GARDEN NOTES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVIII, Issue 11, 11 September 1912, Page 38

GARDEN NOTES.

ZqV EPTEMBER i< one of the busiest months in the garden during the whole season, and every effort must be made to cope with the numerous important crops demanding attention. All plots where crops have bei*n grown should be dug over; weeding must not be neglected, and crops planted last month will require thinning out and earthing up as they advance in growth. Potatoes for main crop can be planted whenever the soil is in a dry and workable state. Kumera tubers can be started on a hotbed of fresh stable manure, over which six inches of tine soil, with plenty of sand should be spread. Plant the tubers in this, and they will soon start away, vigorously giving abundance of cuttings. Continue sowing* of peas every two weeks. Those already through the ground may be lightly moulded up and -taked. Don’t sow Kidney beans until the end of the month. Nothing is gained by sowing these too early. Broad beans may *till be sown where required. Sa ladings.—Sow every ten days when a succession is required. Continue to transplant lettuce, and sow some more M*eds of gq<>d summer varieties, such as Big Boston ami Webb’s Wonderful. ( abbage and cauliflowers continue to plant out. also onions. Onion seed may -till l>e sown in drills. Sowings of carrot, beet, turnip and

Sage, marjoram, thyme, and other herbs can he lifted and subdivided where required. Keep strawberry beds free from weeds. Tomatoes, cape gooseberries, cucumbers, egg plants and peppers can be sown under a frame or glass house. The Flower Garden. In the flower garden ten-week stocks must be got in witTfcnit delay, in order to secure a good show. Annual plants, raised under glass and hardened off, may be set in their flowering quarters. Old roots of dahlias may be divided and planted out. or these may be started in heat, and cuttings taken off later on. Roses should not be longer delayed in pruning where this operation has not been attended to.

Gladiolus bulbs can be planted in deeply-dug soil- If animal manure is io be applied to these, it should be rotted and (lug in before planting the bulbs. On no account should fresh manure be given. Bone and blood fertiliser is a good artificial to use. Gladiolus seed may also be sown. This is best done in rows, as the young seedlings are easier to attend to in the way of weeding, hoeing, etc. There is no difficulty in raising these beautiful flowers from seed, and they flower the second year. Provided really choice hybrid seed is secured, many fine flowers of great vigour and very long spike will result. Lawns should be frequently rolled when the weather is dry. At the annual conference of daffodil growers Mr. Barr said: "On no account

should oil-sets from bulbs be cut oft or pulled off. Wait until off-sets come away in the ordinary course. Bulbs thus treated would be weak and liable to take any disease going-” A suitable soil for Bouvardia is a mixture of about equal parts of good loam and leaf soil with about half a part Oif silver sand. Nip out the points of strong shoots, so as to form bushy pl ants. An excellent remedy for mildew on roses is sulphide of potassium, dissolved at the rate of rather less than ioz. to 1 gallon of soft water. Syringe well in the evening, and do not miss the undersides of the leaves. Be careful in using this mixture near white painted wood work, as it leaves a stain which is not easy to remove.

If you cannot find out what insects are troubling you, place lettuce leaves about the garden at night, and you will find rdugs on them in the morning. Empty matchboxes hung on the plants (slightly open) will trap earwigs, and slices of raw potato will, if buried just unde r the soil, trap a good many pests. But the bent remedy for all pests is to water about twice a week with a solution of permanganate of potash. This solution will not injure the blooms if used very weak, while buds should be well syringed. Gooseberries and red and white currants should have the iside shoots cut back to two buds, hi the case of young bushes the main growths are left about 9 inches or 1 foot in length; older trees that have reached their required size are cut back (doser. If the buehes .ire too crowded, remove a few of the mam

branches in order to admit more air and light. Black currants are pruned by cutting away the older branches near the base, their plaee being taken by young growths, which should not be shortened. The reference in the “Journal” of the Irish Department of Agriculture to the fact that a second crop of potatoes had been planted at one of the centres has created some interest among potato growers, and the opinion has been freely expressed that the production of two crops of potatoes on the same land in one year is impracticable. In a general way it is so, but under the conditions favourable to this method of intensive cultivation, it has been found both practicable and profitable. Some of the more enterprising of the Irish growers of po-

tatoes have succeeded in obtaining two profitable crops from the same hind in one season, but the first crop is grown for the supply of the market in the usual way, and the second far the production of immature potatoes for seed purposes.