HOME GARDENS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 41, 21 September 1949, Page 7

HOME GARDENS

(By J. S. Yeates, Massey AgricuD tural College)

TRENDS IN THE FLOWER GARDEN

The garden of our fathers, or maybe of our mothers, are a stage of evolution in garden design which, for better or for worse, is passing rapidly. In larger and more formal gardens these “mixed” or “herbaceous” borders, were supplemented by the formal bedding—masses of annuals or tulips set in beds of geometrical design, and replanted twice a year.

Today both these types of bed are becoming much less numerous. The herbaceous border, if it is to be kept properly, demands much work in hand weeding, dividing up of the old clumps, staking, and all the other operatings necessary to keep it both tidy and bright. My object at present is to make some suggestions for the lazier gardener, or for the one who is not quite so lazy, but has a larger garden.

Ways Of Saving Work

What is the basis of labour-saving in the garden, It consists of having a garden which depends for its appearance on lawn, and one trees and shrubs with suitable bulbs and perennials in the shrubbery, and maybe in grass also. To make a garden planned on these lines look attractive, careful planning is essential; unless the gardener knows his plants thorioughly he should certainly use the professional advice of a landscape gardener. The drier spell of weather and longer days should have given most gardeners a chance to clean up the weeds and to prepare any ground which is to be panted in the few busy weeks ahead. Where the soil is well dried out and warm, outdoor sowing can now be made of quite a number of the hardier annual flowers, which in the main are to flower where sown. These include night scented stocks, sweet alyssum, clarkia, larkspur, nigella and mignonette. These should be sown, only thinly. On fiinely worked soil and lightly covered with fine soil or coarse sand. Do not hasten to sow these seeds out-of-doors because of only a few warm days.

The general run of half-hardy summer bedding plants can be down now under glass, by those who have a glasshouse or frame to do the work in. This includes such favourites as: Salvia, petunia, African and French marigolds and the lime.

Tulips will be showing colour soon. I watch my own every day as they come into flower, so that any plants with “striped” flowers can be dug up and burned at once, to prevent further spread of this virus disease. I shall describe in another article some of the features of these virus diseases. Among The Vegetables In the vegetable garden just now it is mainly a question of doing any left-over jobs and preparing for the many sowings and plantings to come shortly. Early varieties f carrots should be sown where it has not been possible earlier. If no early potatoes have been planted, do so, planting them about four inches deep, a foot apart, and the rows two to three feet apart. Blood and bone manure equal to the weight of the seed potatoes should be hoed in along the line of planting before setting the tubers in place. Some people who are prepared to fuss over their early potatoes or have a spot well protected from frost, already have them about a foot high. Sow' peas—dwarf and maincrop—if they are not already planted. To keep marrows from eating the leaves off the spring peas there is nothing to equal black cotton. A few pea sticks put in place as soon as the peas begin to germinate can have the cotton stretched between them about three inches above ground. Rhubarb roots can still be planted; in fact, being related to the dock, this is a difficult plant to kill. The winter varieties are especially useful, being available when fresh fruit is scarce. Rhubarb revels in damp, rich soil and wants breaking up and replanting in a new place every few years.