IN THE GARDEN

Taranaki Daily News, 16 April 1932, Page 17 (Supplement)

IN THE GARDEN

WORK FOR THE WEEK.

the flower garden. Sow hardy annuals. Sow ten-week and beauty stocks. Sweet peas, both early and summerflowering, can be sown. If ground is ready, sow sweet peas outside; if not, sow in boxes and

DiSid ; keep. plants securely tied. Do not use liquid manure once petals show colour. Dahlias must be trimmed and have spent blooms cut away. Keep dead and Men leaves gathered up, otherwise, they make the garden RUnf anemones, Ranunculi and other spring-flowering bulbs . Take cuttings of calceolarias, marguerites, carnations, pentstemons and other bedding plants. * . Prepare ground and plant out layers of border carnations. . Cvclamen bulbs are beginning to grow. Give a mulching of old cow manure. Prepare new rose beds and do not forg|t to place .your order early for new

When choosing roses for garden purposes, add some of the varieties that are proved autumn flowerers. THE vegetable GARDEN. Sow spin'ach, carrots, beet, turnips, lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower. Prepare ground and. sow onion seed for spring transplanting. Potato sets saved for planting should be put in boxes and stored m a light Marrows and pumpkins can be cut and stored as soon as they ripen. - .. Clean up and bury all weeds and rubbish from spent crops. ' All diseased tissue, either roots, stems or leaves, should be burned. Sow a soiling crop on any vacant plots, ■Oats clover or mustard can be used. Plant cabbage and cauliflowers. These can follow potatoes or onions without further digging of the soil. Prepare ground for fruit tree planting. Now is the time to place orders for fruit trees. EARLY POTATOES. If the gardener cares to try growing a few extra early potatoes he can sprout the seeds in the cellar or a sunny room, and thereby gain 10 or la days. After cutting the seed potatoes in the usual way, the piece's should be dusted with sulphur in ' order to prevent excessive evaporation. Then they should •be spread in shallow boxes with the eye

up and kept" in a dry, frost-proof place Until fairly good-sized sprouts have been made. "When the seed is planted out great care must be taken not to break off the sprouts. SILVER BEET. A sowing of silver beet, especially the variety known as giant Imcullus, which has large, .thick midribs, can be made now. The seed should be sown and the' plants transplanted so’as to stand two feet apart. It does well on almost any soil. It should be grown in an open, airy position. Of late years leafspot has proved very bad in many gardens, and where this is known to be present the plants should be sprayed with lime sulphur. The soil prior to planting should be treated with a good fungicide. GRASS AROUND FRUIT TREES., Fruit trees growing in grass or where a grass turf is allowed to remain do not thrive as they should do. This is due to the grass forming a close mat and preventing the air from having free access to the roots, harbouring insects, becoming a resting place for fungi spores and also owing to the fact that an exudation from the roots, of grass is harmful to the roots of the fruit trees. It is necessary to dig over the roots of young trees at least once a year, and the spaces thus made can be hoed occasionally during the season. The tree will then be. better in health and will’ make better growth. HERBS. In order to have the garden complete it should contain a small patch of herbs. Some, like thyme and sweet marjoram, have very small seeds, which should be barely covered with earth. Other kinds, such as , summer savoury, dill, fennel, sweet basil and lavender, have larger seeds, which can go an inch under the ground. Most herbs are right to dry just before they flower, when they are full of juice. They should be gathered on a dry day. The best way: to cure them is to spread the stalks on brown paper, laid in a flat pan, which can be placed in a moderately hot oven. It will be necessary to turn them often to keep them from burning, but the quicker they can be dried the better. When drying has been.'completed the. stems, may be removed and rubbed to a powder. Then this powder can be stored in some airtight receptacle. THE EUCHARIS. The beautiful white flowers of this bulbous plant require a hothouse, with a minimum temperature of 65 degrees to grow them successfully. After the plants have completed their season’s growth, it is necessary to give them a rest for several weeks by partially withholding water at the root. When the plants have started into growth, plunge the pots into a hotbed of leaves in the greenhouse and syringe them regularly with tepid water. 'Weak soot water may also be given at the root. When watering plants of this description, one should have the water at the same temperature as the house. Under this treatment good blooms can be produced during the winter months. When repotting is required it is best done in the spring, when good fibrous loam, with the addition of some crushed charcoal and coarse sand should be used. About six good bulbs may be placed in a 9in. pot, which is perfectly clean and well drained.

AUTUMN FLOWERING BULBS. The cultivation of autumn flowering bulbs could with advantage be more general in our gardens. Certainly they flower at a time when the gardens are ablaze with dahlias, zinnias, and such like. The majority of autumn flowering bulbs are natives of South Africa. As a general rule once planted they are permanent, and do not require lifting every two or three years. Included in the list are amaryllis or belladonna lilies, brunovigias, spreklia, vallotas, orinums, stemherria. TentiVTanitrips- > iTriesr fla-nrier.

during the driest part of the year, and are not affected by dry weather, and there is no need to use the water can. All are of the easiest culture, the chief requirements being a well-drained soil and a place in the sun. Amaryllis or belladonna lilies are. well known; there are the pink and white varieties. Brunovigias are closely allied to the amaryllis. They produce very large bulbs and send up heads of 50 or more flowers with a stem three or four feet.' long; the blooms are of a deep rose pinir, almost red colour. Vallota puppurea or Scarborough lily is a monotypic genus, and evergreen. The flowers are bright scarlet. ° These bulbs dislike disturbance and only do well when left in one position for years. Spreklia is the Jacobean lily, a Mexican plant having large crimson flowers of. a unique shape. Sternbergias are often called.crocus; the flowers resemble the crocus very closely, but the blooms are produced late in,summer and autumn.. There.are several more varieties worthy of inclusion in any garden, but the, above will show that autumn-flowering bulbs are of sufficient merit to have a place in every garden. A COMMON PEST. The crane fly, commonly known as daddy longlegs, is in itself harmless, but is responsible for a lot of damage to many plants and crops, such as carnations, pansies, peas, beans, cabbage,: potatoes, lettuce, etc. The damage is caused by the larvae or grubs of the insect, which are commonly known as leather jackets. They are about an inch in length, and have tough, leathery skins of a dirty grey colour. The larvae live more, or less underground, feeding upon roots and stems of plants they come across. When,fully fed, they turn into pupae, and after a time wriggle to the surface of the ground to enable the mature flies to emerge. In cases where it is seen that the plants are bitten, the soil around them should be care-, fully scratched away and the grubs searched for; and, seeing that the larvae frequently come to the surface at night, it' is a good plan to place pieces of slate, tiles and boards about on the soil to provide a harbourage for the grubs, which, when found underneath, can readily be destroyed. Dressing the soil with a soil fumigant such as naphthalene is one of the best methods of; getting clear of the pest. Although fairly common and usually found in greater numbers on low-lying or wet ground, by the use of naphthalene and frequent digging and cultivation they can be kept down, if not entirely eliminated. Actually they are one of the pests that depend for their existence upon what may be termed “lack of cultivation,” and seldom prove a serious pest in gardens where cultivation is carefully carried out. LIFTING GLADIOLI. It is not safe, to leave the corms of gladioli in the open ground after the middle of April. The moist soil will cause the corms to emit roots and produce almost perennial weedy growth which will give short spikes without character. Lift with the stems etill attached if they do not parb easily, and spread in a dry shed to thoroughly dry. Dater on clean them and store on shelves or boxes. CORROSIVE SUBLIMATE. Mercuric chloride or corrosive sublimate is a very powerful poison, so that its Use must be attended with the greatest care. Get loz. of the powder, place it in a quart bottle of lukewarm water, and shake it up occasionally until it has dissolved (label the bottle ‘‘Poison”). When worms are troublesome on the lawn add i gill of the liquid to every two gallons of water, and water the surface. Always remove dead worms from the ground afterwards, especially if fowls have access to the place. For insects that harbour in old wood, among stones, about the walls or inside the house, few substances are better than corrosive sublimate used as above. It will do no harm to the roots or foliage, but, of course, should be used in the evening. It is not a remedy for slugs, but a good deterrent which reduces their numbers. Always apply as much of the liquid as would be given at the usual watering operation. Those who require large quantities will find it more convenient to pour the quart of strong liquid into some 30 or 40 gallons of water, and to use that solution. DRAINING A LAWN. This is a work that is not often considered : of vital importance .when laying out the garden,' but on all but very light, sandy, or pumice soil, it is of first importance if the lawn , is to be used at all-times of the year. A lawn when drained, is truly a lawn, but when undrainedds often only a patch of grass around the flower .beds, and during wet weather a spongy, soggy, patch at that. 'Stone, scoria, or any rough, hard material'or field .tiles, can be used; the latter are the best, for as a rule where scoria or stone is present the natural drainage is sufficient. For .pipe drains use four-inch tiles for the main drain and two or three-inch tiles for the subsidiary drains. There are several ways of laying the drains. The main drain cap bo down the centre, with the lateral drains meeting it at almost right angles. The main drain can also be placed on the side, or even on two sides of the lawn, with the lateral drains running into them. The best and most ■common method is to run the main drain down the centre from the highest to lowest point, and to run the side drains so as to meet the main drain at an angle, of about 45 degrees. The depth of the drains varies with the texture of the soil. The more adhesive or heavy the soil, the nearer the drains should be to the surface, and the more porous the deeper they should be. The depth can vary from 18 inches to two feet, and the distance apart from 10 to 20 feet. For the average lawn, 18 inches deep and 15 feet apart, with the main drain correspondingly lower, is a fair estimate, which can be altered either way to suit circumstances. Avoid, if possible, when draining, flower beds, borders or shrubberies, the drains, for such should be much deeper. The “fall” required is about one foot in 100 feet for the main drain, with one foot in 75 feet for the side drains. If the land has a natural slope equal or more than this, then let the pipes follow the natural inclination of the surface. Mark out the position of the drains and dig out the trenches according to the size of the pipes; the bottom of the trench must be firm and even. First lay the main drain, and then the branches. At the junction of the two, chip out the sides of the two main pipes to allow the branch pipe to fit as closely as possible. Then pack some stones firmly around the junction and cover with clay firmly around the junccover with day firmly packed down, joints of th© pipes should b®

neatly pressed together and covered with stones. It will be found that most of the pipes have a flat side, lying and fitting better when this is laid on the ground. Where stones and. scoria are used, it is a good plan to place a layer on top of the pipes. Fill the trench in carefully, so as not to disturb the pipes. Points to remember are not to lay the pipes too close to trees, or the roots may enter and choke them. Efficient drainage means a sweeter, richer and warmer soil, and ideal conditions for the successful growth. of grasses. It enables the turf to be used with less personal discomfort, and in. other ways produces a more beautiful sward than if undrained. Although it may appear a costly matter, to drain a site,, in . the end its advantages will outweigh the expense, and be economical. CREEPING GYPSOPHILAS. The popularity of Gypsophila paniculata, the well known “Fern Saver,” and the annual forms like G. elegans, appears to have overshadowed G. repens, which is best described as a trailing sort, and is never more at horn: than when planted on a rockery or raised 'bed, where it may ramble at will. The flowers are small and produced in great numbers. A somewhat similar plant is G. cerastoides, a real rockwork creeping plant, with flowers larger than G. repens, and one that, when established, blooms for many weeks together. These gypsophilas may be raised from seed or propagated from cuttings or division df roots. One point in respect to their culture should be noted, and it is that they do best when the soil in which they are planted contains some lime. Planted near a ledge of a rockery they are a charming sight when in bloom.