GARDENING NOTES

Taranaki Daily News, 13 April 1935, Page 16 (Supplement)

GARDENING NOTES

THE FLOWER GARDEN. Chrysanthemums are now requiring every attention to disbudding, etc. Dahlias must, be tied and disbudded; do not allow spent flowers to remain on the plants. Plant out seedling delphiniums and gaillardias sown earlier. Cut away layers of border carnations when well rooted. ’ Sow summer-flowering sweet peas.; Plant anemones and ranunculi, Spanish and Dutch iris. .. .. ./ , v ,.: Prepare new lawns for sowing down. If soil is not properly prepared do not hasten sowing, leave it till later. Now is the time to plant liliums of various kinds. In fact most kinds can be planted now. Do not dry lily bulbs; plant at once. - Lift, divide and replant primroses and polyanthus, THE GREENHOUSE. Pot on as required primulas, cyclamen and cinerarias. The early batches, that, are in their flowering pots can be given weak liquid manure. Make small sowings of mignonette and schizanthus for growing in pots. Attend carefully to watering and ventilation. Sufficient and .no more must be the rule. Clean pots, stages and inside woodwork and glass before the winter sets in. . THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. Sow prickly spinach. Thin plants early to eight inches. ’ , Sow onion seed for spring planting. Clean, firm ground is required. Plant cabbage and cauliflower. A further sowing can be made. A sowing of turnips,, beet and shorthorn carrots can be made. Harvest onions, shallots, pumpkins, marrows, pie melons. Harvest haricot beans, shell them and store in a dry cupboard. Lift and replant the herb bed. Not enough care is taken of the herbs, • which are weeds till wanted, and then cannot be found. ' • . • Hoe or fork between standing crops of cabbage, etc. A further spraying may be necessary to control caterpillars. THE FRUIT GARDEN. . .. Gather the varieties as they ,mature. Do not bruise. Handle carefully and reject all marked fruit. Collect all fallen apples, and pears. Feed to pigs or bury deeply. Cut out any useless trees and make out a list of replacements. Look'over grafted and buddled trees and . rub or cut away any, robber shoots. TREE PLANTING. Horticultural periodicals in England are stressmg the need for the inclusion of tree planting in the coming _ celebrations of His Majesty’s silver jubilee. The following are extracts dealing with’ the subject, and it can be well applied to this country. Well could the motto be “Plant trees and more trees.” “As ah instance of what is already being done we may, perhaps, quote one borough council’s enterprise near London. “The Finchley Borough Council are already proposing to plant 5000 trees in their streets as part of the jubilee celebrations. One of the borough council-

lors has pointed out that a single tree can be purchased for a few shillings, and that residents in Finchley might well like to commemorate the jubilee by planting a tree within the borough. This is excellent work. What. can be done"’in Fmcffley can be done in every borough, and still more in rural areas, •uqcal authorities only want urging, for the "idea", of, jubilee planting is so obviously' right and proper that it only needs" suggesting to win acceptance. “What;is.:badly wanted is a wave of tree planting enthusiasm, and the jubilee furnishes an occasion when the country can r>e stimulated into tree-planting. Not local authorities merely, but private individuals and school children, will be ready to catch the idea. Put on.its lowest ground, it means the future beautification of England, which is a patriotic duty. Can we hesitate .to push, forward a scheme which does the country nothing but good? Jubilee year ought to set tree-planting on the map of thcjJ national consciousness. Thousands of people think of tree-planting as a _matter of no interest, to themselves. Really it is a matter which touches all of the public, however non-horticulturally