GARDEN NOTES

Waikato Times, Volume 92, Issue 14266, 17 January 1920, Page 2

GARDEN NOTES

(By "Nlkau.”)

“full many a flower is born to blush unseen, and waste its fragrance on the desert air.” —Gray. Seasonable Work. Vegetables and Fruit; Keep the hoe going to conserve moisture and to give air to the roots. Clear away all old crops, and utilise the ground for cabbage. etc. (lather pods of beans and peas as soon as they are ready, in order to keep up the supply. Shorten the long shoots of pumpkins, cucumbers and marrows to induce the formation of fruiting side-shoots. Shallots may lie harvested soon, and early onions should have their necks bent over. Sow seeds of peas, salad vegetables and turnips for succession, first watering the trench or drill. Stake tomatoes, pinch out side-shoots, and train on the one-stem system, or allow two stems at most. Plant various members of the cabbage family, filling the holes with water beforehand. Herbs should bo cut when in blossom, dried carefully and kept in muslin bags for winter use. Spray with arsenate of lead for codlin moth, with hellebore for leeches, with lime sulphur for ‘‘brown rot” on all stone-fruit, with Black Leaf 40 for all kinds of insects, especially woolly blight and black aphis.' Budding maybe started, especially with cherries and other stone-fruit. Flowers: Sow seeds of biennials and perennials as advised last week. Shade for a while until the seeds come up to avoid watering, which results in a caked surface. Put in cuttings of softwooded plants and many hard-wooded ones such as roses, though the best time for the latter class is March or Apeil. Cut back ramblers, leaving the young leaders; all wood throe or more years old should be cut out from the ba a e. Mulch azaleas, rhododendrons, and roses. Layer carnations, dianthus and ’ll similar plants. Stake cosmos, dahlias and other plants that are easily damaged by wind. Keep decayed flowers off all plants unless seed is being saved. Save seeds from good specimens of freesia, Sweet William, Argentine nea, parrot’s beak (clianthus), ealFopsis, coreopsis, guillardia, etc.

SPECIAL NOTES Onion Mildew,

This disease is liable to occur wherever onions are grown, and it seems to he much more common than it was a few years ago. Its presence is shown hv small yellow patches on the leaves. These patches then become whitish, and Anally of a greyish tinge, and look like velvet. The disease spreads rapidly to the whole leaf, causing it to dry up and fall back. The bulb is not attacked, but it can never grow to any size when once the leaves are infected. In the early stages of the disease, its spread may be checked to a great extent by spraying with lime-sulphur, or by using the old method of dusting with lime and sulphur. Needless to say, infected plants should never be allowed to lie about the garden, and a crop of onions should not bo grown again on the same ground for several years. This is hard for the ordinary gardener, who is in the habit of growing onions in the same plot year after year for the reason that the soil is improved. Onions- are almost ip'rfip in this respect, because other plants '’■'enefit by a change of soil, and th'-c should he a rotation of crops. One authority advises Bordeaux mixture. and another advises kerosene emuls’on with the addition of sulphide of potassium. Unless the remedies are apnlied early, before the mildew has got a hold, they will he quite useless. When a crop is badly infected it seems that the best plan is to bend the necks over and thus utilise the remaining strength of the plant in swelling but the bulb. Woolly Aphis (American Blight). The following note is an extract from Bulletin 77, issued by the Department of Agriculture. Readers are again reminded that this and many other publications may be obtained ‘for the asking’ from the Department, which is always ready to help gardeners, private and professional alike;—“This is an insect pest too well-known to need much description. It attacks many varieties of apples, and is most destructive. Its appearance is easily noticeable —a white woolly substance forming on the parts of the tree attacked. Infestation generally commences on the young wood or at the base of a leafstalk, the insect penetrating the wood tissues and sucking the plant juices therefrom, causing the formation of warty grcw'lis on the parts affected. The insect increases rapidly and, being protected naturally by the woolly substance and also by the growths and crevices caused its attack, it is very necessary in combating this post by spraying that the compound used should be applied with considerable force in order that the insect may be well reached. Spraying is recommended as follows; During the dormant season, with red oil at a strength of 3 pints to 4 gallons of water; and during summer months, with Elackleaf 40, four-fifths of a lluid ounce (three teaspoonfuls) to 4 gallons of water, to which is added ?oz. of paste arsenate of lead.” Japanese Plums. The best of these is the well-known Burbank, and, mdeed, some nurserymen go so far as to say they will in future stock only this one variety of Japanese plum. This is rather too sweeping a judgment, as there arc some'kinds superior to Burbank in flavour, though not of so large a size and" perhaps not such good croppers. There Is no- more profitable tree in the garden, and where there is room for only one fruit-tree, that one should be a Burbank. The writer has seen some 'good specimens this week of Burbank and. Botan; the latter variety is more like a European plum in appearance, and the flesh also leaves the stone more easily than is the case with other Japanese plums. Satsuma is the ‘blood plum,’ with red skin and red flesh, worthless for eating as dessert, but very useful for jam. Advance is a very early variety lately raised in Auckland, and it may possibly equal Burbank. Transplanting. This week complaints have been made that bedding plants set out lately have failed entirely. If the plants are shaded and watered in warm weather they will root more readily than in cold. This may seem incredible, hut those who possess a greenhouse will know the truth of this statement. In hot weather root action is much greater than In cold; that is why plants arc dormant In winter. Cuttings also root most readily in heat, hut of course they must have sufficient moisture. For convenience in watering it is much hotter to set out late plants in a mass, rather than as isolated plants. In this way five or six dozen may be watered in loss than live minutes, and there is no possibility of overlooking one or two stragglers. Shading can easily be given by laying the lid of a large box on top of a number of pegs; this can be removed in a few seconds, so that there need he no tendency to leave it on too long or at the wrong time. The writer has repeatedly proved the value of this method and prefers it to the use of scrim, which suffers from winds. Children’s Gardena.

The dry weather may have spoilt many of these gardens, hut it is still possible to do a great deal to save them. Watering should he properly attended to every day. This does not inean that the whole plot must he

watered each day, but it .means that one part should he soaked to-day, another part to-morrow, and so on. One large can of water a day will save your plot if this plan is followed. II is wrong to sprinkle the garden, as that has hardly any effect on the plants. If each plant gets one good watering in the week, it will have quite enough moisture. Carrots and other vegetables must be thinned out or else limy will Just ho useless little things. Seedlings of asters and other llowers may ho transplanted in dull weather, hut, host of all, try to choose a time just before rain. Strawberry seed humid he thoroughly soaked and shaded for a week or two. Next week we. shall talk about growing date-trees, so lie sure to save any of the dale stones you get.