Gardening Notes

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19846, 21 May 1927, Page 16 (Supplement)

Gardening Notes

(BY

ALKANET)

KITCHEN GARDEN

The sowing of seeds in the vegetable garden for next spring and summer should begin now. Onions should be sown for transplanting in early spring. If the soil is heavy it is advisable to raise the bed at least six or eight inches above the surrounding ground. Steep the seed, in damp sand until it sprouts. The bed should be prepared, left for 10 or 14 days and then raked over. This will kill one crop of weeds. Rake the soil over again before the seeds are put in. This will give the onions every chance to become well established before the weeds grow to any size. Lettuce should be sown now. Select as warm a position as possible and if the ■ soil is heavy put two or three inches of sand on top. The seed will come up almost immediately. The soil must bo well drained and well manured. Lettuce like frosh manure and respond readily to generous treatment. Turnips may be sown but only in warm land. Spinach may be sown. Use the winter variety only. Cabbage and cauliflower should be sown. The bed must be covered to keep the birds away. A warm sunny spot is the best but as long as the soil is bot too wet they will grow well almost anywhere. Cabbage plants should be planted out if available. They must be planted in well prepared land into which a liberal allowance of fertiliser has been dug. Cauliflower may be planted out but only in good land. They will not be a success this early unless the soil has been well fed. Both cabbage and cauliflower should have the soil dug as deep ly to help provide drainage which is the main factor when growing winter greens. On very sandy or peaty soil peas may be sown. Sow rather thickly in rows, they do not germinate very freely in the cold weather. Broad beans may be sown. Plant every bean separately, they generally come up very freely. Beans already up should be pinched back to make them send out as many branches as possible. All empty spaces in the garden should be dug and sown in green crop for manuring. Oats is the most suitable just now. it is too cold for lupin or mustard. Any green crops already ’ up should be turned in now to rot. They will not grow any more. Oats should be forked well in or the birds will get the most of them. This is the time to prepare bods for planting asparagus. As manure for this purpose is very often difficult to get all the green stuff that accumulates in the garden and the spent tops of flowers and vegetables should be used to fill the bottom of the bed. The winter rhubarb should now bo growing well. If it is not responding to the moisture some manure will help it. along. Give it a good dressing and then dig the soil around the plant directly afterwards. When pulling the. rhubarb do not take all the stalks at once or the plant will become crippled. Winter rhubarb should not be pulled in summer but kept solely for winter use. At the end of the winter the plants should be taken up, cut into single crowns, replanted in a piece of fresh ground an I left until next winter. All surplus plants should be destroyed. Do not plant them too close just to get them all in or they will not grow as they should. Allow two feet, between the rows and I’2 to 15 inches between each plant. Rhubarb is a heavy feeder and needs plenty o-f nourishment. It does not like too dry a place but on the other hand it does not like, its toes in water. Sea kale may be planted now. Artichokes should be dug and seeds selected for next spring. All useable sizes may be left in the ground with three or four inches of soil thrown over them. They will keep until next spring and then start sprouting again. Blocks of summer rhubarb may be lifted and taken into the vinery to be forced. This will give early and very tender shoots. Horse radish may be lifted and roots selected for next year’s planting. Strawberry beds should now be planted up and old beds renovated for the winter. Any very old beds that do not crop well should bo destroyed. The clipping of hedge and shelter trees should be attended to without delay. The time for planting hedges is with us again. If planting cuppressus macrocarpa do not forget to cut at least two-thirds of the tops off. Macrocarpa is not one of the best for transplanting and must be handled very carefully. Fruit trees and bushes may now be transplanted. New orchards should be made ready for planting. Where shelter belts are to be planted the land should be turned over. This helps the trees wonderfully. The land between fruit trees should he dug. All windfall apples should be gathered and cither destroyed or given to the fowls or pigs. They should not be allowed to litter the ground, they only harbour the moth.

FLOWER GARDEN

In the flower garden the busy season is here again. Carnations should be planted and any old plants that are to be dug up and sunk deeper in the soil. Carnations are at their best for exhibition purposes the first year, but for cutting they are at their best the second year. Carnations like lime and must be well drained, hence sandy land, providing it is not too raw, is ideal for them. They must not be planted near shrubs and must not he overshadowed by large trees. Select as sunny a position for them as possible. Most varieties will grow from cuttings. They may be struck outside any time from the end of March to the end of June. Sandy soil is best to root them. The varieties that will not grow from cuttings may be layered. They layer best just after they have finished flowering, but it is not really too late until the end of May. Late layers as a rule do not flower much the first year. Carnations do not take kindly to fresh manure. Well rotted sfuff is best. If artificial manure is used bonedust is the best. When planting carnations do not plant them 100 hard. A sharp lookout should be kept for slugs as they often spoil the plants when they are planted. Carnations should not be given liquid manure except when they are just coming into flower and they should not be watered except in very dry summer weather.

Roses may be planted from now on. May and June are the best months for planting these. Plant them very firmly and prune the trees before they are planted. Standard roses are becoming deservedly popular lately. These require more careful treatment than the dwarf ones, especially for the first year. The standard roses are slower to establish themselves than the dwarfs. Often, through the neglect of keeping the suckers down they do not get a chance. All growth that comes anywhere except from the one or two buds at the top of the stem should be rubbed i off as soon as they show. Standard roses should not be pruned ash cavily as the dwarf ones. As a rule the standard roses are not exhibition varieties. These do not flower freely enough for use as a standard. The Weeping Standards are usually Wichureana Ramblers budded on' J to a stem. They are very effective and may be planted either singly in the middle of a lawn or in beds. If treated properly and pruned right they are very showy when in flower and an acquisition to any garden. When they are not in flower the shoots droop down like an open umbrella. The planting of annuals such as antirrhinium, nemesia, pansies,' violas, Marguerite carnations, stocks, Canterbury bells, cinerarias, coreopsis and others should be continued as soon as space is available. Of all annuals stocks are perhaps the best known. They very often do not come up to expectation in the way of flowering. Really good stock seed is expensive. The cheap varieties are often disappointing. The double stock is by far the most popular and these never set seeds. The doubles are male blooms only. The single blooms are able to fertilise themselves, but all the seedling plants will be single. Good stock seeds are taken from plants grown in pots. If they are planted in the open six or eight singles may come in a row together or the same or more of doubles. This makes it difficult to regulate the. fertilisation. If grown in pots they may be placed as required. Every alternate one should be a single and the next to it a double. This way of growing stock seeds gives a good percentage of double flowers. Fifty to seventy per cent, is about the average and the colours are usually well mixed. This method, however, is expensive as the watering and potting takes time. Ten weeks or perfection stock should always be grown for seed in this way. Intermedia and Brompton stock seed also may be saved from outside-grown plants. The cabbage fly is rather hard on these locally if wo have a dry summer. 'l'he ten-week or the perfection stock escape this as they are over before the cabbage fly becomes troublesome. The latter is one of the best annuals for early planting. They must, however, be sown in April or early May. Inland they should bo sown even earlier as the fly docs not last as long as it docs nearer the coast. The seed may be sown outside. .Sandy land is best, If the soil is heavy prepare a small bed with some sand in it. If a continual rain is experienced the seedlings should be protected by a sheet of glass for the first two weeks. They do not like too much moisture. As soon as they are large enough to handle (usually 10 or 12 days after they are up) they should be pricked out. Allow two inches between each row and the same distance between each plant. Open ground is preferable but a box may do as well in some cases. The drainage must be perfect and the soil gritty. As soon as the, plants are a fair size they should be planted into their permanent quarters. If boxes have been used do not allow the plants to become stunted or hard or they will not give as good results as they should, i lt is best to plant them out a bit on 1 the small size than to leave them too long. Stocks should never be watered to excess. They do well in most soils, but it must be well prepared and deeply dug. If good seed is procured and the plants are treated well stocks are decidedly worth growing. Proof. Small Girl: “Please can you tell me the time?” Small Boy: “I can’t tell you exactly, but 1 know it is not four o’clock yet.” “Arc you sure?’’ “Quite. I have to bo home by four ’ o ’clock, and I’m not home yet. ’ ’