Gardening Notes

Hutt News, Volume 3, Issue 2, 5 June 1930, Page 9

Gardening Notes

IN THE GARDEN FOR JUNE

What to Sow and Plant this Month.

Doubtless all enthusiasts have read through the Rose catalogues, and decided, on tlhe additions for the present planting season. If so, it may be well to Jiound a note of warning as .to some of the descriptions given to raisers. In many cases a shade of colour is mentioned for which.• ■t-jie grower .may look in vain, unless it be that he pulls the bloom- to pieces. One case in particular camb undAr our notice recently, in which one of the new Roses catalogued iiic'itidod what the raiser described.as a glorious shade of.'yellovv.. Afte ; r a minute searc'li this was discovered at v the extreme base of the petal, and would never have been scan.in the ordinary course of'eyenits. When your Roses arrive from the nurseryman, care should

be taken at a:il times to avoid exposiai^^he io^vindvaiid sun. A good plan is to keep tUiem covered with; wet sacks; ' If the package should have been delayed for any reason in 'transit, a deep trench shouH be dug and the Roses placed lengthways in it and buri-

eel. In a -few days' time( if lifted, they will ■be . foind to have recovered. Deep planting should be avoided, and four or, five inches will be found deep enough. Do not alloiw manure* to came

into contact with the roots

All stand-

ard Roses should b.e fir-mly staked; it is well to perform this operation before planting, so as.to avoid interfering with. >the. roots in any way. Labels should

be attached to each Rose,- and from time to time fresh labels put on, as it is a somewhat, difficult matter to procure ink which will stand when exposed by the air.

As the flortvering season for Gladioli has now come to a • close, it will be necessary "for the early planted edrms to be lifted two or three weeks after the. spike has finished flo-werinig. It is preferable in all eases to cut off the flower stem just above tiie main leaves immediately tihe last flower has faded; in fact, the two terminal; buds are best cut or broken off altogether as soon, as" first flower has opened, asr these seldom open to perfection, and when they do, tJie. floiwer stem is often tod ragged"and untidy to be- left to flower any longer. By this means the nutriment goes ; to the eoi'ms -in. the ground, and these grow larger during the next two or three weeks, before the conn is lifted, when the whole siteim. should be ciii off from, the conn, for if left on, the stalk" will live on the nutriment contained in the eorin for sieveral1 weeks, before it will decay. Last year >s corni underriea.t>h. the "new cpraoi should be left on, ahji may be removed a few montlhs .a*6teriwar:ds, or when, re-

l-j)]«j3ted

.Scone beautiful Chrysanthemums havebeen seen this geasdn^ but as the flo»w-er-ing. season is new past th*y may be dug up and the cluaiTps put on one side to £onn young plaats in spring. A gieat deal depends upon securing good, strong cuttings to start with; -however well tended and fed subsequently, a weak or spindly cutting wall seldom moke a vigorotis .plant. /With" very few exceptions, those quttings ; ttot spring , from the soill at a distance from the niain^ or old stein are decidedly the best. '.Shoots issuing. from the stem.' itself should, as a rule, be avoid,ed, as they;, ax't; very apt to prpduee flower buds too early,and persistently, and seldom make good plants. - ;^ L

[-■ A general division of the clumps of ipere-nnials in mixed floiwer borders should take place this moaatlh', and nearly all kinds; may be 'lifted and divided. Shrubs T should all be planted by this time, and pruning can be commenced among any that are not expected to floiwer during the,winter months. It is well to bear in mind that pnvning of shrubs siould only be carried out wihere the subject is growing out of a desired shape, and that the natural shape is tihe one to be encouraged.

Provided the weather is mild, tke ■»rork of mending the lawn, wihere necessary;, can be undertaken at any time during the winter months, but the earlier this is done the better. In obtaining new turf, see that it is~ fairly free from weed's and coarse grass, and beat it dojwrn well when placed in position. Hollows in the lawn can be remedied by lifting tike turf-and placing a lfcyer of soil underneath, wiile small mounds

can be removed by taking away .a little earth. In both cases beat the turf down firmly after replacing it, Bagged way to deal with them is to take off edges always look bad, and the best a strip from I%e edge about 8 inches wide, cutting so that the cut edge comes outside, a muicii tidier verge will bo former], and the inside, gaps can be filled with. 5"oil and grass seed sotwnin spring. This will be found vrnucih better than cutting i away the edge, every year to bring it straight.