GARDEN NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume 113, Issue 18850, 21 January 1933, Page 19 (Supplement)

GARDEN NOTES.

SEASONABLE WORK. SPECIALLY COMPILED TO SUIT CONDITIONS IN WAIKATO.

(By "Nikau.”)

Vegetables and Fruit. —Pinch out- the tips of the running growths of pumpkin and marrow. Sow silver beet, watering the drill v.ell first. Plant cabbage, cauliflower, borecole (kale) and other greens, if fairly free from grubs and aphis. Sow carrots and beetroot for use in winter, and lettuce, turnip and radish for autumn succession. Dig potatoes as soon as they, mature. Spare ground should be dug, manured and planted with the crops mentioned above and with leeks and celery. Spray tomatoes with Bordeaux (for blight) and with arsenate of lead (for caterpillars). Burn or bury deeply all diseased fruit. Bud fruit trees.

Flowers.—For quf-ok results In brightening up >a border sow Virginian stock. The greenhouse floor should be watered well to keep the atmosphere moist for ferns and various kinds of pot plants. Sow biennials and perennials. Layer carnations. Bud roses and shrubs. Gather the seed of various Alpine plants and sow it at once. Begin planting daffodils. Lift and divide bearded or flag irises. Apply liquid manures once a week to dahlias. Put in cuttings of fuchsia, genanium, dianthus, hydrangea, etc., if the ground can be kept moist, otherwise wait another month or so before doing this propagating. Keep the soil loose round salvias, zinnias and other bedding plants, and work In a little superphosphate or blood and bone. Stake dahlias and chrysanthemums and remove surplus shoots from both.

CELERY

Most people esteem celery highly, yet few are -successful with Its culture. It Is a moisture-loving plant, as mu'oh so as mint, irises and other riverside or marsh plants. It also needs a good deal of manure, preferably from the stable or cowshed. The first thing to do is to choose an open plot and dig a trench more than a foot wide and perhaps two feet deep. This should be partly filled in with natural manure or compost, mixed with soil. In the shallow trench now left we may plant one or two rows of celery, leaving about eight inches between the plants. If these are of the ordinary variety they should be a rich green, but if of the sclf-blanchlng kind they will be yellowish or whitish. It Is very important to keep the plants growing without a die'ok, and for that reason they should have plenty of water from the planting onwards. Chinese and other professional gardeners often Hood ‘lheir trenches, but if this is not practicable (as on many farms), watering can lie helped by shading for a few days, until the plants become established. To guard the plants from rust, spray them with Bordeaux (fib to 12 gals.) or lime-sulphur (1 to 100). If the leaves are seen to bo crimped, the presence of “green fly" (aphides) is to be suspected. If these pests are present, spray the foliage, especially. on the under surface, with an Insecticide such as Black Leaf 40. When the plants have grown to be well' over a foot high they may be moulded up partially for blanching. Having thorn in a trenoh helps with this operation and also with watering. Directions for moulding up and b'lanohlng will be given later, when the time for the work comes.

KUMARAS FOR DECORATION. According to a newspaper paragraph, a man has decorated his cabin with a sweet potato. The tuber was so placed as to dip a little into water, and in less than three weeks the tuber had put. forth trailing shoots over two font, long, and had given a greenhouse effect to tho cabin. This is simply a variation of the method of growing hyacinths and other bulbs dipping into water. Some quaint effects can bo secured by the use of oats or wheat (alas, too dear now, Canterbury). The grains are studded around some receiver which lets the moisture through gradually. As a result the pot is covered with tender green growth. HALF A POTATO. According to the Tlmaru Herald, a Temuka gardener, Mr F. Smith, is conducting a highly successful experiment with half a potato. The paper describes the experiment as “novel," but readers will hardly agree with this description. The remarkable feature, however, is the great length to which tho old method bas been carried.

“In September last Mr Smith secured the potato (recently imported), and planted It, and from this limited start he has secured, up to December, i 8 sets, in the following manner. The half potato was planted In a tin of ■soil, and after 10 days four shoots oamo through the ground. The potato was lifted, and the four shoots or ■plants were removed, and planted separately one foot apart. The potato was' then put Into a tin of soil. Three weeks later six moro healthy shoots canjc through the ground, and the potato was lifted and robbed again, making ten . sets. Again the half potato was put hack into tho tin. and this time it produced two plants. The fourth time the result was six ■sets, making a total of JB. The potalo is still going strongly, and Is now showing three more shoots, which will be planted out, and the half potato will be. put back for the sixth time. The first two lots of sets are fine large roots now, moulded up and giving promise of a good crop. The potatoes aro being grown in a garden that has recently had the soil steamsterilised, and no manure has been applied.” LAYERING CARNATIONS. Headers who have trouble in growing carnations from cuttings should lev layering. This system of propane I ion'depends on I he fact that shoots i gc|i|. in contact with moist, earth for ! >n;ue weeks semi out roots, amt are I ip, -n capable, of being severed and ! iivatrd as independent, plants. The i nest, thing to do is fo loosen the sol! | round the. plant ; if it is a stiff clay. ! sand should tie added. The 1 111 \ 1 s 1 is Mi selee I a shno 1 x\ hii 1 1 : has uni (lowered. I'll I'll make a nil : upwards, half Ihrnugh. in a sloping ih ”eel ion. ou the low er surface at a ■ I ,u in I about throe inches from Die : main slcni. Carefully press down the 1 .shoot or else peg || <lown> so Hint 1 the ell I remains open w lien Hie shool . j s covered willl soil. I he oh.jrel ol 111, cut is Ml Check Die >ap. and Mu’ . «>*.!•••». activity induces roots to be sent

out. A rough and ready way is to j place a spadeful of earth over the crown of the old plant; a fair number of shoots will then root without any cut being made. Whatever method is followed, the layered siioots should be kept moist for about eight weeks. If the layered part is covered with two inches of soil, one watering a week will keep it moist. If the layering is done now, 'the shoots will be ready for setting out as rooted plants in autumn. The present time is fairly suitable for planting carnation cuttings or “pipings." These should be four or five Inches long, severed just below a node with a sharp knife, and split open for about half an Inch. Some people keep the slit open by Inserting in it a grain of wheat or sand. The cuttings can be rooted in sandy soil In pots, or in the open garden. A point to note is that the leaves on the part placed In 'the ground should be removed. Some gardeners cut off the topmost two inches of the “grass," but there Is no need for this proceeding. If the cuttings are kept moist for two or three months they will root well. As soon as new growth is made at the tips, ft may safely be assumed that the cuttings are rooted, and 'therefore ready for removal to the carnation bed.