Garden Notes.

Levin Daily Chronicle, 12 January 1918, Page 4

Garden Notes.

The hoe should be kept going among the growing crops. Runner and dwarf beans should be kept elbsely picked and a good soaking of water will be of great benefit. Mulching of vegetable crops is not often done, but where possible it is of great benefit, and amply repays for the trouble. Lettuces, radishes, and other small salads will do with copious supplies of water. Plantings of leeks and celery should be made. Both these crops pay for plentiful supplies of water and manures. Almost all vegetable crops will bo better for liquid manure, but let the ground be well moist with clear water before applying it. Sucoessional sowings of dwarf beans should be made, sufficient to meet requirements. A sowing of runner beans made now will give a good autumn crop. Should red spider appear on beans or any crop, spray at once with an insecticide, such as 1 ' Black Leaf 40. 13 Pumpkins, marrows, melons, etc., should have the leaders pinched occasionally, to cause lateral fruiting growths. Spray tomatoes and any other crops on which fungoid or insect pests appear. Do not wait until the pests or disease have spoilt the crop. Lettuce that are running to seed should be thrown out. Feed the rogues to the chickens. Fresh green stuff is good for poultry. Keep the onion beds well watered. The bulbs will soon be swelling. Food is now in demand. Weuk. liquid manure will do good. I The sharp drying winds still continue, and care must be taken to stake and tie up all plants liable to suffer damage. With respect to trailing plants such as pumpkins, vegetable marrow, cucumber, and melons, X find it a good plan to place a sod of grass near the end of the leader. This prevents the wind from twisting and bruising the tender foliage. The weight also gives the suckers an opportunity to secure a hold on the ground. The wind dries up the moisture. Mulching should be gone on with where possible in the evening. A good soaking with water should be given to dwarf and runner beans, lettuce, cabbage plants, leeks and celeTy. RHUBARB.

Bliubarb is now turning to seed or flowering stalk. These should be cut '6ff low down as soon as they appear. Loosen the soil round the roots, and give liquid manure fortnightly. Do not allow any rhubarb to go to waste. It is as good as fruit preserved. Select the best sticks, cut them in pieces about one inch in length. Treat rhubarb the pame as fruit, and place it in air-tight bottles. By this method you can have the favourite Thubarb pie during the winter. THINNING OUT.

Do not allow your plants to get .too large before attending to this work, i You. will not get fine roots or a heavy crop by crowding. This is a mistake I often made. Space to grow and develop on good land should be allowed for the various crops as follows, between each plant in the rows: Turnips 6 inches, carrots 4 inches parsnips 4 inches, silveT beet 12 inches, mangolds 12 inches, and spinach 15 inches. If possible thinning out should be done in wet weather. Transplanting to fill up gaps in the rows should be done when thinning out. CELERY. It is useless to tTy to grow celery in dry soil. It needs plenty of water in first stage of growth. If the soil is good it will do with little water after it has got a start. Celery rust, which shows in spots in the leaves, is very destructive and cannot be cured once it it gets a hold. If caught in the early stages, spraying with bor deaux will stop it. Crops well advanced should be moulded up. This is best done by two persons, one holding the head togethers, while the other throws in the soil. Then take a spade and work on the opposite sides of the rows. If only one pair of hands are available, tie the heads together. The stalks must be kept straight and pressed firmly together, so as to keep the soil out of the hearte of the plant. The latest planting should be made during January.