WORK FOR THE WEEK

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 85, 4 January 1935, Page 14

WORK FOR THE WEEK

The Flower Garden Prepare for planting spring-flower-ing bulbs. Narcissi can be planted toward the end of the month. Bearded irises are generally divided and replanted during January. Choose a sunny, ■well-drained position, and make sure that the soil is well limed. The rhizome should not be covered.

Hydrangeas, azaleas and rhododendrons have been feeling the effects of the recent dry weather. These plants require a summer mulch, of leafmould or decayed cow manure at least tw> inches thick. If nothing else is available. use lawn clippings. , Keep sweet peas picked regularly. Once seed is alloiced to set, the blooms dwindle in size and quickly disappear. Mulch chrysanthemums gnd pinch them back to make bushy growths. Disbud dahlias and remove spent flowers before they set seed. The Vegetable Garden Plant out broccoli, kale, savoy and drumhead cabbage. Poiv lettuce and radishes in the cooler positions of the garden. Sow onions, carrots, turnips, swedes and spinach. Spray tomato plants at regular intervals with bordeaux mixture, strength 4-4-40. Pumpkins, marrows and cucumbers can now be forced along with frequent applications of liquid manure. Keep the hoe busy between the rows, particularly after a rain shower. PEST-RIDDEN SOILS How To Clean Them Many gardeners who have moved into new houses have had to make a new garden from old pasture land, and in many cases where this has been done numbers of plants have . been lost through the attacks of wireworms, leather-jackets and other pests, which are always present in old turf. Before any planting is done in a new garden one or other of the soil fumigants should be used to destroy these pests. For winter use there is nothing better than the old-fashioned gas lime. This is a by-product of gasworks and is often not easily obtainable Fortunately other substances which are just as llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllilllliliiliiinii

illllillllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll efficient are easily obtainable and can bp used all the year round. Naphthalene is a valuable substance, and forms the basis of many soil fumigants. About two to three ounces per square yard, forked in, will effectively rid the soil of wireworms. If you have already planted your flowers in a new garden and these are. suffering from attack of wireworms try watering with corrosive sublimate solution. Remember that this is p’oisonous and should be used carefully. Dissolve one ounce corrosive sublimate in ten gallons of water and give a quarter of a pint of this solution to each plant. This will save many plants which have been attacked by wireworms. This is worth trying, especially with herbaceous perennials which have been placed in permanent situations, but whether it is successful or hot will depend on the amount of the damage which has already been done. TAKE PANSY CUTTINGS \ To Increase Supply r _po increase one’s stock of pansies new shoots on the plants should now be removed, together with the tiny white roots that have formed on each shoot. Dibble these into a reserve bed of fine soil with which has been incorporated sand and leaf-mould. This bed should, if possible, be in a sheltered position. S.et the tijay plants 4 inches apart and allow 6 inches between the rows; give water from a fine rose. They may be allowed to grow here during the winter, and will have formed sturdy plants for transplanting into permanent quarters next spring. If larger quantities are required cuttings may be taken off the new snoots higher up the old plant. Trim off the lower leaves and cut squarely with a sharp pen-knife immediately below a joint. Set these cuttings in boxes 'or pans, which contain sandy soil. Place in the cold frame, or they may be set direct in sheltered beds in the open garden. The cuttings should be nicely rooted and ready for spring planting. SWEET WILLIAM How to Propagate Although plants of this old world flower are easily raised by sowing seeds in summer, they can also be increased by inserting cuttings. The latter method is adopted when it is desired to propagate plants bearing flowers of special form or colours. By this method, plants having flowers Identical with their parents will be obtained in the following summer. Select firm well ripened shoots, remove the leaves from the lower halves of the stems and make a clean cut just below a node or joint. Fill deep seed pans or boxes witli sandy soil and insert the prepared cuttings to half their depth. Water them in and keep them in a close shaded frame until roots are formed, then harden them off gradually and plant them in the autumn.

Lift them carefully with plenty of soil round their roots and set them ten inches apart. They like a sunny position and a moderately rich well dug soil.

Instead of inserting cuttings, propagation may be effected by layering the shoots. The selected shoots are stripped of leaves on the lower halves, a notch is made through a node and they arc pegged down into sandy soil. They are kept moist by watering until roots are freely formed, and then detached from the parents and planted as advised for rooted cuttings.