GARDEN NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume 114, Issue 19125, 9 December 1933, Page 14 (Supplement)

GARDEN NOTES.

MnKHMimm SEASONABLE WORK. <S ooooo®®®o®®®®<i)® SPECIALLY COMPILED TO BUIT CONDITIONS IN WAIKATO.

By “Nikau."

Vegetables and Fruit. —Take out crops which have passed their usefulness —peas, broad beans, lettuce, radish, and turnip; work the ground well and plant or sow it after it has been left vacant a few days to sweeten. The following can be sown now; Pumpkin, melon, marrow, cucumber, squash, sweet corn, runner beans and other tender vegetables; also all the hardy kinds such as parsnip, carrot, beetroot, silver beet, savoy, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, lettuce, turnip, radish, jMas, parsley (slow in germinating), onion (if for salads and pickling, should be sown thickly), and even perennials such as asparagus and rhubarb. Plant potato, tomato, kumara and various kinds of herbs. Make trenches ready for celery and leeks. Use Bordeaux lb to gals.) for potatoes and tomatoes to check all kinds of fungal disease, hut ’especially “ potato blight." Spray apple trees every three weeks , with arsenate of lead (I*l6 of powder to 50 gals.) to. check codll m °^Flowors.—Take out the early bedding-plants such as stock, nemesla, viola, pansy, poppy and others which will not last all summer. Work the ground thoroughly, manure It with a fertiliser such as superphosphate, and after a week plant summer annuals such as zinnia, phlox, salvia, French and African marigolds. Use lobeHa " dianthus for edgings. Save seed of best aqullegias, and stroy the poor varieties before they ripen their seed. Also save the seed of good polyanthus and primulas as it ripens. In a few weeks plenty seed of delphinium, lupin and Argentine pea will he ripe.

GOOD TOMATOES. An English gardening periodical recently received mentions the following results with a variety of tomato which is well known here: "I have this year grow'n Sutton’s Best of All out of doors, and retained three trusses per plant. 1 had on one bottom truss J 4 tomatoes, weighing exactly six pounds. The fruits were dead ripe when weighed, and very fragile, owing to the thinness of the skin. They were grown in the open .at Oxfoid with no Wall or fence shelter whatever. Owing to the weight of the fruits I had to support all the bottom Another correspondent In the same issue sends a good photograph of a truss of tomatoes numbering over 60 fruits and weighing 9ilbs. The photograph shows them all to be beautifully round, and wonderfully uniform In size. Here Is the accompanying note: "You may be Interested In the enclosed photograph of a truss carrying over 60 fruits, and weighing 941bs. It was grown by Mr. Jas. W. Craig, of Polegate, who makes a praotloe of filling a house with tomato plants, and at onf time experimented with various methods of feeding them. For the past five years he has been oontent to rely upon fish manure, and a genuine reoord of his crops has shown an average of i'9lbs. of good fruit per plant." ! . Now then, Waikato and other readers what about beating these performances of English growers? Singlestem training; spraying with Bordeaux (ilb. to 12 gals.) to check blight; occasional scattering of superphosphate and sulphate of potash around (but not on) the plants; these aids, and the climate favouring too, should yield the best possible.

008. LETTUCE. $ Cos lettuoes, when well grown, are usually of better flavour and more crisp than the cabbage type. They also require more room for growing, and should be planted at least 12 inches apart—ls Is better still. Some varieties are sold as self-blanching, that is, the leaves grow so dose that the hearts will blanoh without tying. Although this may be true in a sense when oompared with the other varieties, yet the plants are much improved by the tying up of the leaves. A much better blanched heart and much more tender leaves are obtained. For tying, use some material such as thin pieces of flax or raffia. Do not tie —just sufficiently to pull the leaves neatly together—and put the .band about three parts of the way up. The plants should be quite dry when the tying is done.

WIRELESS TALK. Last Saturday evening at 7.30 Mr. Mills spoke from IYA on the subjeot of vegetables. He dealt first with the oulture of celery, and pointed out the various uses of this vegetable. First of all there is the use of the stalks for salads and flavouring. Then the aromatic seeds are used .for flavouring and for making medicinal tea. The last-named was much appreciated a few generations ago, and was regarded as a good remedy In the oase of kidney and liver disorders. Celery Is a molsture-iover, but needs a welldrained soil. A fairly porous one such as light sandy soil is suitable, both for growing tire celery and for earthing it up. In the case of a heavy soil, the best manure is that from the etable; poultry manure may also be used, if it has been stored a good while and lias been kept dry. For dry and light soils cow manure should be used. Artificial manures such as the following arc suitable; Kainit at the rate of loz. to 3yds. of trench; sulphate of ammonia at the rate of loz. to 4yds. of trench. When autumn comes, a mixture of fertilisers oan be made and used at the rale of loz. to i gallon of water; but should be preceded by a good watering, and the manure should not fall on the foliage, liquid manure from the stable may be used also. Celery trenches should toe at least 3ft. from middle to middle, *nd they should run North and South. An open situation away from the shade of trees Is the best. The trenches should be at least Ift. deep and I ft. wide. Stable manure should be worked In with the soil to a depth of six or nine Inches, and the lop part should bo soil alone. If stable manure Is not procurable, make the trenches only nine Inches deep and put In six inches of compost (to be mixed with gome soil). Compost and artificial manures mako an excellent substitute for stable manure.

If beds are used, they should be made up early, say October, and the ridges can be planted with lettuce and dwarf beans. These can be pulled out soon after tho celery plants are put in tho little trenches. The planting should bo dono In rainy weather. If this is not possible, water well both the trenches and tho seed-bed before the transplanting begins. Use. a

trowel and take up each plant with a ball of earth. The. distance fipart should ho between six and nine inches. Some people plant in two rows, but this is a mistake. If well-manured beds (not trenches) are used, set the rows ono foot apart across the lxds. £vea when ,thq plants are established.

they need a good deal of watering and frequent stirring of the soil. All offsets or aide-shoots must be removed, as well as diseased leaves. From time to time a little soot should he scattered along the rows to discourage slugs and snails, and also aid the growth of the plants. BRUSSELS SPROUTS. As most people know, the sprouts are miniature cabbages arising in the axils of the leaves. The heads may he out off and used as greens, while the sprouts make a very dainty dish. Almost any soil will do, but the best/ is a rich, deep loam. A plot from which early peas have been taken will do very well. It should be trenched and manured wlth ! a natural kind horse manure for heavy soils, pig or cow manure fqr light. Artificial fertilisers such as super may be dug in at the rate of lib. per square rod. When well established the plants should he given a surface dressing of lib. of sulphate of ammonia per square rod. The plants must not be overfed, as this would Induce loose, ooarse sprouts, and not the oompaot sprouts which are wanted. The seed should be sown now, and the seedlings transplanted when In their first leaf. The final transplanting is to be done in January. As for almost all members of the cabbage family, the soil for Brussels Sprouts should he made firm, as this dnduoes sturdy growth of stem and foliage, A plot from whioh onions have been lifted will do well, if It is hoed and raked free of weeds. The dwarf type of sprouts should be planted 80 Inches apart eaoh way, and the tall 30 inohes apart In the rows, and 3ft. between the rows. As with oelery, the planting should be done in damp weather, and the plants should be lifted with a trowel, so that a ball of earth can be taken with them. A common way. though not the best, Is to set the plants in between the rows of potatoes. In this case the potatoes should be taken up as soon as they are ready and the soil thrown in around the sprouts. The best way is to put the plants in a vacant plot which has been well manured.

broccoli. The lecturer hinted that there is very little difference between broccoli and cauliflower (we have always known that, but are glad to And an expert admitting it). He suggested, however, that the oaullflower is earlier than the broccoli, and less vigorous and less hardy. There are two main types of broccoli —the white, and the purple, and green sprouting. The 10-star perennial type Is perhaps a hybrid with cauliflower. To resist aphis, fly and olubroot, sturdy growth is essential. The best soil Is a loam which is almost a clay. It should be forked over, and given a sprinkling of superphosphate. A plot from which potatoes or peas have been oleared will do very well. Powdered naphthalene should be dug in, as this Is said to check aphis and club-root. When Into their third leaf the seedlings should be pricked out in good soil, and transplanted to their final quarters when they have ■made sufficient- growth. The double move breaks the tap root and causes plenty of good fibrous roots to form. If the seed Is sown now (preferably in drills), the plants will be ready for their final shift in February. Trowel, dull day, firm soil, etc., as for Brussels sprouts. The rows should be 30 inches apart, and the plants 2 feet apart in the row. When the plants have beoome established, sulphate of ammonia may be scattered around the plants at the rate of one ounce to four plants. «

CABBAGE. The treatment for cabbage is much the same as for sprouts and broccoli. Seed should be sown now to provide plants ready for use in winter and early spring. For this purpose late, varieties should bo chosen. Naphthalene should be sprinkled over the plot. Later, when the plants have been set out, they should bo sprayed with Restar at the rate of 1 to 100. This should be done In the evening; a few leaves may be scorched a little by tho spray, but aphis and caterpillars will be kept in check. If used at the strength mentioned. Restar will not hurt sturdy cabbage plants.

LEEKS AND SWEET CORN. For leaks, trenches like those for celery should be used. After the plants have been put out in the trenches, liquid manure may be applied from time to time. .Sweet corn may be sown now; as It docs not stay long In good condition for use as a vegetable, half-a-dozen seeds should be put in every week. Good soil is needed for this crop, and hoeing should be regarded as a matter of routine.

BLACK SPOT. In answer to a correspondent, Mr. Mills said that black spot, a fungoid disease on roses, was very troublesome, particularly in the Pernnetiona type—for example, Solci! d’Or. The plants should be dusted, with flowers of sulphnr held in a muslin hag. In winter a spraying with Umc-sulphar at the rate of 1 in 10 parts of water would be a preventive. Powdered naphthalene should also be dug into the rose-bed.