GARDEN AND SHRUBBERY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18629, 26 July 1930, Page 13

GARDEN AND SHRUBBERY

ROSE ROBBEKS. While digging over the garden keep a good lookout for rose suckers. Very unobstrusive are these briar shoots that push up from the rools of the standard roses, or even from some point higher up, but gradually they increase in number and vigour until at last the rose that has a fine named variety is altogether deposed, and a nice wild dog rose remains. The suckers are not always noticed until they have become a fair size, but all the time they have been conspicuous they have been draining the head of the plant. These suckers should be removed os soon as they are noticed; but they should not be cut off or pulled out, as is so frequently done by gardeners. Now is a good time to remove them, as while the ground is being dug over the roots can be bared, and the suckers carefully pared right out from the point on the root from which they originate. This is the only proper way of removing them. Cutting them only makes them grow stronger, and pulling them out j frequently damages the roots of the i plant. | The strong shoefcn which spring from J the base of dwarf or bush rose plants should, however, not be mistaken for suckers, and cafi easily be distinguished from the ’stock on which the plants have been budded by the foliage. Look | at the foliage of any garden rose, and jit will be seen that there are as a J rule from five to seven petioles to a j spray, whereas the briar usually has | nine, and the dwarf stock seven to j nine of a slightly paler green than | the rose itself, while the edges of the i petioles are much more finely serrated. (The strong growths, or water shoots, arising from the base of dwarf plants should be allowed to ripen, as these will be valuable in building up the new' framwork of the plants when pruning for the incoming season. GARDEN TURNIPS. The turnip may be regarded as a second-rate vegetable in the garden but it has been cultivated from very early times, and, although in some gardens it is looked on as an autumn cropping plant only, in large establishments , where successional supplies of many j kinds of vegetables are grown, it is ! more or less in demand throughout the j greater part of the year (says the I “Gardener’s Chronicle,” London). ,j Probably no other garden crop is so ; directly influenced for good or ill by I peculiarities of the season, and good management is necessary to ensure a constant supply of tender and succulent roots.

The turnip w'ill grow in any good garden soil, but the best for the purpose is a deep, rich, friable loam. The sweet, tender roots required for the table can only be obtained by growing them so quickly as circumstances will allow, and a rich soil is essential to promote rapid development. The conditions which suit the turnip pest are a happy combination of heat and moisture; in a wet season, with insufficient heat, the roots swell, soon burst, and become useless; while in a hot season, ; with insufficient moisture, they frequently ITecome tap-rooted and misshapen owing to their eager search for moisture, and although the grower cannot control these seasonal vagaries he can do much to help the plant to withstand them by providing thoroughly prepared soil and a suitable position. Another point of some im-

portance is that turnips do not remain in good condition after they have completed their growth; it is true they keep fairly well in winter, but in spring and summer they should be used so fast as they become large enough to be serviceable, or they will become fibrous and rank in flavour.

Where very early supplies are needed sowings may be made on gentle hotbeds from January (July in New Zealand) onwards, but under favourable conditions seeds may be sown outside from the beginning of March (September) until the end of August (February). Frequent small sowings should be the rule until the main crop season in July or August, when larger breadths may be sown. By adopting this method the loss of any particular sowing through the crop being checked by unfavourable weather conditions is quickly regained by the following sowi ing.

So soon as soil conditions are favourable in early March the first sowing-

may be made on a warm border, and fortnightly successional sowing should follow until about mid-April, when an open position in the main garden may be chosen for subsequent batches. Sow the seeds thinly in rows about a foot apart, and so soon as the seedings are large enough to handle thin them adequately, for only plants which have ample room to develop will “bulb” quickly. Frequent stirring of the surface soil helps to accelerate growth by conserving the moisture which is so essential to the rapid development of the crop. The chief enemy of the crop is the turnip or flea-beetle, and, although only a tiny beetle, its ravages in some seasons are so complete that it is not at all uncommon for several sowings of turnips to be destroyed bl it. The control of the pest is difficult, as in dry periods attacks are virulent and sustained, generations of beetles following each other rapidly. If the seeds arc soaked in turpentine the fly is kept away from the seedings for some time, and fine ashes or sawdust steeped in paraffin and sprinkled on the drills act as a deterrent; but good cultivation, which enables the seedlings to make rapid growth in the early stages, is the greatest safeguard. Change of soil and the rigorous suppression of all cruciferous weeds, which act as host plants to the pests, should be practised.