GARDEN NOTES

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20953, 4 November 1939, Page 18 (Supplement)

GARDEN NOTES

(By " Nikau ”)

SEASONABLE WORK

VEGETABLES AND FRUIT Sow the main crop of runner beans; give them a rich soil and an open situation. The scarlet runner is still the best, if a good strain is obtained. Sow peas and lettuce once a month for succession. A short row of turnips should also be sown at least once a month. Make the main sowings of marrow, pumpkins, squash, and cucumber now. Have covers ready to put over them on a frosty night. Thin carrot, beetroot, and parsnip when they are about three inches high. Plant onion, rhubarb, cabbage, potatoe, tomato, kumara, artichoke, lettuce, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, beetroot, and silver beet (or perpetual spinach). Spray tomatoes and potatoes with Bordeaux mixture (1 oz. to 1 gal.) to check all kinds of fungal disease. Plant passion-vines about one foot out from a sunny wall or fence. A whole passion-fruit may be planted (shallow) in the same kind of position now, and the resulting seedlings thinned to two or three. Spray apple-trees with arsenate of lead (1 oz. to 2 gals.) to kill young grubs of the codlin moth, also beetles and leaf leeches. FLOWERS Pull out and bum bad plants of polyanthus and other primroses. Good kinds can be kept for a second year, but some seedlings should be raised every year. Save seed of the best anemones and Iceland poppies. Sow the anemone seed from December onwards, and the poppy seed in January and February. Zinnias, African and French marigolds, and other bedding plants can be sown now in the open garden. Choose an open plot, well away from the haunts of slugs and snails. Give cuttings of roses and hydrangeas at least one good watering every week. This is an excellent time to put in short side-growths of fuchsias and hydrangeas as cuttings. Set them in sandy soil, in a fairly shady position. See that standard roses and newly planted trees and shrubs are firmly tied and staked. Various kinds of climbers need similar attention just now. Plant carnations in a good loamy soil, to which lime has been added. The position should be open. Delphiniums need staking; if this is not done, the stems will be either bent or broken. Keep the seed-heads picked from calendulas, violas, pansies, and Iceland poppies (unless a little seed is wanted). Roses are being attacked by “greenfly” (aphides), and need a spraying with Black Leaf 40, Katakilla, or some other insecticide. Now is a good time to plant out both dahlias and chrysanthemums. Asters are healthiest when sown in the open bed in which they are to stay. Try to secure a wilt-resistant type. Sow seeds of Mina lobata in little pots, and plant out the seedlings early in December.

DAMAGED LEMON TREES A visit to many lical gardens would discoved that the frosts of the last winter did an unusually great amount of damage to citrus trees. A large number of lemon trees especially have had all their top growths damaged. In such cases it is advisable to cut back the branch to a point where a new shoot is seen to be developing on the outside of the branch. As a result, strong new growths may be expected to develop. On the other hand, if this rather severe cutting were not done, only weak shoots would develop. Considering that the lemon trees in the Bay of Plenty district also were badly damaged (in foliage, fruit and wood), it is not surprising that our local citrus trees suffered heavily. These heavy frosts do not cut our trees every year, so we may look forward to another good long respite. A CHEAP PERIODICAL Readers should notice that the Journal of Agriculture is the cheapest monthly journal of interest to gardeners. For half-a-crown per annum it is sent post free to any address in New Zealand. Besides the monthly notes on vegetables, fruit and flowers, there are often articles of interest to all who work the soil. Here is a brief article from the October issue: “The shortage of organic manures makes it necessary in most places, to # compost carefully all available * animal and vegetable material which can be reduced to a thoroughly decayed state in about twelve months. Large bones and hardwood branches of any size should be burnt before being added to the compost. The materials should be built into a compost stack, with perpendicular sides, in a humid, shaded place. These conditions are the most conducive to decay. “The method usually adopted is to remove a foot or so of soil from an area four feet to six feet wide and as long as necessary, piling the soil in equal quantities on either side. In this trench hedge clippings, lawn grass, house waste, fowl manure, weeds, etc., should be built into a compost stock as it becomes available. When not mo*re than about four feet or five feet high the stack should be sealed by covering it with the remainder of the soil which was removed from the foundation. “Where soil is required for seed boxes, potting and topdressing, a stack of sufficient size should be built of toe top spit of old pasture or similar material with the grass downwards. Now is the time to do this. If at the end of twelve months it is cut down, broken up, or restacked it should be ready after from two to three years of this treatment to form the main ingredient in a compost for the purposes mentioned.” ARTICHOKES As the tubers left in the ground are now sending up new growths, it is time to make a planting. If the artichoke were hard to grow, it

would probably be coddled as a rare and choice vegetable, but as it grows almost too readily it is often passed over. The tubers are declared by the authorities to be very nutritious, like potatoes, and to contain plenty of vitamins. In any case, the flavour is very palatable. Moreover, the plants are not subject to serious diseases as potatoes are, and they suffer from nothing but a little leaf rust. If someone scoffingly and jestingly refers to artichokes as “pig’s food,” why not retort that potato, wheat, and milk are also “pig’s food?” Usually very little care is taken in planting artichokes, it being considered good enough to let them come up of their own accord. It is far better to dig the soil deeply, work in some manure, and plant the tubers at the proper intervals—three feet between rows, and one foot apart in the rows. After a little growth has been made, the plants can be moulded up. Owing to their tall habit of growth (eight to twelve feet), artichokes are best planted at the back of a small section or in a waste comer. If possible, a good round type should be used for seed, instead of the jagged kind so often seen.” ORNAMENTAL PEACH TREES In the last week or two the writer has seen a large number of peach trees, especially of ornamental varieties, suffering from leaf curl. The explanation is that gardeners often forget that the ornamental peach tree needs spraying as much as the fruiting kinds do. A thorough spraying with Bordeaux in winter or in spring before the buds burst will check this disease very well. At present the best spray is a sulphur one of some kina—limed sulphur, colloidal sulphur, etc. Another disease much in evidence among trees of peach, plum, and nectarine is silver blight. The most noticeable symptom of this disease 4s a silvering of the foliage. There is no cure; as soon as the disease is noticed, the branch bearing silvery foliage should be cut off and burnt, so that other trees will not be infected. The disease will probably spread slowly, and in two or three years the tree will have to be taken out and burnt. THE ROSE SHOW The Hamilton Horticultural Society will hold its rose show on November 9. Mr H. Bennett, of Te Kowhai, will not compete in any of the classes, so that he will not defend the cups which he holds at present. He will, however, set up a big display for exhibition only; it is quite likely that there will be as many as 500 blooms jin this exhibit—a show in itself. As roses are looking unusually well, and will be about their best at the time of the show, it is hoped that many people will compete in the various classes open, amateur, and novice. There are classes for other flowers too. Schedules are procurable from • local nurserymen and from the secreItary, Mr F. T. Robinson, Von Tempsky Street, Hamilton.