GARDEN NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume 102, Issue 17008, 22 January 1927, Page 19 (Supplement)

GARDEN NOTES.

SEASONABLE WORK. (By “Nikau”) Vagetables and Fruit. —Hoc between rows of growing crops. Stake peas and climbing beans. Sow a succession of lettuce, peas, turnips, radish. Dig potatoes as soon as they mature. _ Mulch rhubarb, marrows, pumpkins and cucumbers. Pinch out side-shoots of tomato plants.. Spray tomatoes with either Bordeaux mixture or lime-sulphur. Spray apple trees with arsenate of lead as a check on codlin-moth grubs. Bud fruit' trees.

Flowers. State chrysanthemums, dahlias, etc. Give bedding plants one good soaking every week. Remove seed-heads from all plants that are to keep on flowering. Layer carnations. Bud roses. Propagate violas and pansies from cuttings of special plants. Save seed of best aquilegia (columbine), delphinium, antirrhinum, sweet william, scabious, etc.

NOTES.

Woolly Blight Conquered. —Last year we were all delighted with the progress made by the parasite, Aphelinus mali, which was imported by the Gawthron Institute to check the ravages of the woolly aphis. -The present writer wondered last year what would happen to the parasites—would they die because they had killed off all their victims? It seemed during autumn and .early spring as if they had been short-sighted enough to do so, but for the last two months there has been a slight increase of the woolly aphis. An inspection this morning showed that the parasite was again active, and that almost all the new aphides had been killed. The parasite is extremely small, otherwise it resembles the common sandfly. Readers who have noticed some woolly aphides on their trees should look carefully, and they will almost certainly find that the aphides are dead, each with a little hole in its back. One or two of the small parasites may also be found about each lot of ‘wool.’ When some kind of parasite has been found killing the codlin-moth or its grubs, life will again be pleasant for all apple-growers, whether amateur or professional. The Worst Weed. —Some authority, perhaps Dr. Tillyard of the Gawthron Institute, has suggested that in the coming years convolvulus will prove itself the world’s worst weed. Readers who have had experience of the weed will not be surprised at the suggestion, while those who have not had such experience need only go around the town to obtain plenty of evidence of the ravages of convolvulus; private gardens, empty sections, and even Ferry Bank will all show plenty of the weed.

When it appears in the vegetable garden, it can easily be controlled—we have simply to dig out all the white roots when we are cultivating the garden in spring, summer, autumn or winter. In the open parts of the flower garden also convolvulus can he dealt with successfully and fairly easily, but when it is growing in clumps of herbaceous perennials, shrubs, quick fences and the like, there is little chanco of eradicating the pest. Weed-killers could be used, of course, but they would also kill our garden plants; for a similar reason deep cultivation is impossible. The best we can do in such a case is to pull and pull again, every, time we see the runners coming out from their shelter. As the convolvulus is now making very fast growth, readers are advised to deal firmly with it. Layering Carnations.—Though most of us depend on propagation of carnations by cuttings, the method called ‘layering’ is belter. By this method the cutting is induced to form roots before it is severed from the parent plant; it is then set out as an independent plant with ils own roots, as if it were a seedling. Seedlings have generally greater vigour than layered plants, but the latter are known to be definite varieties, with characteristics already determined and familiar to us. Seedlings, on the other hand, often fail to come True to seed,’ and exhibit many different characteristics.

Many plants layer Uiemsalvas naiur-

ally by sending' out. roots from the joints of runners or other growths that come in contact "witti the soil. Gooseberries, rambler roses, marrows, pumpkins, melons, cucumbers, and many kinds of weeds exhibit this characteristic.

It is safe to say that every plant known may be propagated by layering—often it is the only way, as a plant may not grow from cuttings or it may never set seeds. In general all that is necessary is to surround part of a branch or other shoot with moist soil, and roots will form in the course of time—perhaps a fortnight, perhaps a year; carnations, for example, take from six to eight weeks. It is found that carnations layer better if the fresh young shoots are half cut (slanting upwards) and then pressed down in such- a way that the cuts remain open, leaving a tongue to each. The cuts check the flow of sap, and the excess of sap then induces roots to form at the cuts. Some people keep the cuts open by means of little stones, grains of sand or even grains of wheat. Forked sticks, hairpins, bits of wire and other things may be used to press the shoot down. The “lazy man’s wav,’’ which is really pretty good, is to throw a spadeful or two of soil on a thickly-growing clump of carnations; if the soil is kept 'moist, almost every shoot in the clump will take root. Budding Roses and Other Plants.— Full directions will appear in later notes, but experienced readers are now reminded that the budding season has again come round. The work is best done a few days after rain, as the sap is then flowing more freely and the bark lifts more readily. Fruit on a Climbing Fig (Ficus Stipulata). —Most of our readers are familiar with the climbing fig, which clings so flatly to stone, brick and concrete, but who have seen it fruit ing in Hamilton? Generally the plants have no chance to fruit, for they are cut hack and trimmed every year for the sake of neatness. At least one lot in Hamilton, however, has escaped the shears and has grown dozens of fruits, resembling the common fig but a little more angular, and purple rather than brown when mature. A Tropical Curiosity. —Visitors to Devonport should not miss a remarkable sight to he seen close to the beautiful group of Phoenix palms opposite the Ferry.—On one,of the huge Moreton Bay fig trees (Ficus macrophylla, to he recognised by their large, smooth leathery leaves), there arc several lots of long aerial roots. These resemble willow roots, except that they are hanging down in the air, instead of pushing out into water as the willow roots do. If the roots arc only two years old, as Ithc1 t hc caretaker says, they will probably touch tiie ground within a year—that is to say, if the children have not caught hold of them and hurt them. As this is the only tree about Auckland observed' to be putting out such roots, it should he closely preserved; indeed, , the case justifies a little fence being put round this one tree. Aerial roots may be observed on various kinds of Plants, but they arc insignificant compared with these long and thick streamers hanging down from majestic trees.