GARDEN NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume 102, Issue 17220, 1 October 1927, Page 22 (Supplement)

GARDEN NOTES.

SEASONABLE WORK.

(By “Nikau.”)

Vegetables and Fruit. —Proceed with the sowing of hardy vegetables, but it is still too early for cucumber, marrow, pumpkin. Plant potato, cabbage, asparagus, onion, lettuce. Stir soil round early cabbage and cauliflower. Mulch asparagus and rhubarb beds, if not already done. Graft fruit trees. Spray apple trees with Bordeaux mixture before the buds open. Plant lemon and orange trees, also passion vines.

Flowers. —Finish planting hedges and deciduous shrubs. Continue planting evergreens and various climbers. Prepare beds for stock, antirrhinum, etc. Sow seeds in boxes and protect them from rain. Divide and replant perennials, such as helenium, michaelmas daisy, rudbeckia. Use an insecticide for the green tly on roses. Put in cuttings of most kinds of shrubs. NOTES. The Pink Spray for Apples. —Lest there should be any ambiguity about this heading, it should be noted that the solution itself may be any colour, but it is applied when the buds are showing pink, and when they are still unopened. As explained recently in this column, many kinds of fungal diseases shelter as spores round the buds, being protected by the scales of the latter. When the scales burst the spores are ready to set to work, but they are also in an uncovered condition. It is therefore important to spray the trees when the separate flower buds are showing plainly. Bordeaux mixture is an excellent spray for the purpose, but should be used at summer (4 —4 —40), not at winter, strength, by this means we can easily control biack spot or scab on apples and pears. Trees of peaches and nectarines that are not sprayed in winter should be sprayed with Bordeaux mixture at summer strength as soon as the fruit reaches the size of little marbles; this will check leaf-curl. Some authorities prefer lime sulphur for this late spraying, as there is a danger of the Bordeaux giving the young fruit a russet skin.

Root Cuttings. —Those of our readers who have had much to do with Oriental poppies will not be surprised when told that these plants can be readily grown from root cuttings. For example, it often happens that shoots come up from the roots broken off and left by us in the soil when transplanting established clumps of Oriental poppies. Owing to the wonderful advances made lately in the development, of these favourites, leading to the production of many colours besides the old black and scarlet., this method of propagation is particularly valuable. It will be observed, on examining a root of one of these plants that it is thick and fleshy, and reaches a length of six inches or more. Such a root as this may be divided into six pieces, each about an inch in length and each capable of forming a new plant in a few weeks. The cuttings should be planted vertically in a tin or box filled with a mixture of garden soil and sand, the latter perhaps being in excess. If they are kept in a greenhouse or frame they will start into growth sooner than they otherwise would. This method of propagation may be practised with many plants, including perennial phloxes, perennial verbenas (such as V. venosa), Japanese anemones and other flowers, indeed, most, of us know, to our sorrow, how easily the Japanese anemone grows from root cuttings; some species of Scotch bluebells are equally tenacious of life, ilardv geraniums can be grown easily from root cuttings, but these should be laid horizontally and covered by only an inch of soil. The same method suits many rock plants with creeping underground stems.

Hardy Annuals. —Though perhaps not so popular as they were 20 years ago, annuals are still widely grown, chiefly beciiu.se. they give a quick return. and they can usually be raised cheaply. In lho old days they were planted in parallel rows, marked out with mathematical accuracy. This sys-

tern is still followed in .botanic gardens ! and domains, but not in private gardens, now. It has been displaced by the, “ massing ” system, or the ’ “ clump ” system; in the former, there may be two dozen or more plants of the same kind, if not actually of the same colour, and in the “ clump ” system there are from three to five plants. If the garden is reasonably free from slugs and snails, the seed may be sown in the open, otherwise boxes should be used. If the latter way is adopted, the 1 sowing must be done thinly. When the seedlings are an inch or an inch and a-half high, it is wise- to prick j them out in boxes, allowing the seed- j lings two inches each way between the rows. If the soil has been enriched by leaf-mould and rotted compost, or by a sprinkling of blood and bone manure, the seedlings will be able to make j good growth. The next thing is to plant j them out before they got too tall—three to six inches, according to the nature of the plants. Any that are inclined to be spindly should have their tips pinched out. The soil into which they are transplanted should be enriched in some way. in default of rotted compost, an artificial manure such as blood and bone or superphosphate or bone-dust should be raked into the soil before the planting is done. Good feeding such as this is one secret, and the other is allowing the plants plenty of room. Growdecl plants have usually smaller flowers, and they certainly have a shorter season of bloom than properlyspaced plants have.

Kinds of Hardy Annuals. —Out of the many kinds available, we may consider the following:—(1) For edgings: Sweet alvssum, candytuft, kaulfussia, leptosiphon, dwarf nasturtium, nemophila, and Virginian stock. (2) For beds: Aster, calendula or marigold (Meteor or Orange King are excellent kinds which can be obtained locally), Bartonia, cornflower, coreopsis, chrysanthemums (realty excellent), eschscholtzia, godetia, larkspur, nigella, poppies (especially the single and double Shirley), viscaria (one foot high, with white, rose, blue and pink flowers).

Perennials for a Shady Position. — The following plants are suitable for planting in partial shade, though most of them will thrive equally well in the open: Japanese windflower or wood anemone, aquilegia or columbine, anchusa, campanula (of various kinds, including the peach-leaved), dicentra (Bleeding Heart), helleborus (Winter Rose), Siberian iris, arum lily, peonies, herbaceous phloxes, rudheckia, golden rod, thalictrum, Solomon’s seal, primroses, wood hyacinth, foxglove, evening primrose, violet, perennial sunflowe#, Michaelmas daisy, and succulent plants such as funkia and the various saxifrages, including London Pride.

Iceland Poppies. —All the varieties of Iceland poppy (Papaver nudicaule) are delightful subjects for garden and house decoration, but more particularly the Sunbeam type, because of its long stalks and beautiful colours. If seeds are sown now in boxes of sandy soil, the plants will flower in autumn. Many people have trouble in raising the plants from seed, chiefly through sowing too deeply. The seeds, being extremely small, should be sown on the surface, then rubbed lightly in; another way is to water them in. The box should be covered with brown paper for five or six days, by which time the seedlings should appear. They may then be covered with a sprinkling of sand. The original Island poppy gave us three distinct colours —orange, yellow and white. To these pink has now been added, and combining with the former colours, has given us salmon, buff, and apricot. Though nominally perennial, Iceland poppies are best treated as biennials, and a certain number should be raised from seed every year. A free, open soil suits them admirably.