GARDEN AND SHRUBBERY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18500, 22 February 1930, Page 14 (Supplement)

GARDEN AND SHRUBBERY

SEASONABLE WORK. THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. Asparagus beds should be kept clean and free from weeds. Heads that are showing much seed should be cut off If left they would exhaust the crowns for next season or drop when ripe and grow and disorganise the bed. Remove the stalks of exxhauSted beans and peas as the crops go out of season. Top runner beans when they get to the top of their stakes or supports. They will set better and quicker than if left to grow as they please. Celery should be earthed up as it becomes fit. Late kinds may still be planted, giving plenty of manure in well-prepared trenches. Leeks may still be planted, but the sooner the bettter. Draw earth up about those planted earlier. Potatoes: Early kinds, especially kidneys, should be lifted before the tops have quite dried off. If blight has attacked them cut off and remove the tops. If the potatoes are affected lift the crop at once. It is better to have the tubers sound and small rather than large and bad. Now is a good time to sow prickly spinach for winter use. All broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and other winter greens should be in the ground ere this. A first sowing of cabbage and cauliflower seed should be made now to stand the winter in the seed bed. A few of the strongest and best plants of both kinds may be transplanted before thet winter, and the rest may remain until spring planting. It is a good practice to make three sowings of cabbage seed this month —one now. one in the middle, and one at the end of this month. It gives a long season of planting and cutting in spring and early summer. The gathering and drying of herbs should be got on with now if the weather becomes settled and dry to ensure a good supply for the winter and spring. Clear off spent crops and dig or trench the ground as it becomes vacant.

The Fruit Garden. Look over wall-trained fruit trees, and do not allow breast wood to form. Remove it all after the wall vacancies have been filled. Look over recently or last season’s planted standard trees. Where one or two main arms or leading shoots have grown away in excess of the others pinch out the points of these, if not already done. By this plan these shoots will be checked, giving the weaker ones a chance to catch up upon the stronger and provide a more evenly balanced tree. Plant out strawberries. Dig out or chop down suckers from raspberries, unless these are required to ripen for planting later on. 'There is still time for budding fruit tree stocks, but the sooner this work is off hand the better.