THE WEEK’S WORK

Taranaki Daily News, 17 January 1930, Page 16

THE WEEK’S WORK

THE FLOWER GARDEN. The heavy rains will have caused the surface" soil to go down hard; hoeing will be necessary. Chrysanthemums will need attention, tying and spraying. Allow no shoots to grow except those that are to carry a bloom. Many varieties will be showing a small bud; this must be picked out, and two or more shoots taken up. Dahlias have had splendid growing conditions, but the plants are iucliiicd to become very sappy. Do not apply nitrogenous manure to plants that are making a lot of foliage. A little sulphate of potash and superphosphate will help to firm them up. Staking and tying' is necessary, and should be done . frequently. Disbudding will also be required; it is no good letting the- plant expend all its energies in producing unnecessary foliage, etc. Pick off all spent flowers, do not allow seed pods to form unless seed is required. Clear out stocks and any other annuals that are over.- . Portulacca can be sown; this annual does well in hot, dry positions... Although these are difficult- to find this . season. . Sow' a-few seeds of cinerarias, cyclamen, primulas and carnations. The layering of border carnations should be. commenced as soon as possible. Bulb" lifting can be. started. The foliage has thoroughly ripened-off. Beds that are not to be lifted should be cleared of weeds, and the surface forked over. Gladioli that are over should have the old flower stems cut away, unless seed is to be saved. Only leave the few pods that, are to be saved; pick all the others off. THE VEGETABLE GARDEN Peas have done well where -mildew has not appeared, and even late sowings give promise of a good crop. Beans are doing . well. Make further sowings so as to keep the supply, go-, ing as long as possible. Salad plants have done well, and there has been little difficulty in keeping up a supply of good quality. Potato and tomato disease has begun to show, increasingly. Spraying will be if the foliage is to besaved. It is due in a measure to the wet season. Stop the main growths ot cucumbers, melons, marrows, pumpkins. The best, fruits are produced on the sub-later-als. Keep all ground broken up and clear of weeds between standing crops. Fork over the ground between rows of winter greens. As soon as the onion foliage begins to go off with mildew turn over the tops to induce the bulbs to swell and ripen. Celery trenches should be ready, and the earliest plants should be plant-i ed out. - •* -

CELERY PLANTING.

THiE USE OF MANURE

Celery trenches should be ready for the plants, which should be put out as soon as possible. The weather so far has 'been ideal for the plants, although so much moisture may be inclined to cause a soft growth that will readily fall a victim of leaf spot. This disease is transmitted by the seed and all celery seed should be treated by being soaked in a mercuric chloride solution 1-1090 prior to sowing. The plants should also be sprayed so as to keep the foliage as free as possible and to check the spores from establishing themselves.

Before planting, the trenches should always be watered if necessary, and in spite of the extra labour entailed, this will be found to pay handsomely in the end. Similarly the manure should be in a moist condition, and this and the conservation of the soil moisture will help to .prevent the drying out of the ground, which is so fatal to celery plants. Plants in boxes are generally sturdier and dwarfer than those raised in frames, and if each plant is slid out of one open cind of the box with its little piece of soil attached to it, it will feel very little, if any, bad effects from the transplanting. On the other hand, plants raised in frames, although apparently more forward than the others, are apt to take a long time to recover the check to their growth. When planting, the soil around each plant should be made firm (especially where light manure has been used), and a good watering given to all except young, tender plants, which need to be shaded for a few days until they have become properly established. Liquid manure is very good for celery plants, but it must be supplied judiciously, and strictly in keeping with the rate of growth. Often, when seedlings are planted on a cold, heavy soil, they will not make any headway at all, and* no application of manure will make the slightest difference. Good results may be obtained, however, in suitable soils and on well-prepared trenches, but the liquid manurial dressings must be discontinued as long as the ground remains wet, otherwise the soil will become sour. Regularly loosen the surface soil in the trench, so as to prevent caking, and also to admit air to the roots; and earth up carefully as growth advances. Sometimes, in exhibition culture, pipes are inserted in the trenches, and liquid manure is poured down to the roots; or soot water is used in a similar fashion. (

POTATO DISEASE

This ttoub.’Mjnie disease seems to be very prevalent in certain districts this year. It appears as large, dark spots on the leaves at about the time the plants are in flower, or a little later, and these spots rapidly increase both in number and in size until, in bad cases, the leaves wither away, leaving the stalks almost bare. The foliage gives off a foetid smell during the decaying process. . If an attacked potato leaf be examined, the underside of the attached area will bo found to be covered with a dirty greyish

blight or mould. In the case of old disease spots, where the centre has completely died, this will be noticeable only round the edges of the spots. Soon after the decay, of the diseased foliage, the new tubers will begin to show spots, particularly those near the surface of the earth. These spots are generally brown, and they penetrate into the surface of the potato. The foliage should be covered with a thin film of a fungicide so as to prevent the germination fo the spores when they alight upon the leaf. It will be obvious that if this spraying is to be effective the fungicide must be on the leaf just before or immediately after the spore falls on the leaf, and as the resting or winter spores of the disease germinate in early spring, when moist weather prevails, spraying must be done in spring as soon as the foliage appears. The sprayings should be given every three weeks at least, so as to keep the new foliage covered with the fungicide. -Several fungicides have been used, but there is nothing so good as Bordeaux mixture. This is made from sulphate of copper, which should be purchased as large blue crystals, hence the common name of Bluestone. The vessel in which the bluestone is dissolved must be of wood or copper, as the sulphate acts upon other metals. A wooden ladle or stick must also be used for stirring the'mixture. If a wooden vessel is not available a ketosene tin can be used in an emergency,, but -the mixture' mustnot .'be left in the tin longer than possible. ■■■ ‘ “•' ’ ' -

A pound of the bluestone should be placed'in a piece of Coarse sacking and submerged in a vessel' containing ten • gallons-’of water.’ This will take some time to dissolve, but it can be hastened by pouring a kettleful of hot w’ater into the vessel and shaking or stirring the liquid until the bluestone has dissolved. The liquid should then be made up to ten gallons. A similar quantity, of quicklime, lib, is placed ,in another vessel, a little water is poured-on it.to stake it, and the ■ milk of lime is then made up to ten gallons. It is then strained, so that no coarse particles remain in it to possibly choke the spraying nozzle. The two separate solutions are now mixed in- equal- quantities, to make the Bordeaux mixture. A little too much lime ’will do no harm; but too much copper sulphate might burn the plants.. The mixture must be stirred very thoroughly before being put into the sprayer, since it is the sediment which is the fungicide. The liquid is merely a vehicle for the simple and regular distribution of the sediment. ’ • Spraying should be done during dry weather, and the occurrence of heavy rain just after spraying involves the necessity for respraying, as the rain would wash away the mixture. It is best to make, freshly prepared Bordeaux mixture for every spraying, as it loses strength when kept. Points to remember in making 'Bordeaux mixture are:— That only wooden or copper vessels arc used. That the bluestone is pure. That the correct quantity is used. That is is perfectly dissolved. That the liine used is quicklime. Staked or builders’ lime is useless. That'the solution is used-within 24 hours of mixing.