The Garden

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVIII, Issue 23324, 6 October 1945, Page 6

The Garden

Work For The Week

Apples should be sprayed with Bordeaux Mixture to combat scale and powdery mildew. The best time to spray is just as the leaf buds open, and again with a weaker solution when the leaves are half expanded. Small sowings of cabbage, cauliflower and brussels sprouts should be put in during the next’ few weeks. Sprouts are among the best of winter vegetables, and they require a long growing season if they are to provide a good crop. Sowings of spinach, lettuce, radish, carrots, peas, beet and turnips should be made at fortnightly intervals to keep up the supply. Artichokes, rhubarb and kitchen herbs may be planted, and a few potatoes may be put in in a sheltered corner. The ground should not be worked while it is wet and it is always well to bear in mind the old rule of thumb “plant wet and sow dry.” Sprouting broccoli is one of the most useful vegetables for this time of year and keeps on producing its small purple heads for weeks on end. Seeds sown during October will be ready for planting out by Christmas, and if left too late will not give the large, well grown plants that produce good crops. The greatest enemy of the apple crop is the codlin moth which appears just after the flowers fall and eats its way into the fruit. A good spray that will control this besides the fungus diseases is 11b of atomised sulphur to 10 gallons of water and 15 dessertspoonfuls of arsenate of lead. The latter should be mixed into a paste before adding to the spray. Use at intervals of two or three weeks just as the buds open, again as the petals drop and on two more occasions during the spring. Be careful not to damage the flowers with the spray.