HOME GARDEN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 117, 21 May 1942, Page 6

HOME GARDEN

(By “Carnatio.”) THE FLOWER GARDEN. Delphiniums, Ten Week Stocks. Nemesias, Antirrhinums can be planted when the soil is dry enough. Bulbs are showing through tne ground and should be nand weeded. Between the rows can be lightly dug and the weeds buried with a garden fork. Cut hedges and clean up generally. Cut out old wood of vigorous rambling roses and tie in the young wood Climbing varieties of Teas, Hybrid Teas and Hybrid Perpetuais will only need dead wood and weak shoots cut away. This is a good time for top-dressing manuring and digging rose beds. Hand weed anemones and ranunculi, During this and next month overhaul. clean and sharpen tools. Make labels and reoair boxes foi seed sowing. Prepare new rose beds by trenching. Add plenty of manure. Keep sweet peas closely trained tc their supports. Use stiff, twiggy shoots of manuka to keep them off the ground. THE FRUIT GARDEN. Plant gooseberries and currant.' a? soon as possible. Fruit trees of all kinds except citrus fruits should be planted as soon as the soil is dry enough Pruning should be commenced a soon as possible and once the prunin' is over spraying should be done. Use red oil for apples and pears ant for any trees with scale or woolly aphis. Use lime sulphur or Bordeaux for peaches and plums and for any fungoid diseases. Gather up all dead leaves and faller fruit and bury deeply or destroy by tire. CLEANING AND TRIMMING \ IN ERIES. In the case of unheated vineries the vines will be sufficiently ripened foi pruning during the next two months The work will become the question o the hour, as they ripen off and gc thoroughly to rest. A vine is ready for pruning when the laterals lost their green colour and assume a dul yellow or brownish-yellow hue. Pruning should never be dene before all the leaves are down. Where th< leaves are slow in falling it is a gooc plan to light the fire and keep it going slowly for a fortnight. At the sam< time, the top ventilators should b< kept open, and the leaves will soot come down in showers. Use a shary knife for pruning to avoid splitting the bark at the end of the spurs. It is advisable to leave two buds, tc give two chances of a strong shoot ir spring. The old bark should not be cut off with a knife, but the rod shouk be firmly grasped and the hand rubber round. This will loosen the old bark which can then be pulled off with thr thumb and linger. Old rods will have more bark to remove than youns ones. This done, the rods should h* well rubbed with a strong solutior of Gishurst Compound or soft soap. CUT BACK YOUR DAHLIAS. Dahlias are largely grown ir many gardens, and the tops of thes< plants should now he cut down t< within nine inches of the ground. J dry day ought, if possible, to be chosen for lifting the roots, and a small stick used for removing the greater part o the IJoil from between tz* tubers. The roots must then be spread nu to dry in an airy frost-proof shed after yvhich the stems may be agair shortened. The tubers may be storei in a frost-proof shed or cellar where air can freely circulate; or abou I Auckland, where frosts are not severe, they can be stored under pint or macrocarpa trees. It is always advisable frequently to examine roots <•' this and other plants which are stored away during the winter months ii order to make sure that they ar* keeping in good condition and not ’ommencing to decay. PROPAGATING BUSH FRI ITS. Cuttings of gooseberries and currants may be taken and inserted ir the ground this month. The sooner

, I the work is done the greater is the j certainty of success. Choose for the | position a fair piece of soil. It need I not be the best in the garden,, but it j does no harm to be as good as posI sible. I Make the cuttings from nine to 12 i inches long and remove the lower buds I with the point of a knife, leaving three lor four at the top. To plant, make a straight deep niche with the spade, place the cuttings in. and press the soil s -i firmly about the base of each cutting. e l Red and white currants are also propagated in the same way, but black e currants should not have the lower ‘ I buds removed. nl AUTUMN DIGGING. Autumn digging is not popular with I-! many amateurs; it is to be feared d| that they are inclined to be retrospec.v ; five at this season, and to leave the R digging till the ground is required for I sowing or planting. The necessity oi getting all vacant ground dug at the earliest opportunity after the crops ’• 1 are off is very essential. r "i Trenching is much better done in I the autumn than left till the “turn of )r the year." Any accumulations of I garden refuse may be conveniently T, disposed of. It is surprising how much rubbish can be got rid of in this way. 0 There is no particular need to leave - v a level surface, as the rougher the le ground is left the more good will be accomplished by the action of the weather. The levelling can be done just before the ground is required for sowing or planting. d

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