THE GARDEN

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 44, 20 January 1938, Page 15

THE GARDEN

Notes are published under this heading, and readers interested in gardening are invited to send in questions relating to matters upon which they wish expert advice; answers will be published with the weekly notes.

THE FLOWER GARDEN,

The work in the flower garden at the present time is largely that of hoeing, staking and tying anything that needs it. Glndio.li want staking and flying carefully to keep the spikes straight. Delphiniums are making their second flowering and if they are from seed mark the good ones aiid ruthlessly throw out any that do not please you. These plants can be raised so easily from seed that it does not pay to keep any that do not please you. At the same time it is not always possible for one gardener to please another in the way of plants, or colour, or habit. You may look upon a variety as the best thing you have and it would be cast out on a show bench,' therefore choose your own plants and look after them. A good dressing of well-rotted manure will help the delphiniums now and it can be spread round them and lightly forked into tlie soil. Chrysanthemums are sending up the first crown buds now and these should be removed and _ the plants carefully tied up to their supports. The first crown hud only gives coarse heavy flowers, and when the plants are being grown for show purposes the bud you require is the second crown, which will appear about the ninth of next month. Caterpillars have been very troublesome of late and the plants must be sprayed before they get too much of a hold. Arsenate of lead powder at the rate of one teaspoonful to a gallon of soapy water is effective. There is no need to water or feed these plants until the correct bud has been taken.

A. —Break bud removed. B. —First crown at top of stem. C. —Second crown, the budt thet is wanted for show flowers. Note. —All shoots removed from axils of the leaves with the exception of those which are wanted.

Dahlias are making good growth in spite of the heat, but there is a lot of work to be done in disbudding them and tying the tender branches to their supports. If they are . getting very dry give them a good soaking of water at their roots. No halfmeasures are effective. Give them a good soaking and then work the surface soil to keep the moisture in it. There is a good deal of transpiration through the leaves in the hot weather. Go over the rose beds and remove all spent blooms and seed heads, cutting them back to a good strong eye. In many oases you will find that they are making growth which is due to the rain of a week or two ago. If the ground is getting dry again give the beds a good soaking and then work the top soil with the hoe. They do not want watering every day. Once a week if there is no rain should be quite enough. SOME NEW ROSES. A New Zealander who lias been in England since the Coronation says: I have been to a number of shows lately, including the National Rose Show, and I know you. will he interested to hear what I think of them. The arrangements are wonderful and quite a lot of money must be spent in arranging the various trade exhibits. I do not think that anyone could say that roses have no scent now-a-days. The fragrance in the novelty tent was simply overpowering and 1 tried to discern where it came from. No particular rose, as far as I could find out, was responsible for the aroma. ' They all seemed to combine to make it up. The new roses were the centre of attraction, mid enormous crowds filed past them while I was there. A gold medal was given to Poulsen’s yellow. I cannot say why this was picked out —perhaps because it was the first hybrid polyantha of that colour to be shown. It seemed to be very free flowering and the petals were waved. I was not impressed with it to anywhere near the same extent as I was with some of the certificates of merit roses. Lady Moira Cavendish was a deep-red, shaded to the centre with deep maroon, and a glorious scent. I had seen this variety growing in a nursery and thought a lot of it there. Orange Triumph is a new hybrid polyantha of a good scarlet colour. The flowers are semi-double and open one at a time into fairly large clusters. It is quite a good tiling. Rosenelfe is another hybrid polyantha with beautifully formed flowers, fully double, and is a medium shade of pink. I was making u note of it when a voice at my elbow said, “Tell yoiu friends it is scented, tdo.” It was thus I got an introduction to William Kordes, who had raised it. He told me quite a lot of interesting tilings, about various roses lie has got in his test garden, but I shall write more about him some other time. There were a lot of fine roses which .did not receive any award. Miss Elien Wilmot is a beautiful single as shown here, but I am afraid it would lose its colour with you. The people who showed this rose told me that they had a lot of hybrid polyanthas coining on and that some of them will be shown in the near future. They are going to give new life to roses as bedders. I was looking for something that would prove to be a good exhibition rose for you, and I think I found it in a Mr Wiilliam Sprott; it is a glorious yellow, with very pretty rolled petals. The centre is high and pointed. Do not forget it, as it is perfect here and should be quite hardy, and another tiling is that it does not show any Peruettiana breeding. McGredy’s Sunset is very pretty, but I have never seen a sunset that colour. Dickson’s Perfection is described as a glowing orange rose ; perhaps it is,. but here again these fantastic descriptions are misleading. Its shape was quite good. I believe that in every exhibit I saw there were some baskets of Katherine Piohfold, the rose you told mo to look out for, and I was charmed with it. Mrs Sam McCredy was shown in .equal quantities and is a general fav-

ourite with evei’3’oiie. President IT. Hoover is a favourite with exhibitors in baskets and the sport Texas Gold was also seen. Personally, I like this rose the better of the two. There is more .yellow about it and it lasts well. Golden Dawn is another rose that was well shown and I believe that it is as popular as Shot Silk. There is a large rose garden near here and I am going to see it in a week’s time, when, I am told, it will be at its best. There are over two hundred beds in it and some are‘devoted to one rose only. There are a lot of species and hybrids to be seen also, and I shall try to note some of the newer ones for you. PLANTS FROM SEEDS. Seeds that are being raised in boxes require a lot of attention during the hot weather in the way of spraying and keeping the soil moist. The early sown primrose-polyantlia seed should be coming up now. It is very slow to germinate as a rule and will grow very slowly at first, but as soon as the young seedlings can he handled they can be pricked out into boxes, where they will have more room to develop. They will require shade and plenty of water at first and this must be continued until they are ready to plant out. Other seedlings that are being grown require similar treatment. At the same time get the soil they are to occupy ready for them by deep digging and manuring with old well-rotted manure. Coarse, new stuff is useless to them at this time of the year. What they want is something that will he ready for their use as soon as they begin to make roots. Whore seedlings are set out in dry weather the soil should be well watered a day or so beforehand and then when the seedlings are put in they will have a reasonable chance of growing. QUESTION.

“Begonia” says: “I have a tuberous rooted begonia which came on well in the spring, and in December had several beautiful red buds nearly half grown. To my disappointment the three larger ones have dropped off during the week. The plant looks well. I have it on a shelf in front of an open leadlight window. It is always kept damp. It was in bloom when I got it last year, hut it acted the same then as it has done now.” Those plants certainly like plenty of air, but wo are inclined to blame the draught through the open window as the cause of the trouble. Try the plant outside where it will get an hour or so of the morning sun, but where it will be sheltered during the heat of the day from the direct heat of the sun. If it does not behave itself then you had better ask the seller for some hints on growing them, or get him to try it under the same conditions. Usually these plants do not give any trouble unless there is some cause for it, and wo are inclined to blame the draught through the window. These often do better in semishade outside than they do when used as house plants. THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. If you have a supply of water handy, you can plant Brussel sprouts, broccoli, and other winter greens. The main thing is to give the plants a good soaking with water before you plant them, and then see that they do not lack for water until they stand up>right and begin to grow. When this happens the watering may cease, but they should he sprayed with some compound to keep the diamond-backed moth at bay. Dusting with derris is equally effective. A small and cheap dust gun can be got that is splendid for the work and does not waste the powder. It will be necessary to do. the dusting or spraying about once a fortnight. The question of manure for these crops is an important one, as they like a well manured soil. Dig in plenty of farinyard manure and work it up with the soil, and then when planting put a handful of basic slag in the hole with the roots; this does them good and has been found to, keep club root at bay. Unfortunately, this disease is far too common amongst this class of plant and when it gets in will cause the crop to stop growing. Runner beans have done very well this season, but if they are to continue bearing all the pods must he picked before the seeds in them begin to harden. If the dry weather continues it may l>e necessary to give them a good watering, but it is useless to water alone without working _ up the surface of the soil as soon as it is dry enough to be hoed. In all kinds of gardening this is a point that is often lost sight of. The water is poured on until the surface becomes caked and then evaporation is very rapid, but break up the surface and it is much slower and gives the plants a chance to replenish their supplies before the water either drains away or is evaporated into the air. Keep on planting leeks until you have enough plants for your needs through the winter and early spring. They do not appear to be growing very fast at the start, but they are making roots all the time and when the days are cooler and moister they will make a quicker growth. Liquid manure is very valuable to them and it can he given fairly strongly. A little nitrate of soda is helpful to these plants, but it must not be given in great quantities—about one ounce to four yards of row should he quite heavy enough. As soon as the onion crop begins to turn yellow bend the tops over and this will assist the ripening process. Onions are always a valuable crop to have and any oar k e taken "with them will be repaid when they are harvested properly. Those with thick necks can be put on one side for immediate use. Eschallots are ready to harvest now and tliey can bp lifted and stored away as soon as they have been dried off. ‘They are useful to take the place of onions and are largely used for

pickling. Some people like them better than onions for this purpose. Peas can still be sown, but it is a good plan to soak the seed overnight in plenty of water, and then when the seed is sown to give the trench a soaking also before it is covered in. The late crops of potatoes can be earthed up as soon as they aro ready. Two or three earthings are advisable for this crop, as it helps to keep the weeds down and to stir the soil at the same time.

Spray tomatoes as soon as the first bunch of fruit has set. Reports to hand from various sources say that this crop is an exceptionally fine one this year and if blights can be kept at bay there, will be plenty of fruit very soon. Do not water these plants. They are better without it, hut if they are given a good hoeing and dusting of potash that will help them along.