GARDEN NOTES

Taranaki Daily News, 22 June 1933, Page 15

GARDEN NOTES

THE WEEK’S WORK. THE FLOWER GARDEN. Cold weather has settled any tender subjects. Such should be cleaned away and the ground prepared for replanting. Dahlias can be cut down and the tubers lifted. Cut ■ down chrysanthemums to within a 1 foot of tire ground. 5 Clean weeds away from the stools to encourage strong, sturdy cuttings. Order your new roses. Old, worn, obsolete varieties can be replaced by new varieties at a small cost. Do not plant any tender or weak plants 3 during the next few weeks. Prepare new rose beds; planting can be done at once. Collect and stack fallen leaves. Trees and shrubs can be transplanted. There are a large number of beautiful flowering shrubs now to suit any gar- ; den. r Fork or hoe between rows of anemones , and ranunculi. THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. > Prepare new Asparagus beds. r Trench the plot of ground for next sea- ; son’s root crops. Prepare ground for onions. Shallots and : potato onions can be planted now. ■ Prepare ground for potatoes. „ Root crops, such as parsnips, beet and carrots, that are occupying ground that ; is required can be lifted and stored in dry soil or sand. ; Fork over the ground between standing ; crops of cabbages, etc. Rhubarb can be planted. Prepare the ground well, deep working is necessary to give the best results. Collect and store pumpkins, marrows, pie melofis. • THE FRUIT GARDEN. Prepare ground for planting new trees. Every garden should have a few fruit trees. , . , Bush fruits, such as gooseberries and currants, should be planted at once. Loganberries and raspberries should have the old fruiting canes cut away. Tie in the current season’s growth. Pruning of peaches, etc., can be com- ; menced at once. Do not over-prune peach or plum, trees. Remove every dead twig and thin out inside branches is the main work. To prune hard is often, the cause of excessive growth. Get the pruning over and then spray with a whiter spray. Prune gooseberries and currants as soon as possible.

AN INTERESTING HOBBY. It takes years to make an interesting and beautiful garden- This is so whether the garden be large or small. It takes much time to furnish a garden with trees and shrubs, and even experienced men make mistakes in selecting and arranging their materials. The consequence of this is that alterations have to be made, and each time one is more or less starting all over again. As. soon as a person has bought or biiilt his house, he should decide what form it is he wants the garden to take. \ Garden making is very interesting. It is pleasant to see the schemes we have created or started developing around us, but we cannot have everything, in a small space; still, much more might be done with gardens that are attached to the general run of houses. It is chiefly a case of making the most of things and seeing that every inch of space is producing something useful or beautiful. The majority of gardens are mostly space and very little beautiful or useful. It is a mistake to let the useful crush out entirely the beautiful. At the same time, with careful forethought the useful can ■ also be beautiful. 1 The most interesting gardens are made ! bit by bit, as it were, but the main < features, especially as regards paths, ’. trees, shrubs arid hedges, should be ■ settled before the other part of the work I is done. In making a new garden the ■ paths should be marked, and then the ' whole of the remaining ground should • be well trenched and manured before > anything else is attempted. Some may say draining should receive attention > first, and if any draining is to be done ft should be done first, but very few attempt anything in the way of draining, and although it plays an important part ' in the mechanical influence of the. ' ground, yet it is almost impossible to r convince the average man that it is ' economy to do so. A few years after ’ he has been struggling with the ground, and has spent tvzice as much as the ’ draining would have cost him in the first ■ place, he at last realises his mistake, ’ then commences to rectify it. All gar- ' dens when first made should be well I drained. v CLEANING GLASS IN FRAMES. 1 In every pail of water used put about ■ loz. sulphuric acid and loz. bichromate ’ of potash. Make a good pad by tying ’ a bundle of rags on the end of a stick 5 and work with this, finally rub with a dry cloth. Do not put the hands in “ the solution as it is liable to cause sores. > - POTATO CROP HINTS.

BEWARE OF DISEASED SEEDS. The main factors which go to the making of a heavy potato yield may be briefly set out thus: (1) Choice of a good variety; (2) careful selection and preparation of sets; (3) good soil cultivation; (4) early planting with sufficient room for each plant to develop; and (5) proper after care, which includes manuring, hoeing, earthing up, and spraying. First in regard to choice of a good variety. Gamekeeper, Arran Chief, Great Scott, and Majestic are four heavy-yield-ing varieties, and are a good selection for any soil.' Too much stress cannot be laid upon the of the , careful preparation of sets. As for the earlies, a good set will in the first case be about 2oz in weight, and a clean and shapely specimen with shallow eyes. You should get your sets nicely greened and sprouted in the boxes, and the shoots reduced in number to three to each set and about half an inch long. You can complete the disbudding just i before planting. You can get quite a , good crop from sets which have shoots ; on them up to ljin long, but these have ' to be handled carefully at planting time, i The shoots must not be broken or bruised, or their growing points injured. As to whether you plant whole or cut sets is largely a matter for yourself, I but to make good any shortage any . tuber may be cut, provided that (a) you ; do not do any disbudding; (b) that you ’ do the cutting just before planting; and , (c) that you leave at least two good , eyes or shoots to each division. Do not rub soot, lime, or any other styptic over the cut surface. Do not take any sets from a crop . which last year suffered from eelworm. ' Also, don’t plant potatoes on ellworm- , infected ground. Do not plant out of the boxes any sets which are much behind the others in sprouting, or have thin, cottony shoots —these are almost ( sure to be infected with the virus diseases. Now some hints on the preparation of the soil. Sites that arc winter dug and manured are likely to give the best results, but manuring in the drills is commonly done. Do not make your

planting drills V-shaped at the bottom and put the manure into the angle. Make the drills flat-bottomed and at least Sin across. Spread the manure to cover the bottom of- the drill. If you have not yet done anything in the way of soil preparation, your first move is to move all remains of old crops, after which the ground should be spade dug, spit deep, and left to sweeten. Do not dig in any manure at. this stage. The manure cari go into the drills. Plant in a straight line in the middle of the drill—shoots pointing upwards if the shoots are half an inch in length. If the shoots are longer, lay the sets on their sides. Give the first covering up with fine soil. The average planting depth, that is, the depth of the soil covering, should be 6in of light, sandy soils and about sin on'most soils. You must give your potatoes plenty of room. The average distances are 15in between the sets in the rows and the actual rows 2ft. 6in. Gamekeeper needs 12in. between the sets and 3ft. between the rows. As far as after planting care is concerned, you must remember that frosts are likely to come along just whep the first shoots begin to appear, and you must be ready to draw a little dry, fine ■ soil over the plants as protectipn. Also to insert here and there a few green boughs. The first general hoeing is due as soon as the complete rows show. Use the pronged drag or chop hoe for this, and give a deepish hoeing so as to loosen up the soil. Do not use the Dutch hoe. About ten days after the first hoeing the second hoeing will be due—pronged drag hoe again. This is a convenient time to get on a topdressing of sulphate of ammonia, loz. to 2 yards, and to stir it well into the soil. A good mixture is 1 part sulphate of ammonia, 1 part sulphate of potash, and three parts superphosphate. Mix these ingredients well together (on a hard, level floor) and apply them at the time given at the rate of 2oz. per yard run of row. Keep it off the leaves of the plants and distribute it evenly all over the Surface. TOMATO WILT. According to observation and experiment at the Chestnut Experimental and Research Station, Herts., the loss through this disease amounts to anything from £lO,OOO to £15,000 a year in the Lea Valley alone. To-day, as a result of the , improved methods adopted by progressive growers, particularly in regard to soil sterilisation, the disease is much less prevalent. The enemy is a fungus parasite, either cause the plant to become limp and wilt until it withers from the base upwards and eventually dies, or have a slower effect upon it, by which the leaves become covered with

yellow blotches and the plant dries up. The best means to be taken to control the disease as soon as it appears is to destroy the plant. These are really only temporary expedients, however, and no known measures are fully curative. Sterilisation of the soil, either by steam or by some chemical fungicide during the winter, is a step which will go towards removing the cause of the trouble. The several advantages of soil sterilisation in intensive glasshouse work are now thoroughly established. NEW ASPARAGUS BEDS. When new asparagus plots are being formed the ground not already prepared should be completed as soon as possible. In treating the soil for this crop, it must be borne in mind that the more deeply and better the ground is prepared the finer and more lasting will be the crop produced, for, although the plants may be grown with varying success in any reasonably good garden soil, with far less preparation, there is little comparison in quality and quantity produced with those planted in deeplyworked, well-prepared plots or beds. When planted in well-prepared group a they will continue for years, with. reasonable annual treatment, to throw up abundance of strong heads. In preparing the plots or beds, ample room should be allowed for planting, so that the plants will not be unduly crowded. Beds formed four feet wide will admit of three rows 18in. apart each way. Unless planted in soils of a very light, porous nature, raised beds are a decided advantage, as they assist to remove surplus moisture, as well as add warmth to the soil, while in addition the beds are more easily kept clean without treading upon the beds. Efficient drainage is in every case essential. GREASE BANDS FOR TREES. ; A cheap and easily-prepared grease for banding fruit trees: Take one quart of gas tar add one pint of old thick grease thoroughly mix together. Band the trees with old sacking and give the band a good smearing With the grease. This will be found a cheap and easy way to prevent certain pests from climbing up the stems of fruit trees.

>• INGLEWOOD NEWS J . □ ,Lw—y O GOLF DRAW FOR TO-DAY. n g o On the Inglewood golf links to-day e a match will be played, ladies versus il men. The match will be played in fours k and the men have to concede to the ladies the difference in handicaps. Following is the draw: Miss Morton v. S. Lovell, Mrs. Partridge v. D. Sutherland, Miss McLean v. R. D. Johnston, Miss Mary Morton v. C. McKay, Miss McAUum v. W. J. Smith, Miss N. Wilson g v. J. Ritchie, Miss J. Morton v. D. Gow, d Mrs. Gow v. J. MCrton, Mrs. Adlam v. I. P. Grant, Miss Corney v. S. Judd,‘Mrs. , O’Carroll v. W. Meyer, Miss Marshall e v. J. Mulholland, Mrs. Birch-Johnston v. _ F. Partridge, Mrs. Mulholland v. C. R. 11 O’Carroll, Mrs. Faris v. R. W. Brown, e Miss Johnston v. R. Belcher, Mrs. Tor- . rens v. W. Marshall, Mrs. Belcher v. C. 1 Deem, Miss Dobson v. J. E. Faris, Miss e P. Partridge v. C. Twist, Mrs. Lovell . v. J. Winfield, Miss Frewin v. H. Hunt, . Mrs. Twist v. C. Winfield, Miss Messenger v. H. Dobson.' “ Civil Servants’ Footbath p A football match between the civil - servants of Waitara and Inglewood was d played at Inglewood during the weeke end- and resulted in an easy win for s Inglewood by 32 points to 8. Both teams ,£ had • the assistance of - outside players s and a good exhibition of the game was s given. ’ Hockey Teams. s The following will represent the Ingles wood Men’s Hockey Club in the match i with Stratford at Inglewood to-day: /■ G. Barry, H. Evans, J. Thomason, G. Nicholls, C. Shotter, B. Evetts, W. Yeates, V. Timms, L. Harris, N. Wright and J. Preo. Emergencies: B. Codd and H. Pyne. Tire following will represent the Inglewood Ladies’ Hockey Club against Waitara at Inglewood: Mrs. Trass, Misses > Gyde, Hunt, Trigger, Nodder, Collingt wood, King, Trigger, Coles, Klenner, t Burkhart and Clements. The ladies 1 junior team to play Eltham at > Eltham i will be Mrs. Downs, Misses M. Codd, | . Feaver, Alleman, Mrs. Vickers, Misses r J. Wright, Norcross, C. Devereux, B. » Franklyn and Mesdames Harrington, Hau and Co\itts> , Cycle Race Handicaps. • Following are the handicaps for the i Inglewood Cycle Club’s road race to • Tariki and back to-day: J. Foote, « E. Stockman, D. Coleman Im, G. Parker Hm, F. Fussell IJm, L. Volzke 1-Jm,. E. - Standing 2m, J. Zimmerman 2m, R. Mace 3im, K. BaUantyne 31m, L. Standing 4m,

H. Graham 4m, L. Mace 4Jm, D. Fields 41m, R. Morgan 41m, K. Webb sm, R. Kennedy sm. Basketball Games. The following, players will represent ■ Inglewood Convent in a basketball match against Stratford Old Girls at' Stratford today: -Misses J. Thomason, A. I Q’Byrne, E. Hanwright, E. Dan, L- Rum- ? ball, N. Dodunski, E. O’Byrne, M- Wiinewski, M. Dodunski. Reserve, Miss F. Chard. Catholic Euchre Party. Seven tables were occupied at , the Catholic euchre party on Friday The winners were Mrs. Mischewski 1, Mrs. Oakley 2, Mrs. F. Scott consolation; Miss Mellor 1, Mrs. Campbell (playing as men) 2, Mr. W. Spurdie consolation. The apron rug competition was won by Mr. V. Dravitski senr.