THE GARDEN

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 50, 27 January 1938, Page 8

THE GARDEN

THE FLOWER GARDEN

The flower garden may have been very dry, but with the rain again the plants will “buck up” and one will forget that they looked drooping and withered. If water, is given let it be a good soaking, and then when the surface soil is dry enough hoe it over and keep it well worked. This will stop surface evaporation and the plants will get the benefit of all moisture that is in it. Gladioli blooms are coming out fast now and whether these plants are being grown in clumps or singly they should be tied up to stakes so that they do not fall over. Water them if necessary, but the more moisture they have in the hot weather the sooner the flowers will fade a.nd die off. If they are wanted for showing they can be cut when the two or three lower blooms are out and immediately placed in water in a cool, darkened room. The water can be changed every day or two. The flowers, when treated in this way, will keep much longer than when cut and staged straight from the garden. Flowers for showpurposes should have good even pips, face one way, and be perfectly straight. Those seeds that were sown earlier in the month will need careful handling in the way of shade and water. If they are ready-or large enough to prick out into other boxes, fill these boxes the da.y before they are required and give them a good soaking with water, and let this drain away before the

young plants are pricked out. Keep the boxes shaded, for a few days so that the plants will have a chance to establish themselves, and then they can bo gradually hardened off to. stand full sunlight. This is the best time of the year to raise young delphinium plants from seed. Sow the seed as soon as it is ripe, and when the young plants come up they can be pricked out and treated in the same way as ordinary seedlings. It is better to keep them in the boxes during the winter and plant them out in well manured soil in the spring. Seed that is saved from good varieties and colours will give quite a number like the parents and at the same time there may be some which are decided improvements. It is in this way that new ones are raised and there is no reason why you cannot be one of the lucky ones.

QUESTIONS. “M.K.” 6ays: “There are two questions I would like to ask you to reply to in your valuable notes. The first is, Could you give me, or get for me, a recipe for pickling gherkins? I have some plants and they are bearing well but I cannot find a good recipe. Perhaps if you have not got one a reader who has would give one. The other question is about the soil in this garden. I do not know how long it has been cropped, but my husband says it is worked out. Is there any way in which it can be brought back to a state of fertility? Lettuces have done no good at all. The soil at the present time is very hard and dry. I would appreciate any bints about working it.” We are afraid we have no recipe at hand for pickling gherkins, but perhaps some reader will supply this. We have been told that these plants are cropping well this season and others may like to know how to use them. In reference to the soil the great thing is to build it up and replenish the store of humus that has been worked out of it by repeated croppings. Lettuces like a heavily manured soil and unless this can be given to them they are almost sure to fail. The supply of humus can be brought back either by manuring with plenty of farmyard manure, or by sowing • cover crops and digging them .in as soon as they aro ready. Both together will help, but you must remember that until either or both decay they will not be giving you the best results. We would suggest that you sow at once a crop of blue lupins, which can be got at any seed house, and that when they are in flower you dig the whole lot into the soil and immediately sow another crop, such as oats on top of this and dig. this in about a month before you are ready to begin planting or sowing. If any farmyard manure is available dig this in also. Any leaves or garden refuse will help. You will notice better results next season. We do not think that there are any soils in this district that cannot bo improved by growing green crops and digging them in. They may not bo good enough to grow a good green crop the first

time, but one crop will improve another. One thing in particular about growing green crops is that they improve the mechanical condition of the soil, and you will find that it will be easier to work. On no account must you work the land when it is wet and sodden. MY GARDEN.

"I thank you for your invitation to write something about my garden. It is not a very largo one, but I find many interesting things to record every time Igo into it. This morning I was up early and had the pleasure of watching a small warbler feeding her foster child, a large shining cuckoo. How hard the little one had to work, and most of the grubs that were collected came from my rose bed, which had been watered last night and the surface soil hoed over this morning. One could hardly believe that the little fellow could find so many. They must have eyes like needles to find the number of grubs that they do to feed the big fellow. However, that is not gardening, but is a part of it which may be as unconventional as the rest of it. I have enticed the sparrows .to my roses and . I am glad to say that the experiment has bene entirely successful. I never see aphis on my plants, and for the past two years I have not sprayed them for this pest. The bushes are not pruned in the orthodox way, hut are simply thinned out and all useless wood removed. Some of them are Cft. high, and they give blooms nearly all the year round. My friends tell me that I could never raise show blooms, but I can do so as events have _ proved. When my bushes are at their best I can gather armfuls of beautiful blossoms every day. There are some which seem to come a better shape and colour when there are a number on a bush at one time. 1 have read the arguments in favour of hard pruning, but I am not convinced that there is anything in it. One thing I have tried which has done my plants good is the idea of winter spraying. I have never been able to get my ground worked to more than eighteen inches in depth, hut as this seems to he satisfactory, I do not worry. Every winter the beds get a dressing of manure of a very mixed variety, and this is forked in when the ground is dry enough. No artificial manures of any kind have been used and they do not seem to be necessary. The land has never been limed, but as this is papa country you may say it is not necessary. Climbing roses do wonderfully well here. Some are from cuttings, and after a year or two

TO DISBUD EXHiBITI

DAHLIAS FOR ON BLOOMS.

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.

they go completely ‘mad.’ Ono at five years old covers a cabbage tree right Tip to the top, and still wants to go higher. It is a fine thing when in bloom but no one can tell me the name of it. Against the front of my house I have a bed of auriculas, which ill my friends admire. There is nothing wonderful about them, but all who see them say ‘How lovely!’ I can pull bits off them and stick them into the ground and they will all grow, so I cannot take credit for them. Camellias do well with me and I like the bright cheerful green of the leaves. I have discovered that they like plenty of manure and they get it when the roses are done. They make a good wind-break and beyond manuring they get no further attention. The ordinary bedding plants 1 make no appeal to me, and the only plants I like are those that do not need replacing each year. Crab apples are fine bird food, and some are grown for this purpose. Gorgeous is the latest and last until all the leaves have fallen in the winter. I! have got a grape vine for the same purpose and it has been a mass of fruit. I believe I could grow grapes as well as anyone if I gave them some attention. Mv few gooseberries are covered because I grow enough for the birds already; they fruit very well. One corner of my garden is a hopeless tangle, but I like it and can sit and read in the cool during the hottest part of*the day. Unfortunately, we are short of water, but the birds have their bath, which is filled every day, and how they like it, splash, splash, all the time.” DAHLIAS. In spite of the dry weather dahlias are coming on very well. They require a certain amount of attention, especially those plants that are being grown for show purposes. Disbudding and tying up are necessary to increase the size of the blooms, and then to keep the heavy flowers from being broken down.

A. —Central or crown bud to be left. B. —Two side buds to be removed. C. —Growths pushing from the axils which have flower buds in their centres, which are to be cut off where marked with a-line.

Keep the surfaco of the soil well worked and broken up, and. when the buds have set properly feeding can be done, but this should never be done when the soil round the plants is dust dry. Give the plants or soil round them a good soaking with clear water first and see that they get enough to moisten the soil down to their roots. When liquid manure is gi'ven to any plant on dry ground it stays near the surface, but when the soil is moist it will go right down to the place where it is needed. The beauty of liquid manure is that it is immediately available for the use of plants, and as soon as it reaches the

root hairs they become active and suck it up. Plants cannot eat, but they can drink, and as soon as they find something that they want they will take it up very quickly. It is surprising what a lot can bo done with liquid manure. THE VEGETABLE GARDEN.

In spite of the dry weather, vegeI tables have done splendidly this season. One of our readers has sent in tho results he has got from seven pounds of potato seed which lie bought and treated to the “greening” process. He says: “I did not believe when I read it that sprouting the seed would make such a difference. However, this is what I have got by using this seed, and three barrowfuls of stable manure and one two-gallon bucket of potato manure. The potatoes were planted late in August on top of the stable manure, and half the artificial manure was used in the two rows and the other half just before they were earthed up- I have dug 148 pounds of potatoes from one and a-'half inches to five in length, and nine pounds of smaller ones, to date, and still have fifteen sets to dig. I am satisfied your methods are good. The dry ground is now planted in leeks, celery, and silver beet, which are all doing well.” Wo thank this gardener for his information and put it down to show what can be produced when one really tries to make the best of anything. Pumpkins and marrows will crop better if the ends of the long runners are pinched out and the plants allowed- to seed out plenty of laterals. They bear better on these than they will on the main runner. Marrows are used before they begin to ripen, and this will induce them to go on fruiting until the frosts come. Runner beans are suffering from the dry weather and will be all the! better for a good soaking of water I now and again. They have a kind of tuberous root that takes a lot of water to keep going: The beans from these plants must be kept picked, because when they begin to set they stop the plants bearing. Continue to plant leeks and celery 1 to make a succession. They will require watering to start them' into growth, but once they are established they will not require much attention for some time. Draw the soil away from onion bulbs as they grow, and when the tops begin to turn yellow they can be bent over to assist the ’ ripening process. Eschallots should be ripe enough now to be harvested and stored away. They are useful for pickles and other purposes until the onions come in. Keep lettuces well watered and give them liquid manure once or twice a week. ,