GARDEN NOTES

Waikato Times, Volume 116, Issue 19451, 15 December 1934, Page 18 (Supplement)

GARDEN NOTES

- —SEASONABLE WoßK.____

WRITTEN AND COMPILED TO SUIT WAIKATO CONDITIONS.

(By "Nikau.”)

VEGETABLES AND FRUIT. Plant Tomatoes In an open space. Sow Lettuce every three weeks. Stake Runner Beans; if they are too high for their supports, take off the tops, otherwise the flowers wilt have no chance to set fruit, being covered with foliage. Disease has appeared among Tomatoes, and the only way to save the plants is to spray them with a fungicide; Bordeaux at lib to 8 or 10 gallons of water, or lime-sulphur at 1 in 80 or 1 in 100 should be used. Use arsenate of lead of powder to 50 gallons of water) to kill beetles or grubs of codlin moth and pear leeches. FLOWERS. Give newly-planted shrubs a good watering once a week in dry weather. Plant out the ordinary bedding -plants such as Salvia, Cosmos (back of border), Dianthus, Antirrhinum, Golden Gleam, Nasturtium (for poor soil and a sunny position), French and African Marigold, Petunia, Zinnia, Lobelia, and Ageratum (both for edgings). Sow Viscaria, C'larkia, Mignonette and Linum where they are to stay. Make a late sowing of Sweet Peas in a deep and well-manured trench. Stake Dahlias promptly, otherwise they may be destroyed by the first strong >vind. Mulch Lilies with rotted turf and compost.

RED CURRANTS. Some fine crops of red. currants have been grown here this year; the only trouble has been to guard them from birds. Considering the ease with which currants can be grown locally, and their usefulness for dessert and cooking purposes, it is remarkable that they should be the exception rather 'than the rule -in local gardens. In tho nex"t few weeks the plants should have their summer , -pruning. This consists in shortening (to a few inches) the new growth, especially the ,side-shoots, so that fruit spurs will develop In .plenty along the stems. If this work is done in summer, the pruning in winter will be very light. Black currants must not be treated in this way. As soon as the fruit has been gathered, two or three of the eld rods should be cut out from the base of the plant, so that the new rods will have enough light and air to make them grow sturdily. .They will then be able to bear good bunches of fruit next year. If the borer has been at work, all the unhealthy rods should be removed and burnt as soon as possible.

■ONION MILDEW. This disease has appeared again, and spraying Is needed to save the crop. Desperate diseases need desperate remedies, usually, and so willi onion mildew; Lime-sulphur at 1 in, 80 should be sprayed at once on the plants, care being taken to do -the ■work from different quarters, so that every part of every onion leaf can be reaohed and covered with a film of fungicide. A week after the spraying some nitrate of soda should be sprinkled along the rows in order to stimulate growth. If the diseased plants are left untreated, they will qulokly infect the whole crop and every plant will wither off before the bulbs have attained a fair size. If disease appears in the onion bed, no unions should be planted ln.it for at least two years. WIRELESS TALK. Last week the* usual Wednesday evening broadcast from Wellington dealt with the vegetables which may be planted or- sown now for winter. One of the chief of these is celery. The following are the main .points of the lecturer’s discourse. Celory requires skill on the part of the amateur garden or. Five points' must bo considered: (1) Drainage to )e very goad; Vi) the bottom of Hie 'trench must be well enriched with -manure; (8) the plants .must never suffer from want of water; (4) earth-ing-up -should be done only when the soil is dry; (5) the soil for the earth-ing-up must be brought up to near the top of the plants, and finished in such a way as to turn the rain away. The trench should be about 16 ins', deep, and the bottom soil (subsoil) forked and loosened. Then rotted manure, soot and wood ashes are to be added to this and .the other soil which Is put in to illl the trench partly; the poorest soil should be thrown aside, but may be used afterwards for earthing-up. To make this operation easy it is better not to nil In the trench completely before planting, but Instead to leave a shallow depression, perhaps nine inches deep. If the trench is to take only one row, it should be 16 Inches wide, but if It Is to take two rows, It should be at least' 20 Inches wide. A little bonedust should be worked into the soil a week before .planting; a suitable quantity is 2 ounces per running yard of trench. If the rows are -single,, set the plants 10 inches apart; if double, 12 Indies apart. The present is a good time to plant tho early crop, but too soon to plant tho main crop. ‘Celery needs feeding from .January ■onwards. The .side-shoots should ho removed from time lo lime. No carlh-ing-up should be done until the plants have nearly finished growing. The blanching is complete within seven weeks of the moulding-up. The Golden Self-Blanching variety can oe grown on the flat, with no earthingup, but its stalks arc not as 'heavy as those of the trench varieties' .such as solid White, White Plume and Govcnt G union Red. Mention should be made of Gelcriae, u turnip-rooted kind of celery, very suitable for soups, etc. Tills should bo grown In rich soil, but docs not need earthing-up. It may havo liquid innnre as made up for the trench kinds of celery; soot and animal manures are suitable for the purpose. ENDIVE. The lecturer insisted 4 upon • the value of endive (by the way, why pionounee It to rhyme with “alive”?). Endive is hardier than lettuce, but is rarely treated properly. Usually it Is sown too late; the proper time for an autumn crop is now (in the Wellington Province), hut for mid-winter, use the seed '.should be sown in February. The growing conditions should be tho same as for lettuce —for example, any good soil, with .-in Melon L moisture. Tho blanching makes the difference between 1 lie two crops. Slates and other livings are often recommended, but the best covering is bay, as it blanches without miohing ■or otherwise harming the plants, only a few should be .blanched at. a time, as thev will not. keep well alter this ■operation has been performed. The best is the Dwarf Green Curled. Lettuce can be grown in some gardens all the year round. The best lettuce in winter Is Neapolitan, similar to Webb's Wonderful, but hardier.

BORECOLE AND BROCCOLI. More than half the lecture was devoted, to the culture of savoys, broccoli and borecole (Kale). Since the arrival of the large white butterfly, the planting of broccoli and Brussels sprouts is very precarious, but fortunately kale is hardly touched by this pest (all the same, the diamondbacked moth was very severe last year on kale). Kale seed may be isown now to provide plants for winter. Kale is not fastidious, and will thrive in any ordinary soil. The dwarf green Is the best of the borecoles or 'curly, kales. If the weather is dry at planting time, follow the good old plan of making a puddle of clay and water, and dipping the roots in It before planting. If enough water is available, fill up each hole with it before the plant is pul in. The manurial requirements are the same as for other members of the family; lime is Important, and It helps to keep away the club-root disease. The artificial manures most suitable are bonedust and superphosphate. Firm planting helps the plants to form better hearts. Varieties Recommended. The following were recommended: — favovs; Covent Garden (first early), Dwarf Green Curled (medium), lOmega (lu too. Brussels Sprouts-: Covent -Garden, Dalkeith. ■ Broccoli: Wal'cheen, Winter White, Knight’s Protecting and -Leamington. AN UNUSUAL TREE. For the last week or two a beautiful and unusual tree has been In bloom; it; is Mella azedarach, sometimes called the “manria '.ash',” sometimes the “bead tree" and'sometimes the ‘arbor sanota.” The name “ash” is descriptive of the beautiful''Compound leaves, each leaf having ■ as many as seven leaflets, and these.again are much divided. The other names refer to 'the fact that the nuts, having a natural hole in them, are easily •Ihrouded to form rosaries. The species under review -comes from India and China. Allied plants are the tropical mahogany satin-wood, and Australian red -cedar. A New Zealand member of the Mclia Order is the Kohe-koho (Dysoxylum ispectablle), found In many parts of -this province—near Rotoiti and at Titlrangi, for example. ■Melia azodarach has fragrant, starry i flowers of a light lilac colour, and forms a canopy tree; at least one form -Js. known as tho “umbrella tree. ’ lhe writer has seen only one Melia azed&rach growing here, and can trace the species in only one New Zealand catalogue (from New 'Plymouth). The tree is perfectly suitable for large gardens and for parks, and is bound to be more popular when better known. ‘Melia can be propagated from cuttings in sand if covered with a bell glass and given bottom heat. RHUS COTINUS. In some of our public gardens and In a few private gardens, too, the smoke plant (Rhus cotinus) is making a fine display. There are several forms of this shrub, but the most popular are those with dark seedheads (the ‘smoke’) as well as dark foliage. For at least nine months In .the year the smoke plant Is one of 'the most handsome plants in our gardens, and it Is fortunately quite hardy In most parts of the Waikato. Tills species Is a native of Southern Europe, but R. cotinoidos comes from America. SWEET WILLIAM. This is still one of the most beautiful and fragrant of our flowers. A single plant or a single clump is worth having, hut words can hardly describe lhe effect of great beds of sweet wilFcvnis', Visitors lo U'unfedln at the time of Hie latest exhibition, and In lhe years since, must have noticed the wonderful beds of these plants in Hie Botanic Gardens. Tlmaru is anolher town which appreciates the value of beds of richly-coloured sweet williams. At least bno lady In the Hamilton district realises lhe beauty of sweet williams;, last year this lady had rich pink sweet william on holh sides of a drive that is at, least two hundred yards long. Tho fact that there was hardly one “rogue” amongst all these plants .shows how pure certain strains are. The present Is rather early to sow the seed, hut Nature is giving us a hint by ripening tho seed ami causing it 1,0 fall. January or February will he a suitable time for the sowing, ns the holidays will he over I lien, and gardening will have -started again in earnest.' The seed of wallflower, Canterbury Bells, anemones and -many other biennials and perennials may he sown in February; of course, at ten I. ton must he paid lo shading and watering in tho hot wealher, especially for the llrsl three or four weeks after sowing.