THE HOME GARDEN

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4533, 6 February 1942, Page 3

THE HOME GARDEN

WORK FOR FEBRUARY THE VEGETABLE GARDEN For early spring vegetables, sow cabbage, cauliflower, shorthorn carrots and spinach. Harvest autumn sown onions as soon as the tops fall. Spray tomatoes with Bordeaux mixture, as this is the month when blight becomes troublesome. Earth up celery as growth demands. Lift, clean and store protatoes immediately they mature. THE FLOWER GARDEN February, March and April are the principal bulb-planting months. As a general rule, bulbs require a deep, fairly rich, well-drained soil. The ground should be prepared without delay. Narcissi, hyacinths, tulips, freesias, anemones, ranunculi, babians, crocuses and tritonias are among the most popular bulbs and should be ordered as early as possible. New lawns can be sown down between the end of February and the middle of March. The clearing and levelling should be completed some weeks in advance of sowing. Evergreen shrubs and hedges should be pruned this month. To continue the blooming season of dahlias and gerberas water freely and apply liquid manure once a week. Layer carnations and take cuttings of soft-wooded plants such as hydrangeas. Seeds of hardy perennials can be safely sown now. Make a sowing of early-flowering sweet peas. VEGETABLES SOWN FOR THEIR EDIBLE PODS There are a number of vegetables grown for their young pods, such as broad beans, sugar peas, French, butter, and runnel’ beans. In each case the pods should be picked before the seeds develop to any extent, and by doing this the formation of further pods is secured, and cropping goes on until the plants are cut down by frost.

The first to provide edible pods are the broad beans, and as they are perfectly hardy, and will stand through the winter on well-drained, light ground, a sowing can be made in the autumn. These will probably not make much growth, but they will be ready to grow away as soon as conditions are favourable in the spring, and will begin to form pods at a time when fresh vegetables are scarce. Another sowing can be made as soon as the weather is favourable in the spring, and these two sowings should continue to produce pods until the French and runners are available. Black fly is liable to appear on the tips of the stems during warm, dry weather, but it can be kept in check by pinching out the young tips as soon as up to five bunches of flowers have developed. After the pods are picked the plants can be cut down to the ground, when fresh shoots will spring up and continue to bear pods. As both the young pods and the seeds can be used, the broad beans are a valuable vegetable and one which can be depended upon in all seasons.

The sugar pea is also a valuable vegetable. Unlike the shelling peas, the pods of which are lined on the inside by a tough membrane, the pods of the sugar peas are almost destitute of this, and consequently are soft and tender and so may be eaten entire, the tender, fleshy part of the pod becoming more fully developed in the absence of the tough, parchmentlike membrane. The flowers of some of the varieties are purplish, .and are quite decorative. There are both tall and dwarf varieties, the tall one being suitable for growing against a wall or fence or tall stakes, for it will grow to a height of eight feet, and a dwarf one suitable for growing on ordinary pea stakes. Both are perfectly hardy, and can be sown as soon as soil and other conditions are suitable in the spring. French beans, both dwarf and climbing, and runners are excellent vegetables, and if at any time there are more pods than can be used fresh, they can be cut and preserved in salt. Unfortunately, they are frost tender and cannot be sown in the open until there is little danger of frost. They are also retarded by cold, cutting winds. The result is they are late in coming into bearing, and summer is well over before the pods are available. When growij against a wall or fence and trained up strings or sticks, runner beans give the best results; they can be grown in the open and the running shoot pinched from time to time, but in a cold, wet season the results are not so satisfactory as when supports are provided.

Both runners and French beans like a good rich soil, and a watering with liquid manure made by dissolving a dessertspoonful of sulphate of ammonia in a gallon of water will help growth. When pods are not setting well a spraying overhead in the evenings will help.

SPRING FLOWERING BULBS IN POTS, BOWLS, OR BOXES Spring flowering bulbs are much appreciated in late winter and early spring, when cut flowers are scarce and the chrysanthemums are practically over. Specially prepared peat fibre, which still may be obtained from seedsmen, can be used; but equally good results can be obtained with good fibrous loam out of which the dusty part has been shaken. A mixture of two-thirds fibrous loam and one-third old leaf-mould or well-de-cayed cow manure, with a good sprinkling of sand and oyster grit and IS lb of bonemeal to every bushel of the soil mixture, is suitable. If possible, the loam and leaf-mould should be sterilised, and the mixture should be made up a week or more before it is used. Fancy vases, without drainage, which can be brought into the house, or pots which will fit into fancy bowls, are quite suitable; but for larger quantities to provide cut flowers boxes are the most suitable. The pots or bowls should be prepared by putting in a layer- of charcoal at least an inch deep and over this some of the rougher parts of the loam or peat. Fill the pots to just below the rim, and plant the bulbs in the usual way, with the top just under the soil, making the soil or peat reasonably firm. Boxes, which should be about four inches deep, should have slits in the bottom for drainage, and an inch of charcoal or crocks should also be put in the bottom to assistdrainage. Daffodils and the larger, bulbs are planted so that the fingers can be pushed down between them, but the smaller kinds, such as freesias and crocus, are much closer. After potting or boxing, give a good watering and stand outside or in a cold frame on weathered ashes, and cover with two inches of fresh leaf-mould or peat. The pots or boxes should remain plunged for from ten to twelve weeks in order that the bulbs may be well rooted before they are brought inside to hasten their development, but they should not be placed in heat right away. A period of at least a fortnight should be spent in a cold frame or an unheated greenhouse. Weak liquid manure can be given once a week until they come into flower.

Though there is plenty of time for potting tulips or hyacinths, daffodils and many of the smaller bulbs start to root early, and there is nothing to be gained by keeping them out of the soil.

The following bulbs can be grown as already described: Freesias, lachenalias, crocus, snowdrops, Scilla Siberica, Chionodoxa Luciliae, grape hyacinth, heavenly blue, iris Reticulata, hyacinths, tulips, daffodils, King Alfred, Victoria, and Narcissus, Paper White, and Soliel de Or. Lor cut flowers Soliel de Or, or in fact any of the cheaper daffodils, can be used. Freesias can also be used. It is not necessary to plunge the freesias or lachenalias in any way. They can be stood on a bed of ashes in a cold frame and shaded.