GARDEN NOTES

Taranaki Daily News, 6 August 1934, Page 15

GARDEN NOTES

THE WEEK’S WORK. THE FLOWER GARDEN. / Stir the soil between the bulbs. Anemones and ranunculi must be hand weeded. Plant rhododendrons. Prepare new rose beds and plant out as soon as possible. Now is the time for rose planting. Pruning can also be done now,. . Immediately after pruning spray the bushes with a coal tar disinfectant diluted 1-100. Prune shrubs and trees, but leave any spring-flowering varieties till after flowering. • Spray with an oil spray any shrubs showing a sooty deposit; this is due to a scale insect. THE GREENHOUSE. Ventilation and watering has needed especial care this last week. With the first' bright day give rathet more ventilation and dry up some of the surplus moisture. Do not excite plants by, forcing the growth during the next week or so. Wait until. the turn of the season.. Plants in flower and those coming into flower can have weak liquid manure about every other watering. Keep paths clean and dry, remove any yellow leaves, wash the outside of pots, stir surface soil. These jobs will prevent the growth of mosses and fungus. Some of the early-flowering half-hardy annuals, such as nemesias and phlox drummondii, can be. sown. THE VEGETABLE GARDEN.

Weed the seedling onions! If the tops of the seedling onions are withering it is due to mildew. Dust sulphur or spray with lime-sulphur 1-100. Get all vacant plots cleaned up and either

dug over or trenched. Clear away spent crops. Do not . leave rubbish lying about to breed pests. Prepare the ground for root crops. The ground for onions needs preparing early so that it can consolidate before planting. ’ . ' Sow a soiling crop, such as oats Or mustard, on any vacant ground, to be dug in later on. THE FRUIT GARDEN. Plant gooseberries, currrants, 16ganberries and raspberries. > '■ Plant fruit trees of all kind;. The weather lately has held up this work. Pruning should be comnleted as soon as possible. : • •; Do not prune plum trees too , hard, u the trees are growing vigorously leave the long growths unpruned. This causes them to bend over,' checks growth, and encourages the production ipf fruiting spurs. . - . Get rid qf any old and useless fruit trees. There are some splendid new sorts offering now, making it a waste of labour to bother with worn-out trees. Spray peach, nectarine and plums with a winter wash. Use lime-sulphur, tar oil or caustic soda spray. I — — raspberries-loganberries.

If you wish to grow raspberries and loganberries, and are planting this season, you must make up your mind to have po crop the first season. The canes should be planted immediately in wellmanured ground, and cut down to within three inches of the ground m early August. This wil- cause them to throw up fairly strong shoots or canes, which will bear fruit the following season. If on the other Hand the canes are not cut down after planting they will bear a small crop of inferior fru.- and throw up weak and few canes for the following crop, the consequence being that succeeding crops are small and it will be years before the canes will be established. “Autumn” fruiting raspberries require a slightly different treatment They should be cut down during winter, and the new canes thrown up in spring will bear fruit the following autumn. Both raspberries and loganberries are very shallow rooting, and do best with a damp or slightly shaded position. Also, in consequence of th. roots ben- so near the surface, a spade should never be used anywhere near the stems. A hoe is all that is required. .. They ure.. also gross feeders, and like a liberal mulching in spring and heavy dressing of manure. HERBACEOUS PLANTS. . All herbaceous plants, when well grown, have a tendency to exceed their limit, and must be looked after, either by removal or reduction. TOe b J method is to lift the plant, break it up, and plant the most vigorous pieces, and, if possible, do not plant m the jame place again. Jn -the moving: and the planting of new borders, if they a^ e be a success, every riant should be in the position most suitable to its heig » its season and' time of flowering, its, method of. growth, and the. colour of its flowers, for it to harmonise With neighbours and. become a part of whole. No attempts should be made to h-ve all the plants of one height, at the same line in the border. To the line of sight in the jhould broken, so that'at one place tall plants should come almost to the front, While a little further on dwarf plants should go almost to the back. What Should be prevented is to have tall plants m front of a dwarf one that flowers at the .same time. The border should be arranged so that there are spring flowering P scattered throughout • its whole length, summer flowering, autumn flowering and winter flowering, likewise jo that the border has always some cheery, bright bit of colour. . .t will also be found advantagebus to plant some things in large clumps, others.'sipgly. For instance, anemones and many of the spring bloomers look best in a'mass, and as they bloom when the border is bare large clumps can be planted, “ and the "positions utilised for, other things in the summer. Bulbs are also best in clumps, and look well if *hey have a carpet of forget-me-nots, alyssum, lobelia, pansies and suchlike Jow-growing subjects. If the grojj is treated well, and extra plant food added, you can easily get two crops instead of one.

TO GROW LARGE ASPARAGUS.

Obtain seeds of the true _.urple Argenteuil or of Connover’s Colossal, and insert them one by one two inches from each other in drills Sin apart, about the beginning of October, in good soil in an open position. Take the plants up the following spring, about September, and sort them over, throwing out all having several weak shoots and keeping only those with two or three strong shoots at the base. This selection of seedlings which have only a few, but strong, crown growths, is most important. Plant the selected roots at once, 2ft from each other in rows 3ft apart, in ground which should have been well trenched and manured during the winter. In addition to any stable manure or vegetable refuse that is dug in give a dressing of 101 b of kainit and 41b of sulphate of ammonia tu every 30 square yards. As the young plants grow, it is important that the stems be secured. against breakage by wind. Soon after planting give a further dressing of IJlb sulphate of ammonia per. 30 square yards, and repeat this in about a fortnight. . Keep the ground well hoed and free from weeds. Raised beds are only necessary where the ground is naturally badly drained or the soil is heavy and cold. No shoots r lould be cut the second- year from sowing, that is the first year from planting, but the third year should give good results, .which, however, can or/ be maintained in after years by cutting sparingly and hot. later than middle of - December.: MICHAELMAS DAISIES. > These plants have finished flowering, and'the old flower stems should-fie cut down .to the ground line. - Clumps that are old should be lifted and divided. In replanting either, a new piece of ground should be provided, or, if the same, piece is used, it should be well dug and manured. The clumps should have the soil shaken off- them, or, better still, washed in a tub of water. Good strong suckers with plenty of roots should be chosen and these should be planted now, and If pinched once during the growing season, you will obtain a first class plant- and a glorious show of good flowers Those who have only grown the Michaelmas Daisy in the usual clumps year after year should try growing the single stem plants, growing them in a similar manner to that adopted for chrysanthemums.

POTATOES FOR PLANTING. Potato tubers that are required for seed purposes should be looked over ana. if not already done, should be placed with the “rose” end up in shallow boxes to sprout. There are several advantages i gained by this such as being able to choose those tubers which give indications of good sturdy growth, and the elimination of weakly ones. Then, sprouted tubers may be planted days later than those unsprouted, and yet mature as early and give more even crop. _he sprouts when planting Should be reduced to not more than three.

/ ASPARAGUS. The tops of asparagus are now in a condition to cut and clear away. Choose a fine day and they can be gathered and burnt on the bed. Be careful to gather all or as many as possible of the berries, for if allowed to lie on the bed they germinate, and the is a lot of weak ~ seedlings which soon take possession." The top two inches of soil should be raked off. This clears away all weeds and fallen seed pods. . Although this may appear to bo drastic bav© no fear of harming the plants; if followed .by applications of manure, etc., it will give the plants a new lease of life. It is recommended to give a dressing of stable manure in t-e autumn; if the manure is not available till spring, however, it can b? applied then. The manure recommended is fresh from the stables before it has had good manurial properties washed out by rain. Cow or pig is not as good as horse manure. After applying the manure cover with a couple of inches of fresh soil. If horse manure is not available give the bed the following dressing of artificial manure: Three or four ounces superphosphate and‘the same quantity of wood ashes per square yard, and cover with two or three inches of fresh soil. If using superphosphate the best way is to mix the required quantity of super and wood ashes with the soil and apply as a compost, to be followed, in July by the same quantity of common salt. As soon as growth commences give one ounce of nitrate of soda and a month later give a similar quantity of nitrate.

PLANTING ROSES IN SANDY SOIL.

The rose loves a heavy rich loam, but in some gardens this is impossible to secure. In such cases procure.some good turf four or five inches thick. Dig out the hole for the rose, and place in the bottom of it a piece of the turf, grass side down; with the spade chop this up a little and then tramp it firm. Spread a thin, lay er of earth on top of the turf, place the rose in position and fill up with more of the turf chopped rather small, being careful to keep the grass side downwards. Tramp the whole firmly. A little cow manure, well rotted, will bind the mass better, but do not bring it into direct contact with the roots.

THE BEST DOZEN DAFFODILS. Recently at the R.H.S. Old Hall in Vincent Square; Westminster; • a -discussion took place as to the “Best Dozen Daffodils.” The discussion was opened by the well-known daffodil raiser, Mr. P. D. Williams. Mr. Williams said that in selecting > what he considered to be the best dozen daffodils he had chosen only varieties which were vigorous and haa increased to such an extent that-it was obvious that they had good conrf.tutions. He had also endeavoured to make his list representative of the different types of daffodils and to select varieties which were suitable not only: for exhibition, but also for garden decoration and cutting. His selection w.as Beersheba, Beryl, Dawson City, • Firetail,; Fortune, Glorious,’ Havelock, King Alfred, Mitylene, Sarchedori, Trevithian and Tunis. Mr. W. B. Cranfield, who followed, gave as his selection Beersheba, Croesus, Firetail, Fortune, Grenadier, King Alfred, Medusa, Mitylene, Pilgi'mage, Suda, Venetia and White Emperor.