IN THE GARDEN

Taranaki Daily News, 14 April 1932, Page 15

IN THE GARDEN

WORK FOR THE WEEK. THE FLOWER GARDEN. Heavy rains will have spoilt a lot of blooms. These should be picked off. Plants that have gone down should be tied, or, if too badly damaged, cut them off. Chrysanthemums will need attention to disbudding and tying. If rust has made its appearance the plants should be dusted with flowers of sulphur. Thin out chrysanthemum buds. Even when grown for decorative purposes thinning is necessary. _• Bulb planting can be continued, but no time must be lost if good results are expected. Plant out layers of border carnations. A sowing of hardy annuals can be made. Plant out annuals and other springflowering plants. plant anemones and ranunculus. Trim hedges of cleagnus, privets and escallonia. Newly-made lawns should be prepared for sowing. The seed can be sown at once. (Roses are giving promise of exceptionally fine autumn blooms. Dust with sulphur for mildew.

THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. Prepare the strawberry bed by working over the soil as often as possible. Ground for late crops should be worked well so as to break up any lumps and to well incorporate the manure. Raised beds give extra drainage and are relatively warmer than the surrounding ground. Both are an advantage with winter crops. Weed and thin seedling crops. Stir the soil alongside the plants. Plant out cabbage and cauliflower plants. Clean the rhubarb bed and give heavy ■manuring. Use stable or cow manure supplemented with fowl manure or sulphate of ammonia. Dig kumaras as they mature. Give cabbage and cauliflowers a little sulphate of ammonia. Stir the soil around the plants. Collect and burn or bury all bad cabbage and other leaves. Clear off all rubbish and weeds and dig over empty plots. Prepare ground for sowing onion seed. BULBOUS IRIS. Bulbous irises are attractive and uncommon and may be grown well in pots. The bulbs should be potted now in Gin. pots. Place them rather closely together in good loamy compost, rendered porous ■by a little coarse sand. After potting placed the pots in a frame, plunging them in ashes or leaf soil. They may thus remain until they begin to develop their flowers in spring, when they must be transferred to greenhouse or airy window. All are exceedingly decorative when judiciously arranged, with other plants or grouped by themselves. Iris reticulata, thpugh older than some, is very beautiful and possesses a delightful perfume. GROWING EARLY POTATOES.

.The following is a useful method of growing early potatoes: Procure tubers of an early potato such as Duke of York, lay them out to sprout, and put them up into 4-inch pots at the end of June. Grow on in a greenhouse or frame till the end of July, then harden off and plant out in a warm border. Protect them from frost with some sacking or other suitable material, and you should have potatoes ready for the table by the m.ddle of September.

•WORK IN THE VINERY. Vines growing in greenhouses which contain various other plants often, suffer from lack of moisture at the roots and in the air. This is often the cause of poor grapes being produced. I. he borders, outside or inside, should be examined frequently now. When watering, give a thorough soaking to make sure that all the roots are reached. Liquid manure should follow such waterings when the berries are swelling, but should cease when colouring commences. Keep a moist atmosphere inside by using the syringe freely, but avoid wetting the grapes, especially with hard water. Lack of watering and damping down causes red spider io put in an appearance in hot weather. When the grapes are stoning, as indicated by a temporary cessation in swelling, a weak solution of lime water often proves of assistance, especially if it is known that the borders are deficient in lime. Close the house sufficiently early to keep the temperature comfortable through the night, damping the floors, walls and stagings at the same time. When> the grapes begin to colour, give more ventilation to assist them in this process, and to allow ample light see that all growths are kept pinched at the first leaf. Look over the bunches again when the second swelling commences after stoning is completed, in order to remove any berries which seem likely to become overcrowded, Where mealy bug is present, spare no efforts to keep it from the bunches. Go over the vines daily, if possible, and touch each insect or white woolly patch with a brush dipped in methylated spirits. It is not possible at this season to do much else to contend with this pest. THE FUCHSIA. The fuchsia is essentially an amateur's plant and well adapted for growing in various ways. The plants are easily managed, free flowering and excellent for covering pillars and back walls of greenhouses, or for training up the roof, growing in hanging baskets and as pyramidal specimens or as standards, whilst many varieties are suitable for planting out of doors. Compost composed of 3 parts light fibrous loam, 1 part old hotbed manure, a little leafsoil and a good sprinkling of coarse sand will be found excellent for fuchsias, but over-potting should be avoided. The present is a favourable time to take fuchsia cuttings, which at this season of the year should consist of half-ripened wood prepared in the usual way and inserted round the sides of 5 or G-inch pots of light sandy soil. When well rooted the cuttings should be potted singly into small pots. Stronggrowing, vigorous varieties, of fuchsias are the best for training as standards, and all side shoots should be pinched off and the plant kept to a single stem until the desired height is reached, when the point or top must be pinched ofl. This will cause side growths to bo emitted, and the three nearest the top should be retained. These side growths must be pinched after the third pair of leaves, and other shoots which result from this pinching also be'stopped after the third pair of leaves. The stopping process must be persisted in until a good head has been formed on the plant.

SPIRAEA. This is a suitable time io lift, divide, and plant astible or spiraea roots. The plants thrive best in moist soil, preferably in a position with some shade durmiddle of the day. The flower spfkes vary in height from 1 to - feet. A selection of sorts ehou^ ’ D .® ludc o ® 0 “* pacta W. E. Gladstone, astrboides, Queen Alexandra, peach blossom and Palmafun. MICHAELMAS DAISIES. beautiful autumnal flowers must be kept neatly and securely tied up to their supports, or they writ quickly be ruined by wind and ram. borne of the modern varieties are especially lovely, for not only can they bb had in a variety of colour, but the habit of the plants varies so much as to render them suitable for all positions m the border. They vary in height from two feet to over six feet, the dwarf varieties being literally covered with blossom right down to the ground. Both groups render the garden bright and attractive until late in the autumn, but to see Michaelmas Daisies at their best an entire border should be devoted to them. GLOXINIA. The plants are now going to rest. This is shown by the leaves turning yellow and then dying off. As soon as the foliage changes colour less water should bo given, and when the plants are quite dormant it may be discontinued. The tubers are left in their pots, or if economy of space is a consideration, they can be turned out and laid thickly in boxes of dry sand. MILDEW ON CHRYSANTHEMUMS. A remedy for mildew on chrysanthemums is sulphide of potassium dissolved in water at the rate of half an ounce to the gallon, applied as a spray. It is most important to wet the undersides of the leaves, but do not let the mixture reach the flowers to any extent, as it marks the petals. Beware also of it touching white lead paint, as it turns this black. BABIANAS. Babianas originate from the Cape of Good Hope, are very elegant, compact growing bulbous plants, producing beautiful spikes of flowers in various shades of blue, crimson, purple, yellow and violet. Bulbs are very cheap, and although they are not hardy are well adapted for pot culture and should be got in early. Five-inch pots will take five bulbs and seven-inch pots seven bulbs. A very light, sandy compost, containing a little manure, should be used, whilst perfect drainage is essential. The soil should be nicely moist at potting time and the tops of the bulbs just covered. The pots should be placed in a cold frame and covered with cocoa fibre refuse to a thickness of several inches, to encourage the production of a strong rooting system before the top growth commences. When plenty of roots have been emitted by the bulbs the pots should 'be removed from the frame and bo stood near the glass in the greenhouse. Too much water should not be given at first, but as growth develops, the quantity should be increased; whilst applications of weak liquid manure after the spikes have made their appearance will be found most beneficial. After the bulbs have flowered, the pots should be stood out of doors in a sheltered position, and as the foliage dies down water should be gradually withheld. When dried off store the bulbs away until the following season. A warm sheltered position is essential for bulbs planted out of doors. CANTERBURY BELLS. Tn order to obtain a four-bloom from one Canterbury bell plant during the same season, nip off the flower as soon as it is over, and well water the plant. Very quickly a second bloom will be seen, which, when dead, should be nipped off in the same way as the first. In this way the plant may bear as many as four or five blooms during the same season.