Practical Gardening

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 301, 19 December 1931, Page 22 (Supplement)

Practical Gardening

DISBUDDING CARNATIONS. To get the best blooms it is absolutely necessary to stake and disbud the carnation. Most of the varieties have a weak flower stem, and also produce a great number of buds of which only one on each stem can come to perfection. In most cases it will be found that the terminal bud is the best to retain, but if,'by any means, it is damaged or second-rate, the next best can be taken. With large-flowered sorts, which are inclined to burst, it may be advantageous to leave two or three buds to partially develop so as to obtain a medium-sized bloom and prevent bursting. This

latter advice, however- is by no means sure, because, in many cases, it will be found that poorly-cultivated, impoverished plants will produce nothing but burst blooms. A thin mulching of cow manure is very helpful, as it keeps the soil moist without the addition of water, and this allows the more even bursting of the calyx. However, as a rule, a variety that produces a split calyx is incurable, and, although it may be possible to occasionally get a good flower, the majority will’have a bad calyx. CHRISTMAS GIFTS. During the next few weeks many gifts and presents will pass from one to another. Some valuable, some mere tokens of good will, a gift actually has no intrinsic value; it is the spirit behind it that makes it a gift or merely a “hand out.” However, why not break away from the orthodox and general list of presents and .give away plants or seeds, something that cair be planted in the garden and will last and increase in beauty for years. One or more of the newer roses, delivery will be made in duo season, new dahlias, chrysanthemums, shrubs. Many of these latter can be obtained in pots, or, as with the roses, delivery can be made in due season. Horticultural goods are not boosted to the extent that other things are. The average gardener looks on his garden as a place where lie can get away from the world of buzz, and the same spirit seems to control the plant seller. After all, why should ’not plants and flowers be of first importance as gifts when the majority of decorations upon the various articles, including the boxes they are in, is of some conventional floral design. Make plants or flowers your gift this year and you will not only foster- a- love of the beautiful, but, incidentally, improve local surroundings. POLYANTHUSES AND PRIMROSES. On account of the dry weather these plants have gone out of flower quicker than usual this year. The wise cultivator will have marked the most desirable forms for propagation by division. Choose a semi-shady border and when digging it work in plenty of leaf soil. Split up the plants with spade and trowel, but leave each piece with a few roots attached. Plant firmly in the prepared border, pull out all flowers and water well until established. Such plants should be fit for planting out in. April and May. Where seeds have been sown in boxes they.will now be largo enough to transplant. Let this be done in boxes in a frame or in a somewhat

shady corner, primroses and polyanthuses may be naturalised and if arranged in suitable places cannot fail to afford a fund of pleasure. The Munstead strain of polyanthus is superior 'to others of the colour, and in this colour there is a fairly wide range.

SWEET PEA ELECTION. With their recently-issued autumn catalogue, Messrs; Dobbie and Co., Kdinburgh, sent out a postcard asking those interested to send them a list of what they considered the best twelve sweet peas for exhibition and borne decoration. The voting resulted as follows: x 1. Flamingo 4227 votes 2. Youth 4-182 „ It. Pinkie 4040 4. Powercourt 4035 „ 3. Magnet 3756 ~ 6. Gleneagles 543- .. 7. Mrs. A Searles 3til S Constance Hinton IVJOt !»! Warrior 28*3 .. I<*. Mrs. T. Jones --'SO .. 11. Sunkist 2202 ~ 12. Grenadier - 2178 ~ The runners-up were the following six in order named: Picture, What Joy, George Shawyer, Charm, Sybil Henshaw, Olympia. SHADING THE GREENHOUSE. It is not well to apply permanent shading to glasshouses earlier than is absolutely necessarv', but a good many things will be injured by the strong sunshine if some means is not devised of affording them temporary shade. This applies especially to young seedlings recently pricked off and to newly potted plants; those at present in flower will also last much longer if shaded.

LEGGY PLANTS. Such plants as daturas, grevilleas, azaleas, dracaenas, and similar hardwooded subjects often get leggy and un-. sightly through the bottom leaves falling, exposing a long bare stem. A simple method of shortening them is the following:—Cut the stem half-way through in a slanting direction, fifteen or eighteen inches from the top. Place half a match in the cut to keep it open, and tie a flower stick at top and bottom to prevent it breaking off. Bind up the cut with a handful of damp moss. By keeping the moss always damp, roots will soon form and push through. As soon as these are seen, cut off below the moss and pot in the usual way.

Another method, and perhaps the best, is to break a flower pot in half, secure the two halves round the stem, and fill with a sandy compost. The pot can be supported by two sticks. The hole at the base must be enlarged so as to allow the stem to pass through. To break the pot in half, make a notch with a three-cornered file until nearly through, then fill with soil and press tight. The pot will burst along the notch made by the file.

T. D. LENNIE, N.D.H. (N.Z.)

THE POPULAR PANS'S. Pansy seed can he sown now. Get the best strain possible and give it every chance. Sow the seed in a light compost made by using equal proportions of sand and leaf mould. Add a little very old manure, but on no account make the material in any way rich. All seedlings do best when they are grown naturally and without much forcing material.' When you transplant them into their flowering quarters it is quite early enough to hustle the plants along. Shallow seed boxes should be used for raising all annuals. In the bottom of whatever box is used some holes must be bored for the purpose of allowing tie draining off of any surplus water. Over the holes put quite an inch of moss or rough leaf soil. On top of this you pack in the soil, which must be moist enough to hold together when taken and squeezed in the hand. Flatten down the

surface with a half brick or flat board. Then lightly sprinkle the surface before sowing the seed. Take the seed and mix it with an eggeupful of dry sand. You can then spread it easier and mere evenly. Let the cover be very light. A sprinkling to keep the surface both cool: and open is all that any of the smaller flower seeds need. Burying them in an inch of earth is both foolish and wasteful. Once plants are through the ground there is no further need to cover the box so closely. When the seedlings are an inch high you can bed them out into other boxes or seedling beds, at six inches apart, to promote a good root sjsptem prior to moving them to their flowering quarters. When you shift the pansies for the last time let the new quarters be as rich as it is possible to provide, for this pretty little favourite does like good living.

ERADICATING LEA# MINER! Chrysanthemums are in some seasons greatly troubled by this pest, which tunnels its way beneath the cuticle of the leaves, destroying the tissues and leaving behind distinct markings. The same fellow attacks other plants,' notably marguerites and cinerarias. When attack is slight, the squeezing of the leaf at the point where the grub is, between thumb and finger, puts an eud :

to its work, or it may be picked out} with the point of a penknife or darning needle. If the leaf is badly marked,] remove and burn it. An insecticide, though it is useful as a means of preventing the moths laying their eggs, is useless after the maggot has hatched. A careful cultivator will see that his plants are not largely injured by this, pest. It invariably happens that the: first attack is' only slight. By eradi-' eating those that commence the attack' and syringing occasionally with some nauseous emulsion, or soot, tar water, or a weak solution I—lso of Restarj further egg laying is checked. DISBUDDING TOMATOES. The tomato is a very strong-growing plant, and unless some restriction is placed on it, the plants simply become a mass of foliage, impossible to spray effectively, and in consequence suffer from insects. All experiments go to

prove that when a plant is kept to one stem the actual weight of usable fruit is greater than when several stems are allowed to grow. All lateral shoots should be removed when quite small, and when the fruit has set, a sling of raffia should support it to the stake. ASPARAGUS. This is so delicious a vegetable that many amateurs are apt to continue cutting it long after it should be encouraged to make its growth for the next year’s supply. The result of this is to diminish the crop of stalks next year and also to shorten the life of the plantation. The period of cutting any season should not extend beyond the end of November or thereabouts. The bed in which it is grow r n should then be cleared of all weeds and a dressing of agricultural salt and nitrate of soda, each in the proportion of loz to one yard run of rows of plants, should then be given. Repeat this again in a month. SAVOYS. Savoys may be planted on grouna from which early potatoes have been taken. ’The ground should simply be raked over and levelled. Savoys need a firm bed. When growing savoys there is a tendency to neglect them during the summer and early autumn, but this as really when they need a great deal of attention. To grow successfully they should not be allowed to suffer from drought of any kind. When only a few are being grown it is a good plan to give the ground a good watering and then spread a mulch round the plants. But where this is not done water should •be supplied and the hoe kept going constantly. BEET. Beetroots are always in season, and it is comparatively easy to keep up a supply. For summer the flat turnip-rooted jtvpes are best; they are quick maturing pand do not occupy the gi'ound for a long Reason. The “half long,’* “intermediate” tor “long-rooted” types are best for winter use, as they do not crack and spoil so easily as the flat or turnip-rooted sorts. Sowings of both sorts should be made now. The turnip-rooted can be ,used as soon as they are of a size, but tthe other types must be left to grow (Until winter. As with most vegetables,’ there are varieties which produce great big, specimens, void of flavour and only fit for cattle, feed. In any case, who wants a great big beetroot like an undersized mangel ? You boil them whole, and the whole dish is spoilt, when you cut them, if, instead of a deep crimson selfcoloured root, you have a red, white, [pink, variegated mongrel of a root. Leave isize alone and choose a small to medium •variety that is of a good deep blood Ted colour. Tell your seedsman what you require and what you expect; a first-class house can supply your requirements without a doubt. Egyptian Flat (turnipTooted), Dell’s Crimson, Nutting’s Dwarf Red, Covent Garden Red are all good standard sorts. There are several selections from these offered, which are perhaps improvements on the type, but you will not go far wrong with any of the iibqve or selections from them.