NEXT WEEK’S GUIDE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 226, 24 September 1938, Page 13

NEXT WEEK’S GUIDE

THE FLOWER GARDEN. Cuttings of Chrysanthemums and Dahlias can be planted. Prepare beds for Dahlias and Chrysanthemums. Old stools of Chrysanthemums can be lifted and the rooted suckers planted up. Old clumps of Dahlias left in the soil and sending up shoots should be lifted and divided. If no increase is required, remove all shoots but the strongest. Border Carnations should have soil stirred around plants. They should be cleared of rusty foliage and dusted with flowers of sulphur. Sowings of Asters may be made. Where wilt has been severe during previous years, it in advisable to sow the seed where the plants are to flower. Phlox Drummondii, Evening Scented Stock, Clarkias, Godetia, Sweet Sultans and Larkspurs can be sown now. Clumps of Delphiniums can be lifted and divided. Shoots when about six inches long can be taken off and rooted as cuttings. Clumps of Perennial Phlox, Michaelmas Daisies and Perennial Sunflower should be lifted and divided every two or three y If left too long they make large masses, the centre of which is worn out and useless. The foliage of early bulbs must not be cut away. Let it mature. If the clumps are not too large annuals can be sou r n or planted between the bulbs. Fill in vacant spaces in the beds of Stocks and Cinerarias. Tie in the shoots of Rambler Roses. Buds are now moving and there is a risk that they will be knocked out if growths are allowed to thresh. THE GREENHOUSE. Half-hardy annuals can be sown. When large enough to handle they should be pricked out into boxes. Cuttings of various bedding plants root quickly and easily now'. These include Begonias, Iresine, Alternanthera, Salvia, etc. Keep pots clean and soil free of moss or lichen growth. Ventilation and watering muflt have every care. Give sufficient water aid air to produce fresh, hardy plants, but prevent saffy growth.

THE VEGETABLE PLOT. Prepare ground for cropping when weather is favourable. Do not attempt to work heavy ground when it is wet. Rake over Asparagus beds and rake off rough material into alleys. The alleys between the beds should be forked over. A sowing of Turnip-rooted or Globe Beet should be made. A sowing of main crops Beet can be made. Broccoli can be sown. Be prepared to spray or dust thin crop against caterpillars and other insect pests, otherwise it is useless to sow. Brussels Sprouts can be sown. These require a long season of growth and must be sown early to give good results. A further sowing of Shorthorn Carrots can be made. A well-drained soil is required. Sowmgs of Cauliflowers can be made. It is advisable to transplant twice or three times before planting pelnanently. Celeriac should be sown. This is a much neglected vegetable, which can be used as a substitute for Celery. A pinch of Celery seed sown now will give early plants. Chicory is seldom grown, but makes a useful change during winter when vegetables are scarce. Sow seed now. THE ORCHARD. To Prevent leaf curl of Peaches or Nectarines spray with lime surphur 1 )* 0 ’ f*? 1 Spray for scab 011 A P* ,les and p ears should be given when buds begin to burst. Ur.e lime surphur, 1-10. This will help to control red spider. Grafts can be put on. Sap in the stock should be moving before the scions are put on. Seal ends of the scion and cut surfaces of the stock with tar or other steriliser. Piums are now in flower. Apply a spray immediately after the petals fall to control rust and bladder plum. Gooseberries should be sprayed with lime surphur, 1-120. Add a little arsenate of lead if the sawfly is in evidence.

RIPENING BULBS There are many gardens where spring bulbs are occupying beds that will soon be needed for the summer bedding. It is not always possible to allow these bulbs to remain until the foliage has ripened. The next best thing is to lift them after flowering and heel them in, in some shady place for the ripening off process. It saves a lot of trouble in finding the bulbs when ripened, if trays are made. Obtain a piece of small mesh netting (about three feet by one and a-half feet is a good size). Tack along each side to a strip of timber four inches wide by one inch thick. These form the sides of the tray. The bottom may be reinforced with fencing wire if desired. Sink this in the ground, place the bulbs upon the tray and cover with soil. When the bulbs have ripened the trays may be lifted with the bulbs intact and none are lost. dwarf trees The quaint dwarf trees as produced in China and Japan are a never-fail-ing source of interest and are really simple to grow. All that is needed is an orange and an infinite amount of patience. With these, there is no reason why you should not produce as good a gnarled dwarf tree as ever came out of Japan. A hole is cut in the top of the orange, through which the pulp is extracted, then the empty skin is filled with coconut fibre to which has been added a little soil and charcoal. In the centre of this mixture an acorn, seed, pip or kernel is placed. The orange skin, thus filled, is placed in a window or frame inside an old flower pot and moistened occasionally. In due course the acorn or whatever seed has been sown will germinate. the stem appearing through the hole in the top. while the roots will force their way through the orange peel. The roots should be cut off flush with the peel. The process will need to be continued for about two years, by which time you will have a dwarf ornamental tree four or five inches in height. When the roots are cut for the last time the orange peel can be varnished to make it permanent. LATE PLANTED ROSES

While it is always a good plan to delay the pruning of established roses as long as possible, it is .1 different matter with those planted at this season of the year. Their roots are not active in providing nourishment for the stems. If the branches are allowed to remain, drying winds may shrivel them, and they will in any case, sap the vitality of the plant before it is in a position to nourish itself. Therefore, prune, and prune hard at the time of planting from August onward. Bear in mind that a newly planted rose requires a considerable length of time to make sufficient contact with the soil, enabling it to draw adequate supplies of nourishment, and the less top growth the roots have to support at the outset, the finer will be the growth later on in the summer.

There is no advantage tn leaving long branches, except in the case of large flowered climbers, particularly those that originated as sports from bush roses. The polyanthus and Wichuriana ramblers, should, however, be cut down to within a few inches of the ground in order to induce production of a few long shoots.

This will mean that there will be no flowers on these ramblers during the coming summer, but the foundation of a good plant will be laid, and next year there should be a gorgeous dis-

"LOVE-IN-A-MIST" Nigella Miss Jekyll, the pretty cornflower blue love-in-a-mist is so well known that it needs no description; but there is another beautiful Nigella, N. hispanica, which gardeners rarely grow. It is just as easily raised from seeds sown where the plants are to bloom as Nigella Miss Jekyll, and sowings made from September to v.te October provide a succession of flowers. It does best in well dug soil in a sunny position. This kind has lacy foliage, not unlike that of Miss Jekyll, but the flowers are a deep indigo blue. The halo of finely cut foliage round the blooms is missing in this variety, which resembles a miniature clematis. The flower sprays are very decorative and last a long time when cut. It is a very old flower, but so little known as to appear a novelty in the garden. ERIGERON TRIFEDUS • The summit of a dry -/all, or high ledges in the rock garden where the soil is gritty and light, with free drainage, are places sometimes difficult to fill with colours. Plants do well there throughout the spring, but long days of sunshine play havoc with them. Erigeron trifedus is an attractive little alpine which makes itself at home in such situations and rapidly spreads into a compact mound —of green. The individual leaves are clover shaped, deeply lobed and covered with fine hairs. About the end of October a long succession of flowers appears on three-inch stalks, and for such a tiny plant they are quite large. The blooms resemble daisies, but have clear mauve or lavender petals with gold centres.

CHOICE PETUNIAS A plant which has received much, careful attention at the hands of hybridists is the petunia. From the old small-flowered, single types have been produced the dwarf-bedding forms so useful for modern gardens, fringed varieties, and quite recently the beautiful 'All Double" variety, which resembles a large carnation in the fulness of its flowers and colouring. Last season saw the arrival from America of the nearest approach yet to a yellow petunia. It is a medium-sized frilled flower, best described as a pale shade of primrose yellow. It. is appropriately named Dainty Lady. Improvements and developments are going on continually with countless kinds of plants, and there is romance in the hopes, disappointments and successes of those who seek to improve the wild flowers of the world.

PROTECTING PEAS The old-fashioned methods of protecting peas after they have been sown in the soil have had their day. A modern method is much simpler' and effective. When the seeds are sown in the drills they are lightly dusted

with peat or leafmould. This is then thoroughly wetted with a 'weak insecticide. By far the best for the purpose are those with a nicotine base. To make doubly sure the soil is again wetted with the insecticide over the top after covering the trench. Leatherjackets, slugs, lice and slaters, simply refuse to work in soil which has been treated this way. When the seedlings germinate, the watering may be repeated over the top with the same result. It is possible to have 100 per cent, crop if the insecticide is used long enough to let the plants get beyond the stage at which they are subject to attack.