GARDENING NOTES

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19750, 17 March 1934, Page 10

GARDENING NOTES

(By “Orchid.”)

Written for “The Timaru Herald.” THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. Lettuce can be sown any time this month choosing a W'arm border for preference. Chemical and fresh manure should not be used as lettuces are very sensitive to both. If the land is in good heart a dusting of either fresh slack lime, or carbonate of lime, will be most beneficial; using the latter four times the strength of the former. As damping off of lettuce plants during the winter months has been very prevalent in the last few years, the use of lime has been found to be the best preventive. As lime enters into the composition as a plant food, also unlocking the reserves of potash in the soil, hardens the tissues of the plants, enabling them to withstand frosts. Nitrate of soda may be used but very sparingly, half an ounce to the square yard, and then only when the plants are in active growth, preferably in the spring, as if used during the winter it would be washed down by rain as the soil has very little power to hold nitrate in this available form. Webb’s wonderful, Neapolitan, Sutton's All the Year Round and Commodore Nutt are suitable for sowing now. The last named variety is exceptionally early. It belongs to the soft leaf type, but gives splendid little hearts early in spring.

The site for broad beans should be fairly moist and not easily dried out in spring. Any shady part of the garden will suit but not under trees. No stable manure is required for this crop as it belongs to the order of lugumes and is able to draw all its nitrogen from the air. Beans are lovers of potash, phosophate and lime. To produce heavy crops dig the ground deeply and trenching if possible, as depth of soil and drainage are the two main factors in the cultivation of both beans and peas. After the ground is dug, lime can be scattered over, working it in with the rake. Ashes from the bonfire can also be worked in at the same time to provide the necessary potash. Phosphate can be supplied after the plants are up, as it is not good policy to apply phosphat and lime at the same # time. The first week in April is a good time to sow broad beans as growth will not be too far advanced to withstand the winter. Long pod varieties are the best for autumn sowing. The above cultural notes apply to peas, excepting the remarks about early work. A sunny piece of ground should be selected, and only early maturing varieties such as William Hurst, Greenfeast or Richard Seddon should be sown.

Preparations for the autumn sowing of onions, lettuce, peas and broad beans can be put in hand at once, although the sowing can be deferred until the end of April. Usually onions are better sown in the autumn where the soil drys out quickly during the spring months, but as the uncertainty of South Canterbury’s climate is wellknown, it is not gambling in any case to put in a few rows of seed. If the soil is cold and wet sow at once, deferring it on lighter and warmer ground. The onion crop well repays any extra labour given to it in regard to trenching and manuring, in fact it can scarcely be overdone. Onions will take any amount of manure especially that from the fowl house, but it must be well buried. After the ground has been dug work it down to a fine tilth, treading or rolling to obtain a firm seed bed. It is as well to leave it for a week, as any weed seeds will strike, and they can then be removed. Brown Spanish is a good variety to sow as the percentage that runs to seed is very small. Giant Rocea, Brown Globe or Tripoli are equally suitable for autumn sowing. Onions can be grown on the same ground year after year without any detrimental effect to the crop or soil. Sow in every shallow drills twelve to fifteen inches apart, firming the soil after the seed is covered. If the weather is dry at the time, germination will be quicker if the drills are watered over night and the sowing done next morning.

THE FLOWER GARDEN AND NURSERY.

There are a number of shrubs which can be struck now including Dutzia, Euonymus, Eleagnus, Flowering Currant, Privet, Tamarix, Retinospbras, Cryytomerias, Ampelopsis and Daphne. The last four should be struck in frames without heat in nearly pure sand. These are generally taken from wood of the currrnt year which has become firm. Daphne as a rule is hard to strike but, in common with

Rhododandrums, it can be propagated by layers. A low growing branch of one or two year old w’ood is convenient as it can be pegged down to the soil without any trouble . Cut a notch half way through a shoot Just below a joint, pegging the branch down so that the cut portion is well covered with soil. Roots will usually form within 12 months. Magnolias can also be increased in this way, but are slower in rooting.

Some flowers in the garden will be getting a little past their best. Where they have served their purpose, clean off those that are becoming unsightly. Cut over delphiniums and phlox, saving seed if young seedlings are required. There is no doubt that for a long summer show, and a blaze of colour, phlox drummondi and petunias are hard to beat. Verbena and scabious caucasica also lend themselves to summer bedding, flowering continuously. The latter is easily propagated by divisions of the old plant during winter. Seeds of summer annuals can be saved as they ripen, keeping them in a dry room in paper bags. There are a number of hardy annuals that can be sown outside in a seed bed on a warm sunny border including Candytuf, Clarkia, Clollinsia, Cornflower, Schyanthus, various Poppies. Godetias, Mignonette, Antirrhinum, Stocks, Larkspur, Linaria and Nemesia. These may be allowed to stand during winter transplanting out in the early spring. In the colder parts of South Canterbury it would be advisable to sow under a frame covering with sacks during extreme frost. Early sown pansy and viola will be coming along nicely now, and should be pricked off when large enough to handle.