IN THE GARDEN

Wairarapa Daily Times, 11 February 1938, Page 6

IN THE GARDEN

Hints For the Amateur Vegetables and Flowers WORK FOR THE WEEK FLOWER GARDEN. Sow hardy perennials and biennials. Many bedding plants can be propagated by cuttings. These include Violas, Calceolarias, Marguerite, Iresine. Sow Double and Single Portulacca in hot, dry positions. Lift Daffodil bulbs for cleaning and replanting. Colchiums, Amaryllis and autumn-flowering Crocus can be planted. Prepare ground for planting Anemone and Ranunculi. Spray with arsenate of lead Dahlias and Chrysanthemums to control grubs. Sow Delphinium seed; this will do outside, providing protection is given from slugs, etc. Plant Lachenalias, Freesias and other early flowering bulbs. Geranium cuttings planted now will flower in early spring. Sow Iceland Poppies. These do not need heat, but seed is so small that it is necessary to give some protection from heavy rain, etc. Chrysanthemums will need disbudding, tying and spraying. VEGETABLE GARDEN. Make a sowing of Carrots and Beet for winter use. Swedes, Turnips and Spinach should be sown for winter supplies. Make a planting of Leeks. Those planted earlier will need moulding up. They also benefit from applications of liquid manure. Spent crops should be cleared away and the plot sown down with a soiling crop for digging under during winter. Make a sowing of Cabbage and Cauliflower for spring use. Plantings of Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts and Savoys can be made. Keep Vegetable Marrows closely cut to ensure continuous croping. Stop the long growths of Pumpkins, etc. This will encourage lateral fruiting growths. Spray Cucumbers, etc., with colloidal or wettable sulphur if mildew appears. Lift and store Onions, Shallots and Potato Onions. Diy well, but do not allow the bulbs to lie in the sun too long. Lift Potatoes as soon as the tops have died down. FRUIT GARDEN. Cut out old fruited canes of Logan and Raspberries. Shorten the lateral and inside growths of Gooseberries. Pruning of Peach, Plum and other stone fruits can be done when the crop is gathered. Spray with arsenate of lead if bronze beetle is active. A light pruning can be given Appl.es and Pears, but do not shorten leading shoots. A spraying with arsenate of lead and lime sulphur can be given to control fungoid diseases, and also late broods of codlin moth.

AUTUMN-FRUITING RASPBERRIES

It is important to remember that the true autumn-fruiting raspberry is a very distinct group from the summerfruiting types. In the first place, the true autumn fruiter usually has large flat leaves and makes a quantity of cane. It can. be said that they are genetically distinct from summer fruiting kinds. There are other varieties like Lloyd George, for instance, which are (grown both as summer and autumn fruiters, and this variety can be very prolific and profitable. It is a type that will grow well on poor, sandy soil, the fruit being large, conical, and rather dark red. This specie was found growing wild in a wood in England.* The main difference in the cultivation of autumn-fruiting raspberries is due to the fact that they bear fruit on the young canes produced the same season, and in consequence it is necessary to prune a row almost to the ground early in the spring of each year. Some gardeners form new rows of autumn fruiting raspberries every season or in alternate years. The result is. the canes grow well and never become over crowded, a fault to which autumn fruiting raspberries are liable. The autumn fruiting raspberry succeeds well in a deep, moist, fibrous loam. It can be grown on a soil of a light, sandy texture providing plenty of oi’ganie material is available. It does not grow well on a heavy, poorly drained soil. Canes should be planted in rows five or six feet apart, the young canes being put out one foot or eighteen inches apart in rows. During the summer the rows should be kept cultivated in handlioeing, and a certain amount of mulching is necessary so as to get a good length of cane produced. Mention must also be made of the yellow {autumn fruiters, and particularly Lord Lambourne, which bears fruit of a rich apricot colour and of delicious flavour. The canes are strong and vigorous and crop heavily. October Yellow is another which bears large, bright yellow flowers. It seems a pity that these are not generally better known as they produce baskets of delicious fruit in late autumn when there is so little other soft fruit about. SEDUM SIEBOLDII.

This is a very graceful plant and a favourite among the old floAvers, its slender stems, from ten to tAvelve inches long, bearing clusters of rosy pink blossoms. It forms a neat cushion of green foliage, its slender stems having a decidedly prostrate habit. The small oval shaped leaves are arranged in whorls and are singularly beautiful with their A’ivid steel blue tint. It is a splendid plant for a dry elevated position, for it Avill .stand drought and heat AAritli impunity. It Avill groAV almost anyAvhere, but prefers open, sandy soil on arid declivities with a sunny aspect. Sedum sieboldii may be planted on flat portions of the rock garden or to fall over the face of a rock. It may be groAvn as a Avail plant, in Avhieh position it is Avonderfully effeetiA’e, as the most riotous groAvth is to be seen on walls constructed Avith the object of groAA’ing plants. This should be planted in a free Avay, as clumps look infinitely better than examples dotted here and there. The plant Avill flourish in a modicum of soil, and this needs only to be of the poorest nature. It groAvs with great success in ornamental pots, miniature rock gardens, hanging baskets and shalloAV AvindoAV boxes. Not the least of its charms is, that during the late autumn, the foliage turns a viA’id

scarlet hue, the plant then going to rest for a while. There is a variety, too, that lias variegated foliage which makes an ideal pot plant, and one that does not require -continual waterings. . THE ANDROSACES. The androsaces are among the most beautiful plants used in the Alpine garden, not particularly for their flowers, which however, are always •dainty and desirable, but for their beautiful rosettes of silvery foliage. This family of plants are among those which flourish particularly well on walls as they seem to like the sharp drainage there afforded them, and during the winter months the excessive moisture does not do so much damage to the beautiful foliage as when growing in a flat position. But this flat site should be raised two feet or more from the ground level. There are several varieties of them, all differing in habit, but all with lioary foliage, and some of them flower over a long season. The androsaces also make excellent pot plants, ornamented with broken pieces of rock at the base. They are usually readily propagated by the little Tunners which continue to branch off from the parent plant. ANTHEMIS TINCTORIA. Almost all gardeners love dairy-like flowers. There are not many of the Chmamile family that are considered of much value as decorative subjects, but it is interesting to note that there are several exceptions, mostly hybrids of anthemis tinctoria. The original specie is a native of Britain,, and hybridists have been successful in obtaining •one or two really beautiful flowers from this humble native. The flowers of the original tinctoria are a lovely shade of sulphur yellow. The plant, of course, is hardy and perennial, but it is more satisfactory to break up the plants annually, as they become so crowded that the stems beconie weakly, and consequently the flowers deteriorate. Nice little plants with roots attached are thus obtained, which immediately start into growth and soon make nice plants, spring is the best time to do this, just as growth is starting. Well grown plants .will produce a quantity of handsome Marguerite flowers over a lengthy period. The long stems which are clothed with fern-like foliage, make them particularly useful for cut flower purposes. The plants grow from eighteen to twenty-four inches in height, and they are better to get a little support, as heavy rains are liable to break them down and destroy their beauty and usefulness. Do not plant in too rich a soil, which tends to promote gross growth at the expense of floriferousness. Make the foot fully firm. TROUBLES OF CARNATIONS.

Wire-worms, tlie yellow, hard eased larvae of various species of Click beetles, may do an immense amount of damage to border carnations. Their method of operation is to enter the stem just above the roots. They feed upon the tissues, but probably most plants would survive this if it were not for the fact that wire-worms, by virtue of their feeding position, intercept the flow of sap and cause rapid collapse. In most cases an attacked plant is doomed. Valuable specimens may sometimes be saved by lifting and teasing out the wire-worms, replanting and well watering for a time. Fortunately, it is possible to prevent further damage if as soon as an attack is noticed the soil is dressed with a mixture of equal parts of napthalene and freshly slaked lime.

The mixture should be raked or forked, in three or four inches deep, taking care to avoid contact with the growth. Providing this precaution is observed, there is not the least check to the plants, while the wire-worms are all gassed within a few hours. Three kinds of rust attack carnations. The symptoms in each case are similar. Yellow blotches appear on the leaves and these are followed by an outburst of spores varying in colour from rusty red to almost black according to the species. Plants groAving in damp soils are more liable to attack, vvlii 1 e prolonged rainy spells render groAA'tli specially susceptible. The treatment is to spray, as soon as the attack is noted, Avith a solution prepared by dissolving one ounce of lfver-of-sulphur or sulphide of potassium in three gallons of Avater. This chemical is vile stuff to handle and it stains good clothes. A hint to don old ones. Four ounces of permanganate of potash crystals Avorked into each square yard of carnation bed hoav is a useful rust preventive. ARBUTUS UNEDO. Whether at the seaside or in the inland garden Arbutus Unedo is one of the shrubs which Avill thrive, and beautify any position. In late spring, it floAvers in profusion, the dainty, pendulous, heath like floAvers making a most attractive sight. It should be planted much more extensively than it is, both on account of its beauty and general hardiness. Once established, it groAA r s aAvay very freely, and in a congenial situation gives a brilliant effect Avith its clusters of scarlet fruits — someAvliat resembling a ripe straAvberry —set off against the dark green of the shiny leaves. It seldom fails to set its fruits freely. In some soils they will gi'OAV as high as tAventy feet, seeming to like particularly that of a sandy nature, hence their adaptability for seaside gardens, Avhere there is practically no humus. Also they are among the shrubs Avhieh AA’ill stand cutting' hard back, breaking out vigorously the next season Avith fine strong groAA-th. ARBUTUS UNEDO VAR RUBRA. This variety of the straAvberry tree is a beautiful little shrub. In the floAvering season they are coA’ered Avith their deep pink floAvers. It does "not seem nearly so robust as arbutus unedo, and is decidedly of a much dwarfer habit. This shrub AA’ill be greatly in demand Avlien available from local nurserymen.