GARDEN NOTES.

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1427, 15 November 1923, Page 2

GARDEN NOTES.

STIMULATE GROWTH. During the last few clays the temperature of the land has arisen, and Sioon will he at early summer heat. Surface moisture will evaporate very quickly and it will be necessary to use water in the kitchen garden, otherwise the vegetables which are well advanced may receive a setback. All kinds of vegetables contain large percentages of water, and when the soil is permitted to go comparatively dry on top, the shallow feeding roots are unable to send up the required supplies of moisture. If the soil is appropriately fertile and kept moist, without becoming unduly wet and soggy, vegetables will gr,ow much better in the next four or five weeks than at any other time of the year. These remarks apply also to the seedlings of flowering plants which were inserted early in the month, and have made good progress. Warm weather which may set in at any time will have an enervating effect unless the gardener makes arrangements to keep the root systems supplied with abundance ,of sustenance.

Under the influence of the sun, the surface will become hard and open in small fissures through which a deal of valuable plant food cannot fail to escape. This may be prevented by keeping the soil in fine tilth by the free use of the Dutch hoe and rake. As soon as watering becomes necessary in the vegetable and flower sections of the mixed garden, distributions should be made, so that the moisture will soak well down. Effe'cfi of Ifolctfnife Amateur cultivators are informed that the art of watering the garden depends entirely upon the thoroughness in which the work is done. In many instances an effort is made to go over all the plots with the hose and do little more than lay the dust and generally does more harm than good for the reason that it causes the surface feeding roots to come much nearer to the top than they otherwise w,ould. To be effective the ground must be saturated through the subsoil, or as far down as the roots go. Anything less than that will have the tendency to produce the undesirable results referred to and the fine, fibrous roots which run in the top layers are liable to perish under the extreme surface heat which is generated in half moistened soil.

Always it is advisable to water the garden in sections so that the soil can be moistened adequately to the required depth. If that is done there will be n,o necessity to apply more water for a week or 10 days, unless the weather should become unseasonably hot and dry. By the adoption of the section system the watering will be done in a thorough manner and the plants will be benefited. When the surface ,of the flower beds and borders, or the kitchen garden plots, become dry enough to be worked after they have been watered without any fear of the soil sticking to the implements, the ground between the rows should be stirred about an inch deep with the hoe and then worked into a fine tilth with the rake. If that is done there will be no danger of a crust forming on the surface and opening in cracks through which the moisture that the wots need, can escape.