GARDEN NOTES

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20995, 23 December 1939, Page 21 (Supplement)

GARDEN NOTES

seasonable work

(By “Nikau”)

VEGETABLES AND FRUIT Sow swedes in a watered drill and cover with black cotton to prevent damage by birds. Plant tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbages, early celery, leeks, kumeras, potatoes and onions for salad. Sow lettuce seed thinly in the rows where the plants are to stay. Stake tomatoes and train them on the single stem plan; this means cutting out the side-shoots. Also spray the plants with Bordeaux (loz. to 1 gal. of water) and with arsenate of lead (loz. to 2 gals.); the former checks blight, the latter kills caterpillars. Sow a few more seeds of sweet corn to keep up a succession. When marrows and pumpkins have made runners about two feet long, pinch out the tips in order to induce the plants to make fruitbearing laterals. Sow cabbage, brocolli and cauliflower for late winter use. peas and beans while they are at their best. Sow beetroot (round and long-rooted), Swiss chard, turnip, parsnip, carrot, spinach, and even bush marrows, though these should be nearly ready to use now. Apple trees need the arsenate of lead spray to check all kinds of grubs, but especially those of the codlin moth. The same spray should be applied to trees, the foliage of which is attacked by leaf-leech—cherries, pears and rowans, for example. FLOWERS Remove spent flowers from roses, sweet peas and other plants which are to keep up a succession of bloom. Sow Iceland poppies in the next six weeks for early flowers. Set out bedding plants such as salvia, antirrhinum, lobelia and Tagetes (both are good edgings), cosmos, French and African marigolds, zinnia, phlox, portulaca and nasturtium (both thrive in a dry situation), petunia, salpiglossis and verbena. Fill the holes with water before putting in the plants.

HORTICULTURE CARRIES ON

and amaryllises reach the flowering stage. The beginner will therefore be wise to start with plants that give quick results—sweet peas and fuchsias, for example. The sweet peas will bear flowers within three to six months from seed, and fuchsias within eighteen months. Lupins will flower within twelve months, and freesias within nine months if well grown. Some of the lilies will flower within two years—L. regale and L. philippinense, for example. In artificial fertilisation there are two main points to observe: (1) Selffertilisation must be prevented; (2) pollen from plants which are not wanted as parents must be excluded. To prevent self-fertilisation, the male organs of the plants (containing the pollen) must be removed. The stage at which this becomes necessary varies with different classes of plants. For example, this stage is reached by sweet peas before the flower opens. While the flower Is still in the bud stages, but showing colour, the petals should be pushed aside so that the stamens can be reached. Their heads (anthers) are easily cut off with scissors. The flower should be enclosed for a day or two in a bag made of muslin of thin paper, to exclude unwanted pollen. When the flower opens, it is ready for the cross-fertilisation. A flower which is to be made the male parent is opened up as before to show the anthers. The pollen from these is to be transferred to the stigma of the flower already prepared by the removal of the stamens. The pollen may be rubbed or patted on gently, or transferred by means of a camelhair brush. The bag is then put over the flower and kept there for two or three days. A similar method may be followed with lilies and fuchsias, but whereas the pea flower has ten stamens, the lily has six and the fuchsia has eight. In each case the stigma is ready for fertilisation as soon as it becomes sticky. A careful record of both parents should be kept. Had this been done in the past, there would have been none of the great arguments concerning the parentage of the Marechal Niel rose or of the numerous lily hybrids now in commerce. For the next few months there will be various lilies in bloom, so that readers will have a good chance to do some hybridisation. THE SEASON’S GREETINGS “Nikau” wishes his readers the compliments of the season and expresses the hope that they will find 1940 an even better gardening year than 193,9 has been. In spite of two dry spells, a wet spell and a heavy frost, 1939 has been a good year for most gardeners. Dahlias, daffodils, and roses were exhibited in splendid condition, and other kinds of cut flowers also throve in most gardens. Vegetables did well, yet this year will probably be remembered as that of the “potato shortage,” and of high prices for most other vegetables. Present indications are very favourable for all forms of gardening, as the December rains have been a wonderful help.

This is the title of a short article in a November issue of the English “Amateur Gardening.” A few paragraphs are quoted in the hope that they will encourage our readers to carry on their gardening too. “It speaks volumes for the British determination of the horticultural fraternity that, after two months of war, our Royal Horticultural Society found it possible to hold a show, and that show was well filled with firstclass exhibits. Furthermore, it was well attended by the public, among whom not only horticultural enthusiasts were numbered, but many were obviously people who gladly visited the show as a means of diverting their attention from the wearying and tiresome repetition of war news by radio and newspaper versions of the same items. “Both halls were occupied. That in itself indicates that there was no difficulty in obtaining support from the growers of good things for the venture of holding the show. We were also impressed by the fact that it was not, vegetable or fruit exhibits alone that made the show, the larger hall being mainly requisitioned for exhibits of autumn flowers and ornamental trees and shrubs, showing that the maintenance of English gardens for their beauty is not lost sight of because we are obliged to engage in war. “The glory of the autumn in England is very largely wrapped up in the loveliness of the loiiage and fruit tints of the ornamental trees and shrubs which are cultivated in this England of ours. Fine examples were displayed by firms coming from as far afield as Dorset, Surrey, Suffolk, Gloucestershire and Cambridge. It does not look as though we are afraid to come away or go home in the dark “In vegetables there was much to see which showed the advantage of sowing varieties which have merit either in point of weight of food provided for the space occupied or the shortness of time between sowing and usability. In this connection we cannot refrain from singling out Messrs Ryder’s exhibit, which showed a wide range of serviceable vegetables, grown not for the purpose of prize-winning, but just as they can be grown from seeds of good strain on the average allotment. “The R.H.S. did a good service to the nation and to our craft by holding this show.” HYBRIDISATION As increasing attention is being paid to hybridisation (cross-fertilisa-tion), a note or two on the subject may interest readers. The beginner is advised to start with flowers which have organs large ‘nough to be handled easily: lilies, flladonna c lilies (really amarylx 2S), fuchsias, tulips, daffodils, and s\\ -et peas, are all suitable from this poii.t of view. Perhaps more important till, however, is the time factor; five years and more commonly elapse before seedlings of tulips, daffodils