GARDEN AND SHRUBBERY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 18832, 21 March 1931, Page 10 (Supplement)

GARDEN AND SHRUBBERY

HOW TO KEEP THE DAHLIAS GROWING. Any amateur who can resist the temptation to get out of bed at the first flash of daylight on one of these fine mornings is missing a heap of pleasure, and is losing the happiest part of the day. Everything is then about at its best. Night is kindly to all plant and flower life. Dahlias and zinnias, carnations and phlox that retired soon after sundown with some of their petals just a little ragged, are bright and fresh again, fit for whatever comes along with the daylight (writes “Red Gum,” in the “Sydney Morning Herald”). Just now everything is rioting. The trees are as green almost as they are in the spring time; sturdy dahlia growths carrying many well-formed buds seem to be bursting with life; zinnias hold their floral work proudly on well-formed stems; petunias marigolds, phlox, kiss-me-quick, carnations, and roses are all well in the picture, as they should be in a season like the present, when ever the weeds are working overtime.

If you have time to do anything for the dahlias, throw some manure underneath the plants to help keep them going. The more you give them the more you get. Just see that no strong stuff is supplied to the plants. The points is to keep the liquid food handy. Daily watering should do that. Water dahlias during the daylight, and not after dark, as some of the flowers half close overnight. And disbud for an increase in the size of the flowers. The flower harvest this year will be the best on record. Never were the plants so vigorous or so willing for work. Get rid of all the spent flowers. Burn or scald the ends of' the stems and the blooms will stand up better. Take short, two-joint cuttings for striking under glass in moist sand. And solid soft growth will root readily. Cut a little below a joint and trim short the lowest pair of leaves before potting-up the pieces. Once the cuttings are rooted you can pot them up in light soil in three or four inch pots, and leave them there for the 'test of the present season. Cuttings that are hollow are too old for rooting. Pot stock grown in this way are kept close together on the surface, and are allowed to push their roots into the earth below the crockery containers. Last season I saw a of man-high plants carrying nice flowers, even though they were in captivity.

Small pots are used to dwarf tuberous roots which the traders use early next season for early order work. There is no art in growing dahlias from cuttings, seed, or tubers. Big blooms are the result of good feeding, to strengthen the stems, shading to keep the shape and the colour, and constant attention to block any of the

insect destroyers anxious for a hearty meal. Watch the Lateral Growths. When the first flush of flowers has been cut away, the second line of worker shoots should be given every encouragement. Dahlias are not onecrop flowering plants. There should always be some new shoots coming along to take the place of those which have done their work. The hope of the future lies in the lateral shoots which you help to hustle along. No see'ding should be permitted for some time yet. Keep the green growths going by cutting out all the spent flowers. Don’t be too eager to cut away all the lower leaves of the plants. Bare steams are not now in favour. The most expert growers plant close and make the lower leaves shade the soil and keep the roots cool and moist. It was the fashion twenty years ago to harden up the main stems by shifting every leaf. Now we work on different lines, and shade the ground instead.

Don’t think that size is everything. There is still some satisfaction in having a goodly company of shapely, colourful blooms ready for home, or garden display.

The work you do in the early morning will help your dahlias along. There are pompones to keep pruned, collarettes to tie up, singles to see to, and many an odd job to do for the plants, which are doing such splendid work for you.

Gather your dahlias early in the morning rather than at the end of the day, and hold them stem deep in water overnight. Never dig or fork within a few 'feet of the stalks in case you disturb some of the soft roots on which the life of the plant depends. SEAWEED AS FERTILISER. The value of seaweed is not appreciated at its proper worth by those who have gardens within reach of the sea coast, where their product of the sea Is generally to be found in abundance (says the “Australasian”). While the weed may be gathered at any season, the autumn months are generally supposed to be the best for its collection. There are several kinds of seaweed; but the best is the shorter and softer kind. If stable manure is procurable it may be mixed in about equal quantities with the seaweed. They may be thrown together into a heap, turned once or twice, and in about eight weeks can be spread on the ground and dug in the ground recently vacated, and may be dug directly into the ground, and the ground allowed to lie fallow for four or five weeks. Seaweed Is an excellent manure, and while it appears to agree with all kinds of vegetables, it is especially suitable for asparagus, potatoes, and members of the Brassica family. It is also useful for mulching, but it dries and becomes more brittle than stable manure.