IN THE GARDEN

Taranaki Daily News, 28 August 1930, Page 15

IN THE GARDEN

WORK FOR THE WEEK. THE FLOWER GARDEN - . With better weather conditions the ■work has increased. Let the garden be cleaned up and a general tidiness prevail. We< weather has'prevented the working of some soils, but a few fine days will / make it right. Ten week and beauty stocks which were planted early, are improving and the surface soil should be kept loose. Watch for aphis and at the first sign of the young leaves curling spray with lime sulphur or a nicotine spray. Sweet peas are now moving fast and 1 need attention. . The growths must be tied to their supports and the soil round the plants stirred. Complete rose pruning, spray them, dig over the beds,' remove suckers. ? Any: worn out, decrepit bushes should bq- pulled out, and, . replaced by new p&nta.'.., .... ... . , ; No i time' should be lost in, planting ddcidtious shrube 4 trees; and roses, The roots a’re; Hioying; -no,w and the eoonei';, 'position^'.the. better?, v : Defer the 7 planting Lof' jsmaH or halftender annuals 1 until, the soil dries a weather, improves; 1 .- •. Cinorafiae l^yev.suffered Jm.many garddnsy in fact/ most gard?ns. If. the plant's are ‘badly ' damaged, .replanting is;'the only, alternative. <, ' Mariy lof7the*hardy, subjects,, jsueli as. : pansies, - violas,. pints teprons, .rin'tirr hinu'mj, stocks; and larkspurs,; may,.ho plpnlfed, now. ». •. - '' - L, Sowings of zinnia?, .njaiigpkis,. arimrar. su'nflo\versJ'';6alpiglosSis,,-;and-other* half-hardy annuals,; can be made; ‘ Protect, .glass;of kind will be necessary. The'eoil for the gladioli, bulbs should be ready, as the-bulbs call 'be' planted at any time now. Grow; the best varieties—there are plen-ty;-of good sorts obtainable at a fair price nowadays, 60 that./it is not worth the time and labour togrow out-of-date sorts. In buying or procuring new bulbs, in fact, all gladioli bulbs, soak them in a Solution of one ounefe 1 of iformalin in foifr gallon of water for 30 minutes. Better for the bulbs to have two soakingk that to'risk a bad attack of scab aqrong the-bulbs. ( .. .. Takp: every precaution to keep the bulbs trtfe to names See that the labels are' strong and the name clear.- Never triiist to personal knowledge, or that old; bugbear’ qf moot gardens: “Pick thgm otft'''when in flower. It can’t bh !done. i|he VEGETABLE GARDEN.' j ... ....., • . r ’ ,■ . Keep the soil well stirred, by frequent ''hoeing. This is especially necessary among seedling crops. With large , plants, ouch as cabbage, etc., the: best: method is to. lightly fork over the soil. A dose of sulphate of. ammonia .or nitrate .pi ■ SOda will benefit most' vegetable crop’s at this' time of the year. Onions can be transplanted. Firm the ground well and do-- not 1 jMant deeply. Onion seed can be sown now. Firm ground and shallow .drills are necessary. Cabbage and cauliflowers can be planted to give a succession of supply. Rich gropnd and ample supplies of liquid mafiure are necessary to grow these ■ well. Peas should be sown to keep up a succession. Those already up will need small sticks placed to keep the stems oS ithe soil,. , '• Make further plantings of potatoes. Those planted earlier should be spray--ed and earthed up. One essential with potatoes- is wellworked soil, and where they are being grown on heavy or lumpy soils plenty’of working, so as to maintain the soil in a loose, fine state, is necessary. ■ • Make further sowings of lettuCe, radish, beetroot, turnips, etc., to. keep up the supplies. Sow parsnip and broccoli seed at the earliest opportunity; These crops need a long season of growth. POINSETTIA. There is. fib scarlet' winter flowering plant that can equal the poinsettia for brilliancy. It is not ‘ perfectly hardy and will only, .do in gardens that are frost fr.e.e,* but where it -does do, it is certainly a. fine. addition. 1 It makes-an admirable pot plant for the greenhouse,[ for which purpose it is beet to strike a batch of cuttings every year. The plants for th© open ground should be planted 'out about September, when the soil will; be getting warm. ' The- plants should be cut ba r ck hard each spring sd - as to encourage'; a strong shoots. It likes a position in" full sun and on i that is well drained is essential*.", It will do in hot dry positions, but will not tolerate told or dampness. / THE SHIRLEY POPPY. This cultivated" selection from .‘the common .rejl'poppy of the.;cornfield, is, one of ‘the’best annuals. Easy to grow it gives a profuse blooming a month or so after sowing. The seed should be sown thinly where the plants are to flower. Once they have germinated, thin out so that the plants stand about nine inches apart. They require good soil and a sunny position. TRANSPLANTING SHRUBS. When transplanting shrubs already in the garden a good ball of soil should be. preserved around the roots, because then tpey do not feel the shift so much, and soon get re-established. Evergreen shrubs are more particular in thia respect, and should not be moved at this time 6i the year without a large ball of eoil. ’ SPRAYING “DON’TS.” (Don’it fail to spray every season. It Is impossible to determine in advance whether or not the tree will bo attacked. Proper spraying is never injurious. Don’t fail to follow carefully spray Calendar and formulae. ' .« tow 1

Don’t Wait till the fungi have shown their presence.

Don’t forget that fungicides are preventive, not cures.

Don’t give up spraying because you do not see any apparent benefit. Don’t spray the tops of the branches and leaves only. The pests are much more likely to be on the under parts of the leaves and branches.

Don’t forget to keep your spray mixture agitated or mixed. Don’t spray while the foliage is moist, it dilutes the mixture and is easily washed off. Don’t forget to thoroughly wash out the spray pump when you finish. Never leave it dirty till next morning. Don’t forget to see that your pump is in good order before you start. Don’t forget to opray all the trees of a similar kind. Even if they do not carry large crops of fruit, they can carry a good crop of various diseases. 1 PRUNING DWARF ROSES. ; , - • The ever anxious amateur probably giyes-mbre thought and attention to the priinirig? 6f his -rosed than to any other gardening operation. He knows full well That Without the use of the knife his trees will not, generally speaking, prosper -as they should, but he also knows that;in 'unintelligent hands the •knife is an L instrument - fraught with exceptional # powers for .evil. Consequently this’season of the year usually '/finds hiin';iri : ;>ai:qifli.ndary, and'any fi'ipnd whose kiiidly offices assist" to a : successfill issue - from the.difficulty may a'ftetfvafd : s regarded in the light of a ■lifelong benefactor. Although it jtrin scarcely, receive too much attention, pruning i? not, after all, so puzzling a subject, as is sometimes thought, q?hc initial difficulty usually presents itself in the question of when to prune, arid here it may be said that a very eommdnj ! mistake is to make too early a commencement. It is always best to leaiie the operation until there is some ap-; pearance of fairly mild and settled weather; for if the back buds are forced to start too soon, they may be cauglit and injured by frost. When pruning, quite as . important often as the condition of the bush is the object for which the blooms are required. This settles the question of hard or light pruning, the former being advisable only when ■ a few: blooms of exhibition standard are required, and the latter when it is desired that the plant shall bloom to its fullest possibilities. A point which is often overlooked is the necessity to always cut back a bud pointing outwards, ae this produces a much' more open shaped plant, of which the growth will have a better oppor-; tunity of becoming well ripened in due season. ’ ■ METHODS OF PROPAGATION. Raising plants from seed is only one way of increasing a stock, and. with flowering \ shrubs and trees, which bulk so ' in modern gardening, it is usually just as easy to multiply a plant by cuttings.. The practice hao the advantage that, when it grows to maturity the cutting is true to type, or, in other words, a replica of the plant from which it is taken—an important point when lit is wished to increase the stock of an especially fine form of some species or variety. In many species of plants there are specimens which are better in some way, sometime? better in ever way, than .others, and those are the kinds gardeners naturally wish to increase. They can be sure of doing so by cuttings, and much less sure by eowing seeds, for seedlings often differ from their parent. Heat is required for the propagation of some, trees and shrubs, but not for others, and for the latter, which include many fine things, the only apparatus needed is the primitive bell glass, with which much can be done. Placed over the cuttings the bell glass retains the humid, draughtless air necessary to their welfare. The soil in which the cuttings are plpcedr should', be ; a with about a third of finely-sifted loam, and it should be about 3in. deep on well-drain-ed ground in a place screened from sun and wind. . , The selection of the cuttings io always a difficulty for beginners, and if some initial failures are inevitable, they need cause no discouragement. Generally, new shoots should be avoided, for they'are soft and sappy, and will not root like older shoots of. the current year’s growth. Side shoots are best because they can bo taken off from ’“the main branch with a tag or heel of the older wood, which helps them to take root, and, though necessarily absent in ' some cuttings, is important. The cutting "should be a few .inches long, and, once taken, it should he pushed down into a hole about an meh deep, already made for it in the prepared soil, with a match, pencil or skewer of the same. size as the stem of the cutting. Before long it should begin to take root, and as soon as it is firmly anchored-'to the ground, che cutting, which by • then will- have bbr come a rooted plant, may be moved from the shelter of the bell glasis ipuo a pot and gradually hardened by 'exposure to the weather. - If a bell glass is too small, an ordinary ftame may be used, placed in full sun, and filled with .sand to within a hand’s span of the glass. The cutting? may be placed in the sand as with the bell glass, and the light kept permanently on the frame, to be lifted only when the contents are watered. SWEET PEA HISTORY. Mr. William Cuthbertson, V.M.R. (Dobbie and Co., Ltd., Edinburgh), contributes some interesting facts about sweet pea history in an article which has appeared in the first annual of the Scottish National Sweet Pea, Rose and Carnation Society. The article is entitled “The Development of the Waved Sweet Pea-since" Counters Spcnceiy" and from "it we take the following:— “From the first introduction of the sweet pea in Britain in 1G99 till the middle of the nineteenth century it pur-sued-the even tenor of its way, some half a dozen varieties only occurring in these 150 years. Messrs. Carter, of London, and Mr. Thomas Laxton, of Bedford, were workers in the raising land introducing of new varieties contemporaneously with Mr. Henry Eckford’s early .work, but Eckford rapidly came to the front, and from 1882 till the introduction of Countess Spencer in 1904 he held the field, and has been

called the ‘Father of the Sweet Pea. His name will ever be associated with the flower.

“No onp who saw .the, dinner table decorated with Countess Spencer, which Mr. Silas Cole staged in the Royal Aquarium, London, in 1901, will ever forget it It marked the beginning of a new epoch in sweet pea history; The new variety had a large bold waved standard, and the wings were also slightly waved. The keel was different from that of all former sweet peas, it was open instead, of being closed. The colour was a lovely-shade of pink, deepening towards the edges. “i?r. Cole was gardener to Earl Spencer at Althorp Park, Northampton, hence the name Countess Spencer. “The variety occurred as a mutation (sometimes spoken of as a sport) in Prima Donna, one of Eckford’s varie-: ties, and Mr. Cole was fortunate to save a few seeds from the waved flowers. The stock passed into the hands of Mr. Robert Sydenham, of Birmingham, who had it grown for seed for sale in California. The bulk which came back from California showed that Cole’s stock had broken up in that wonderful climate, and it produced many variations besides the true Countess Spencer. The home growers got busy as soon as they obtained supplies, and in a few yeans’ time got the variations which were worthy sorted out and fixed and put on the market. “It is an interesting fact that two other growers found . mutations or sports in Eckford’s' Priiria Donna about' the same time as Cole. Mr. Unwin, of flis ton, Cambridge, introduced his ;.s Gladys Unwin, and it had a long run of popularity. It differed from Countess Spencer in having a rather less waved standard, but it was well built, well-poised, and of good size, clear pink in'colour. The discoverer of the other was a Mr. Viner, whose sport was a real" waved form —in fact another Cou'.ltess Spencer—-wjiich passed into the hands Eckford.”