IN THE GARDEN

Wairarapa Daily Times, 25 June 1936, Page 2

IN THE GARDEN

THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. Vacant ground should he turned over to prevent weeds growing. Sow down any vacant plots in oats, rape or mustard for a soiling crop. Plant shallots, garlic and potato opions. Hand weed autumn-sown onions. Prepare the ground for next season’s crop of onions. Also trench a plot for root crops. Pull any yellow or insect-damaged leaves off Brussels sprouts, etc., and bury them. Pork over the ground between crops, burying weeds. A sowing of peas can be made. Any rows that are up must have sticks put to keep the haulm off the soil. Collect and bring under cover all pumpkins, etc. If leaf spot appears on silver beet or perpetual spinach, spray with lime-sul-phur, 1-120. Potatoes for early planting should be boxed in shallow trays under cover. All garden rubbish and clippings should be raked together and burned. THE FRUIT GARDEN. Cultivate between strawberry plants. Do not use hoe close to the crowns. Pruning fruit trees of all kinds can be done. Plant currants, gooseberries, raspberries and loganberries. Do not forget the importance of collecting and burying or burning all fallen leaves, dead twigs, prunings, etc., in the orchard. Planting can be done. Prepare the ground thoroughly. CHRYSANTHEMUM CUTTINGS. The earlier you can take your chrysanthemum cuttings, the longer will be the season of growth for the resulting plants. That in turn will mean the finest possible blooms next season. Your early varieties of chrysanthemums will have finished flowering some time ago, and you can straightway assist them to give you first-class cuttings. As you know, you want 2in. to 2£in. long young shoots thrown up as sucker growths from the roots of the old stools. The shoots springing from the base of the old stems are not good cuttings. As long as the old tops remain they are a drain on the roots, and the stools do not produce the sucker growths you want. Cut away the tops at once, leaving just 3in. to 4in. stumps of the old stems. Young growths from the base, which are several inches long, should be cut back, but short growths on the stumps can be left. They will help to keep the stools healthy, and in that way assist in the production of strong sucker growths. If plants are grown in pots, no more water should be given than the plants obviously need to keep them going. If there is room in the greenhouse, the cut back pot plants can be stood close together there, or they can be placed in a cold frame. The best plan, and the one which will give you the finest cuttings possible, is to plant out the old stools in a bed of sandy soil made up in a frame. If you wish to adopt this method lift the plants from the beds. or shake them out of pots, and shake off as much soil from the roots as you can. Old potting soil will do splendidly for covering the roots. When covering, lightly scatter the soil over the stools : —just sufficient to cover the roots is all that is required. If bright weather occurs it may be necessary to water, but the soil should only be damp, not wet. In a few weeks you will have all the sucker growths you need, and you can start to take cuttings and root them. Before you decide to keep and to propagate from your plants, consider each on its merits. Some may not be worth retaining, those which are prone to mildew, for instance, and those which threw hard buds this year. You may also have one or two varieties which have been surpassed by a more recent introduction, and it will be worth your while to discard the old sorts. It will not be an expensive matter to add fresh blood to your collection.

SWEET WILLIAMS. It is no uncommon thing for what is apparently a perfectly healthy clump of Sweet Williams to be stricken suddenly down. The plants simply wilt and die. What is the cause? You can suspect those wretched pests, the leath-er-jackets. The fat, drab-coloured grubs have a special liking for Sweet Williams, and they gnaw through the stems just beneath the soil surface. If any of your clumps suddenly go off, then lift the plants and search in the soil around the roots and the ground from which the plants were lifted. You will probably find some of the grubs; deal with them effectually. Should the leather-jackets be numerous, plant the Sweet Williams somewhere else for the time being, making certain that you do not carry any of the pests to the new position. Treat the vacated soil with napthalene. This will kill the grubs, and next season you will be able to grow Sweet Williams on that soil again. A similar happening often occurs with anemones, but in this case it is best to apply the napthalene alongside the plant, but not actually touching the leaves, as the green plants cannot bo lifted out and replanted without retarding them. VEGETABLES WORTH TRYING. Although most amateurs are ready and willing to try out any floral novelty which appears, it is an undoubted fact that the majority are astonishingly conservative on the subject of vegetables. The same old kinds which have been grown, and no doubt give satisfac-

Vegetables and Flowers

Hints For the Amateur

tion, year after year, are persevered with, to the exclusion of new and improved varieties, and that despite the fact that most liybridisers will spend more time and trouble on one vegetable novelty than on a dozen flowers. A careful study of the seed catalogues will show that vegetable novelties are actually few and far between. Lists may be long, but this is due to the fact that many newcomers and special stocks are listed as novelties for ten years or more after their introduction. If the average grower were persuaded -to make even a small trial sowing of one or two of these newer kinds, there is no doubt that he would soon be convinced of the folly of refusing to change what cannot be otherwise described than as old and superseded varieties. It is far from our purpose, to urge that old and familiar kinds must all be considered obsolete. Many names which have been on growers’ lips for thirty, forty and fifty years, are still to the fore, but the plain truth of the matter is that it is only by constant re-selection that these kinds have been kept up to date. Modern strains of, say, Ailsa Craig onion would bear little resemblance to the original stock.

PEAS IN THE FOREFRONT. Peas provide a strong case in favour of new varieties. Such grand croppers as Chancelot, Quite Content and the Y.C. are now fairly well known, but it is not so generally realised that breeders, working with these varieties as parents, have produced some which combine the outstanding virtues of several of them. Such a variety is Hurst’s Monster. This is a cross between Quite Content and Ne Plus Ultra, and is, perhaps, best described as a very much larger form of the- latter old favourite, ■ which preserves its true rich flavour, ! and turns in slightly earlier. An even newer variety is Hurst’s Monarch. This is a seedling from Hurst’s Monster and Thomas Laxton, and can be described as a -first early wrinkled pea, with a pod at least 50 per cent larger than than of Thomas Laxton. No further commendation "will be required for growers who are already familiar with that grand old variety, j In many gardens the very largest podding varieties are eschewed, because of the fact that the great majority are rather tall-growing. The needs of these j growers have also been catered for in ' such kinds as Phenomenon and Giant Stride. The former is simply a dwarfgrowing form of the V.C., and seldom exceeds three feet in height. Despite this, its pods are fully as large and just ; as well filled as the parent variety. Sim- ; ilarly, Giant Stride is nothing more than a dwarf form,of Quite Content. THE DELICATE DWARF BEAN.

One really outstanding variety in dwarf beans, which as yet is not so widely known as its merits deserve, is The Wonder. The cropping powers of this variety are literally wonderful, but they have not been introduced at the expense of coarsening the pods, which are as tender and stringless as the finest of the wax pods. It is, moreover, one of the earliest varieties to mature.

I A beet of real merit is Detroit Select Globe. As its name implies, it is one of the turnip-shaped varieties, and it is not without justification that the raisers claim it is the most evenly-coloured , variety in commerce, for it is a rarity to see so much as a single white ring in a large bed. As a natural consequence, the flesh is finely-textured and free ' from coarseness.

j Red Cored Early Market carrot is another newcomer of real merit. It is obvious that a variety with so small a core must prove more tender than largecored kinds, and the fact that the core is almost the same colour as the flesh | enhances the appearance of the roots when cooked. In every other respect it is well up to the highest standards. The ' crowns are small and the tap roots short, while the roots mature in a re : . markably short period of time. Lettuces are rather a problem, for ' their nomenclature is even more than usually involved. Quite a few of the varieties listed are actually the same kind, though under a different name. There have, however, been one or two first-class varieties introduced during recent years, including a good cos variety, known as Lobjoit’s Green Cos. , Experts are almost unanimous in claiming this as easily the finest green cos variety in existence. It is deep in colour, crisp and tender in flavour, and perfectly self-folding. Moreover, it is I almost equally good whether sown in frames in autumn or outdoors in spring. CABBAGES OF QUALITY.

Two good cabbage types which can be recommended with every confidence are Early French Frame and Loos Tenis Ball, but they are only recommended for early work in frames or under glass. Outdoors, Early French Frame in particular is practically useless, as it invariably bolts or runs to seed < before it can heart, so rapid is its growth. Under glass it has no superiors. Loos Tennis Ball is a not dissimilar variety, and rather larger and with a good heart. Of recent years there has been rather a spate of runner bean novelties, anfl that despite the fact that there are already numerous strains of unquestioned excellence. The variety Princeps, however, is undoubtedly an acquisition, for it has the virtue of turning in rather earlier than most varieties. It is at' least a fortnight- in advance of Scarlet Emperor, though in other respects it resembles that variety strongly. It is, however, a. trifle dwarfer in habit. Streamline is also a selection from Scarlet Emperor, and similar to it in every respect, except that it is claimed as a longer podded and heavier cropping variety. On first appearance in certainly promises well, and, when better known, will become popular.— ‘‘Lothian,’ ’ in “Amateur Gardening.’ >