GARDEN NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume 98, Issue 16174, 27 December 1924, Page 18 (Supplement)

GARDEN NOTES.

SEASONABLE WORK. (By "Nikau.") Vegetables and Fruit.—Thin out seedling crops of carrot, parsnip, turnip, beetroot. Plant kumaras. cabbage, broccoli, lettuce, silver beet, red beet, leeks, tomatoes. Stake tomatoes, spray them with Bordeaux Mixture, and remove all side growths. Spray apple trees with arsenate of lead to kill codlin moth, and put some of this spray on the tomato plants, as the caterpillar will soon be starting its work on the young fruit.

Flowers.—Finish bedding plans while the soil is still moist. Stake tall plants such as gladiolus, chrysanthemum, delphinium. Remove pods and seed heads from peas, coreopsis, roses, violas, pansies.

SPECIAL NOTES. Transplanting Vegetables.—To the uninitiated, it is surprising to find how many kinds of vegetables may be safely transplanted. Naturally, in the earliest stages, every kind of vegetable may be transplanted, as it is then little more than a seed or a developing embryo 1 . As we all know, some vegetables transplant as readily as any kind of bedding plant, while others resent being moved. Amongst the good kind arc: Celery, cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi, silver beet, red beet, onion, leek, swede turnip, lettuce, tomato, kumera. Most of these are commonly transplanted, but some of our readers may be surprised to notice silver beet and swede turnip in the list; under favourable conditions, however, these two plants can usually be relied on to transplant well. Other plants may sometimes be moved for special reasons, For example, to fill out a row of carrots or parsnips, but unless care is taken to make a deep hole the vegetables will be bent or forked. Pumpkins, marrows and cucumbers all transplant well in the early stages especially when grown in pots, otherwise they should be sown where they are to grow. At this time of the year shading is a great help to plants that have been moved. An easy way with small plants is to run two boards along the row to form a roof over it. Care must then be taken, however, to put in little pegs to prevent the boards collapsing on the plants. Tins, boxes, branches of evergreens,- scrim, and various other materials may all be used to shade plants for the first few days after removal. Kohi Rabl. —The name of this vegetable is probably much better known than the vegetable itself. The kohl rabi is an old kind of hybrid, being half turnip and half cabbage. It has, for the first few weeks, leaves and stem like those of ordinary young cabbage or cauliflower, but soon the stem swells'out and becomes like a turnip, or, to vary the comparison, like the swelling on the leg of a table. When these knobs are <about 2J inches in diameter they should be cooked like turnips; their flavour will then be like that of mild swede turnips. Kohl rabi is much grown on the Continent and in America, but very little in .British countries. It is, however, worth a place in most gardens. Woolly Aphis.—This pest is now becoming very noticeable on some trees, and is appearing even on trees such as Delicious, which arc often called "blight-proof." Examination of the latter kind of tree, reveals the fact that the pest usually secures a hold on injured parts of the tree, where it has perhaps been chafing against a fence or a stake. - While the colonies are small, they should be painted over with methylated spirits, kerosene, etc. If the tree is badly infected it should be sprayed with an insecticide such as Black Leaf 40, both in winter and in summer.

Plants for a Shady Corner or Border. —The following short list might be greatly enlarged, but even as it is it may prove helpful to readers who have a deeply-shaded border where very few flowers seem to thrive: —Anemone japonica (Japanese windflowers, 3 to 4 feet high, pink or white flowers); Aquilegia or columbine (especially the long-spurred hybrids) ; Astilbe (or Spiraea,- several species, often called meadow sweet or goat's beard), Campanula (bluebell, of various species such as C. latifolia 4ft, C. persicifolia 2ft, etc.) ; Doronicum (a yellow daisy which flowers in early spring, like a yellow but inferior gerhera, with soft, bright-green, leaves) ; Funkia (various kinds, all grown for their succulent spotted leaves); Hclleborus nigcr (the Christmas or Winter Rose) ; Iris (of several species, including sihirica); lily of the valley; pacony roses; Oriental poppy; perennial phloxes; rudbeckia (a fine autumnflowering daisy) ; Thalictrum (bolh aquilcgifolium and dipterocarpum) ; Tradcscantia; Trollius (the globe flower); foxglove; auricula; Solomon's seal (does splendidly in shade); evening primrose; ordinary spring primroses; wood hyacinth. Portulaca. —This requires not shade but warmth and light; indeed, it is sometimes called.the Sun Plant. Portulaca is a kind of dwarf ice-plant, rarely growing more than Sin high. It is an annual, described as halfhardy, hut when there is no frost, it is perfectly hardy. The seed, which is almost the smallest that the ordinary gardener has to deal with, should be scattered over a piece of sandy soil and then watered in, so that it may find its way between the particles of soil. The flowers are white, yellow, purple, blue, etc., and there arft double kinds besides the single. Portulaca should be grown much more extensively than it is.

Pyrethrum.—There are few more beautiful flowers than the better classes of Pyrethrum roseum. The original species has been wonderfully improved, so that large double flowers in many colours may be obtained. The writer has repeatedly grown them from seed, but has found that only the best strain should be chosen, as the ordinary strains yield chiefly single flowers, and of a drab colour. When a good strain has been established, the old plants may be divided and thus increased. The pyrcthrums have long flower-stems, making them pre-emin-ently suitable for' cutting, while the fern-like foliage is in itself a decoration. The common, yellow-leaved pyrethrum' known as Golden Feather has poor Powers and a disagreeable smell, but its foliage makes il an excellent plant for edgings. For the best effects, the flowers should be removed every now and then, if not constantly.

Clematis. —In a few local gardens there are some beautiful specimens of G. jackmannii, both of the original type and of the newer varieties. The long thin shoots that arc now covered with bloom should be cut back at the end of winter to within six inches of the older wood. Then in spring new shoots will come away in their turn, to be covered in early summer with beautiful blooms. There are other groups or clematis which, however unlike one another they arc in appearance, nevertheless agree in needing no pruning, but only a slight trimming or thinning of shoots. Tho jaokmanii section, as we said before, needs real-

ly severe pruning every -winter or early spring. Rambler op Wlchuraiana Roses. —For the last fortnight the rambler roses have been at their best—and their best is very good. Amongst the many showy lrinds the following may be mentioned: —American Pillar (large single pink with yellow stamens and light coloured eye); Iliawatha (small dark red, single, with lighter eye); Crimson Rambler (the old favourite double crimson); Dorothy Perkins (double pink) ; White Dorothy (white sport, double, of the pink Dorothy, and often seen tending to revert to the original type) ; Veilchenblau (an approach to the blue rose) ;, Source d'Or (large cream, but deep-yellow in the bud); Excelsa (a fine double scarlet). As the ramblers are now these should be cut out, and others carefully tied in place to provide next year's show of bloom. All the dense growth that has flowered this season should be thinned out now, otherwise everything will be too crowded.