leaves from yellowing and presenting a very sickly appearance. In this class are wallflowers, forget-me-nots, polyanthuses, sweet williams and canterbury bells. The prince of root formers among artificials is superphosphate. The plants mentioned Will benefit tremendously if now, and again in early September,' you fork in a 1 oz. to the square yard application of this fertiliser.

Old violas divided and replanted for a spring show are rendered happy by a 1 oz. to the square yard dose of sulphate of potash, which when stir-' red in goes straight to the roots, and enables them to stem eelworm invasion, in addition to firming the growth and ensuring more and’ better flowers.