TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 661, 14 January 1933, Page 23 (Supplement)

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

RICCARTON writes: Your Saturday notes are proving a great help to us all. Would you kindly tell me the correct treatment for pelargoniums in tubs after they have done flowering? (1) Will they flower again this season? And if so, should they be cut back at all now? If this is the end of the flowering for this year, what is best to do with them for the remainder of the summer.? They are growing on a verandah. (2) Also my delphiniums are not very good this year. Can I break up the clumps in the winter, or must I plant young ones to get good results?—(l) Pelargoniums that have finished flowering should be rested for, a month or so; that is, they can be stood outside and not given too much water. Then early in March take them back inside, cut back and replant prior to starting them off for another season. If desired, cuttings of soft new growths can be taken and rooted in sandy soil, well shaded until they root. As yours are growing on a verandah, leave them there, cutting out leading shoots to induce a bushy growth, but you cannot expect a second blooming. (2) Yes, lift the clumps in the winter. Break up and replant the best of the outside portions, dusting with sulphur now to check mildew. Unless your plants are really good sorts, better results might be got by sowing a few seeds. Mildew is often very prevalent on old plants. If yours- are clean, divisions will give good results next year planted in good soil. FLOWERS (Christchurch) writes: May I once again be permitted to draw from your well of information: (1) Ranunculus: What is the length of time these take from planting to flowering? (2) Can you suggest any plants (apart from lilies) producing flowers suitable for florists, that would flower from February to July (under glass, coke heaters)? Again thanking you for the useful Information obtained through the “ Star.” — (1) Ranunculus sown from September to February in a cold frame to protect them during winter would begin to flower in October. (2) In order of flowering, the following should be worthy of attention: Begonias, Fuschias, Pelargoniums, Abutilons, Primulas, Francoa ramosa, Gerberas, Ericas, Streptocarpus, Cineraria, Chrysanthemum, Cyclamen, Helleborus niger* and, of course, the various foliage plants, such as ferns, asparagus and smilax. G.C. (Waimate) writes: I would be pleased if you could tell me in the “ Star ” garden notes the cause of my potatoes dying off. I am sending specimen of diseased tops. The crop was planted in August and came on very well till the coming of this disease within the last three weeks. The shores first go yellow, then droop and finally die down. I am spraying with Bordeaux mixture, 4-4-40. Is this the correct spray to use and will the affected plants ever recover? Your, advice on the subject will be greatly appreciated, as are your regular notes in the “ Star.” —Your has got early potato blight, which is not so serious as the real Irish blight, because while it stops growth prematurely, it does not ruin the tubers. Bordeaux is quite good as a spray, but I am afraid the damage is past repair once the foliage turns yellow. It is often more prevalent in dry ground, and may have been introduced on the seed. Remove and burn all foliage. AMATEUR (Riccarton) writes: (1) Will you let me know if an asparagus bed that has been down for years and has been overgrown with weeds is really worth cultivating? (2) Black currant trees and rhubarb have been In a long time and never cultivated. It is a market garden. Would you kindly let me know how to do them?— (1) As it takes two or three years to get a new asparagus bed into profit, I advise clearing weeds off the existing one, and scattering a good dressing of bone manure over it. Then when you cut the foliage off about April, cover with stable manure as a winter covering; and next year your bed should be worth having. If you wish, make a new bed in the winter to take the place of this one in a couple of years. (2) The black currants can be pruned in the winter by someone sufficiently expert, as without seeing them, it is hard to advise otherwise. The rhubarb should be lifted about June, divided and replanted, and if well manured will give good results next year. Beth (Westport).—l have posted to you per this mail a bloom and a leaf of a flower. (1) Will you kindly let me know what it is? It has bloomed for several months and has been very beautiful; it is now seeding, also throwing up young growth at side of old plants. (2) Will you give me an idea how to make a mushroom bed, and is it too late to start one now? I have a good shed with earthen floor, and will be very glad to receive your instructions. I enjoy reading your gardening correspondence in the “ Star ”, and obtain many useful hints from them. I shall certainly make use of you when in doubt of anything in the gardening line. Thaklng you and wishing you a happy New Year.—No. 1 is Incarvillia Delavayi, a hardy herbaceous perennial, not common, but worthy of very general cultivation. (2) Mushrooms can be grown quite successfully in any dark shed or cellar, temperature required about 60 degrees. Horse manure free of straw is best. Turn this over until most of the heat has gone. Pack this into a box 9in to 12in deep with sloping face. Break spawn into pieces the size of a walnut and put lin deep about 6in apart. A week or

so after cover the bed with about an inch of good loamy soil pressed flat, cover with a sack to exclude light, and give a little tepid water if dry underneath. This briefly is the plan, and I hope you have every success. It is quite a good time now to begin. Bricks of spawn are Is 6d each. W.E.S. (Oamaru) writes: Would you please answer, per medium “Christchurch Star ”, the following query about sweet peas? For exhibition peas, how far up should the side shoots be pinched out? Should the tendrils be cut off? If so, why? They are not more than 3ft high, but are budding. Is that all right? Thanking you.—ln growing sweet peas for exhibition, it is usual to train up the central stem only, nipping out all laterals and any flowers that show early. They should get to 6ft before flowering, with thick, stout stems and foliage. This means giving artificial manuring, perhaps. If only 3ft high and budding you are not going to get the length of stem desired. Cutting out superfluous foliage means reserving and strengthening what is left. Therefore, don't hesitate to thin out top and side growths if you have let the plants grow naturally, and water with, liquid manure once a week. Gardener (Camerons) writes: I enclose a sample of grass. It has got into my vegetable garden, and I cannot get rid of it. Will you please tell me the name of same and what to do to get rid of it.—Couch grass (Agropyron repens). This deep-rooting grass is usually controlled by cultivation. If amongst growing crops, do not hesitate to pull out all you can by the roots. Then as the ground gets vacant, fork it over and burn all the roots. During summer, while the soil is loose, is the best time to work it. You should pretty well eradicate it in this way, leaving only isolated growths for next season. The remarks to Amateur also apply. Amateur (Spreydon) writes: Your gardening notes in the Saturday “ Star ” have been of much help to me, and in my first gardening problem I am appealing to you for your advice. Two months ago I bought a new house, and now find that practically threequarters of the section has convolvulus ? rowln & u P°n it. It has not affected the growing of any vegetables I have planted, but I am sick and tired of pulling it out, and it is beginning to dampen my enthusiasm as an amateur gardener. I will be obliged if you would kindly enlighten me upon the following: (l) i s it possible for me to rid my section of convolvulus? If so, what is the best method? (2) Could I kill It by ground poisoning, and what would I use? (3) Would it show in a lawn? —I should be sorry if you let the presence of convolvulus or any other weed dampen your enthusiasm, because you can win with perseverance. The only way to beat this pest is by pulling out and burning. No spray that I know of is effective that will not also kill other vegetation. Remember. you are “ pioneering ” your section, and that the less growth the bindweed makes above ground the sooner it will die out. (3) It would not show in the lawn if regularly cut or pulled out.