THE GARDEN.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4491, 13 November 1922, Page 4

THE GARDEN.

(BY W. H. Taylor, Horticulturist.) , VEGETABLE CULTURE. In the warmer districts tomatoplants will be now well advanced in growth.. Spraying should not be neglected. A bluestone solution should be used, this being more effectual and safer than lime-sulphur. Washing soda may be used ip place of lime ; this is customary hi some of the largest and most successful plantations. The formula for lime bordeaux is 4'-4-4G—that i. ; , 4)b bluestone, 4ub lime., and 40 gallons water. When soda is used a little more than 1141 b should take the place of each lib of lime. In later districts planting will now be general. The fertiliser employed shoud npt epntain to?. much nitrogen, and a small amount of potash should always be used. The main crops of parsnips, carrots, and red beet should now be sown. A good seed bed is now easily secured, and slugs and snails should not now give trouble, therefore thin sowing is safe. If this is carefully done* there should be no gaps, and a great amount of) labour in thinning win be saved. In the colder districts savoys, cabbages, broccoli, and brussels sprouts for winter use will have to be sown. In middle districts the third week in November is early enough, except in some few places where very cold winters are experienced, and where the seasons approximate closely to those in the extreme south, the practice should be the same as in those places. .„. Peas should be sown twice each month, the crop having a currency of about a fortnight. French and butter beans crop longer t,han do peas. A sowing every third week is sufficient to maintain a supply. Turnips should be sown in small lots, as they deteriorate very quickly during the summer months. Those of the Snowball type are best; they come to first use about seven weeks from sowing. The rule should be to sow another plot when those from the previous ■sowing are first pulled. Lettuces should now be sown, thinly in drills, and the surplus sowing thinned so as to avoid transplanting. Late-sown crops of onions should be thinned as soon as possible, as growth is more rapid when the competition of the surplus plants is removed. Weeds should be rigidly repressed., as they rob the soil of) moisture. If growth is npt satisfactory give a dressing of nitrate of soda, %oz per square yard (equal to approximately l% c wt per acre). When thinning, the plants need not be .left in single lines; leave them standing

3in to 4in apart Moderate sized bulbs, four or five to .the pound, are most useful and command the best price on the market. Pickling onions are obtained by sowing Silverskin variety broadcast on a plot of poor soil at about the middle of November. The seeds should, as far as can be managed, be carefully scattered so as to fall separately but fairly close together. No thinning should be’done.

The rule i s to cease cutting asparagus when peas come in. Next season’s crop of asparagus depends on a large number of heads standing to mature. If growth is not as good as it should be give a dressing, of blobd-and-bone. 2oz per square yard, and loz of nitrate of soda ; or in place of blood-and-bpne a thorough soaking with liquid manure made of hbrse, cow, or sheep Nitrate of soda should not be omitted. On young beds it is important that .all growths be preserved. In windy places it may be necessary to support the growths by driving in a few strong stakes and running binder-twine along each side of the rows. When the growths are about 2ft high the tops may be cut off. This will dwarf them and cause them to branch more ; the intermingling of branches forms 3. mutual support, and in some cases saves staking.