SEASONAL NOTES.

Waipawa Mail, Volume LXVIII, Issue 123, 17 July 1940, Page 4

SEASONAL NOTES.

THE BEGINNING OF A NEW YEAR. July is usually considered the beginning of a new year as far as garden operations are concerned. Many plants are put out and seeds sown this month.

A spell of mild weather such as wo had last month is apt to deceive us with the belief that spring has arrived and summer is fast following on its heels. It is well to remember, however, that we invariably get the worst of our winter weather from now on. Bearing this in mind, gardeners should make every effort to get all preparatory work well under way whenever conditions are favorable. In this climate the seasons overlap to a great extent and for this reason it is hard to lay down any hard and fast rules as to dates for the various operations. Seasons, too, vary to a great extent and the procedure followed one year with success would probably prove quite unsatisfactory the next year.

The preparation of the ground for the main sowing and planting is the most important work for the present time as upon it depends to a very large degree the future success of the crops. It is really far more important to make the ground good and rich than to get the crops into it early. In most instances very little is gained by early sowing or planting, as the ground being cold and wet, growth is very slow. Quite a number of crops fail altogether if planted before their time, cold and damp conditions proving fatal to them. If the soil is trenched or dug at the present time, plenty of decayed vegetable matter being incorporated, it will have time to settle down and consolidate before sowing or planting is done. Many of the failures with seeds

and plants might be traced to the fact that the ground has been toe recently worked, with the result that the roots have no adequate hold. CLEANING UP. There is always a lot of cleaning up to be done at this season of the year. Spent crops have to be removed, the tops of perennial plants to be cut down, and quite a lot of trimming and pruning to be done. This means an accumulation of material which can only be disposed of by burning, as much of it is quite unsuitable for burying. Burning is not easy while everything is green and wet, at the same time almost anything may be burnt with comparatively little trouble if a garden incinerator is used. This can be made very simply from a large-sized oil drum from which the bottom and top have been cut. The cylinder thus formed should be stood on bricks or stones to allow draught to get through freely. If a fire is started in one of these home-made incinerators with some dry material any ordinary garden refuse will burn, but it is best if much weed is to be burnt, to intersperse it with rose prunings or other branchy material to prevent the fire being entirely smothered. Such an incinerator is not heavy and may be moved to any part of the garden, thus saving the necessity of carrying all the rubbish to be destroyed. Another good point is that it is possible to burn up the rubbish without having a large vacant plot; the incinerator may be placed on a path or anywhere where there is sufficient space to accommodate it, for there is not sufficient heat to damage surrounding plants.

VEGETABLE CROPS. AVERAGE TIME OF MATURING. It is useful to have some idea of how long any given crop will take to come to maturity from the time of sowing the seed. It should be understood that the following table is only approximate, results depending upon many influences, such as the age of the seed, state of the soil, and climatic conditions.

The variety of vegetable, also, has a big bearing on the time of

maturing, early varieties of peas, for instance, coming to perfection in two or three weeks more rapidly than main crop kinds. Here is the list:— Broad Beans. —13 to 14 weeks. French Beans.—ll to 12 weeks. Runner Beans.—l2 weeks. Turnip Beet. —12 to 14 weeks. Long Beet.—lß to 20 weeks. Brussels Sprouts.—6 to 8 months. Cabbages.—ls to 18 weeks. Carrots.—lß to 24 weeks. Cauliflowers. —15 to 18 weeks. Celery.—s to 6 months. Cucumbers (outdoors). —15 to 18 weeks.

Leeks.—6 to 8 months. Lettuces. —10 weeks. Onions. —16 to 18 weeks. Parsley.—l2 weeks. Parsnips.—lß to 20 weeks. Peas.—l 4 to 15 weeks. Radishes.—s to 6 weeks. Spinach.—lo to 14 weeks. Tomatoes.—l 6 to 18 weeks. Turnips.—B to 9 weeks. Vegetable Marrow. —15 to 18 weeks.