THE GARDEN

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 129, 1 May 1940, Page 4

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.

plant and about three feet between the rows. It is a good plan to leave the plants alone tlie first year to give; them a good chance to get established, when they should last for three or four years at least. You wdl be able to use the winter variety next Winter, but cut away every flowering^stalk that comes up from it. You will find that to allow them to flower will weaken them. “vvonder” says: ‘‘Last season I tried to buy a mulberry tree for my garden, but could not get one anywhere. A friend here has a tree growing in a section where a house was burnt down some time ago, and lie says that 1 may have it if I think it is worth moving. 1 have been to see it' and the stem is about five inches through and the tree about ten feet in height. Do you think this tree is worth moving and if so when should it be moved?” The* tree is certainly worth inoviug. The main tiling to do is to lift it carefully and cut flic top back hard.. Dig a ditch all round the tree now about two feet or so from the stem j and carefully cut all Lhe roots. Then ' the drain can lie partly filled in with I soil for a while. Prepare tire new hole for the tree hv draining the place and ! digging it to a depth of two feet, and I fill the bottom with good, fresh turf 1 for the base of the tree to rest .upon. When von are ready to move the tree, (lie top can he cut back to within a foot or so of the main stem. It may seem like planting a stump, and this is what is happening. Work fresh soil amongst the roots, hut do not use I any manure. Keep the soil round the tree well cultivated. In the spring new ! shoots will break from adventitious , buds on the stem. If there are too many of these shoots appearing sdme i of them can be rubbed out and a few of the best retained. .11l a year or two I the tree will begin to hear again. I ‘‘Lemon” says: “I thank you for 'past help and would be very thankful if you can help me with my lemon 1 trees. I have some that were planted three years ago and I do not think they have made any growth since they j were fiist planted. My soil is heavy I and is very hard to work in the sumj mer time, and 1 put the poor growth 1 down to this. A friend here has one tree and seems to lie able to pick a few fine fruit a.t any time. I do want to make a success of these and will be thankful for any help.” Wo would advise you to lift the trees and remake the position chosen for them by draining it with field tiles at least two feet below the surface, and, to ensure quick drainage, do not put the clay back, but use good j turf and plenty of well-rotted manure. When replanting, raise the Aground so that the roots are higher up in the soil. We have found that it helps growth to prune these trees when they are first planted in the same way as apple trees, are treated. Another gardener discussing this subject said that he had found pruning to be ah aid to growth. When the plants begin to grow again give the surface a dressing of fowl manure and lightly fork this into the soil round the bush. In the summer time a good mulch should be given to the ground round the trees. Lawn clippings or any rough grass will do for this,, and when the soil begins to get moist in the autumn this mulch can be covered with manure and dug in. HYDRANGEAS. , The question of pruning hydrangeas is always uppermost in a grower’s mind. 111 the old days hydrangeas were cut down almost to the ground without recard to whether the shoots had flowered or not. Nowadays, with the advent of the new hybrids, all this has been changed and the unflowered shoots are left and the old wood is carefully cut away so that the remaining shoots have room to grow and

- THE FLOWER GARDEN. ] The best time of the year to put : trees and shrubs in the garden is ill ' the late autumn, but as a rule the 1 busy gardener has not had time to ’ prepare the ground. It is waste to be- I gin planting before the ground has been given, proper attention. Prepare < rose beds now by, deep digging and < working in some manure with the lower spits. Soil for roses should be i at least two feet in depth, and if the clay below is solid and impervious to f water break it up and put i;i a drain \ or two to carry the surplus water i away. Tnere are 60me plants that can be set out now if. the soil is ready. Wallflowers are worth while for their sweet scent, and they are very accommodating, as they will grow in almost any situation as long as they get some light. Primula malacoides will make a good show in the spring, and when planting takes place some well-rotted manure can be worked into the ground below them. They do not like any fresh manure. Iceland poppies can still be planted, and these like a well-prepared piece of ground with some old manure | in it. Give the bed a dressing of lime i before putting the plants in and allow plenty of room tor the plants to grow. Violas and pansies can aiso~ be planted out. If you have any old plants of violas it might be possible to pull them I apart and get enough rooted pieces to plant up again. The same can be done with pansies, but to a lesser extent. Aubretias make good edgings, and if you want a supply of these get a box of good, 6andy soil and prepare a 11111117 her of cuttings, and insert them firmly in it, and cover the. box with glass and shade for a few days. The cuttings are slow to root, | but'they will do so if they are looked after and are not allowed to dry out! too much. Dianthus and pinks can be | treated in the same way and are useful j for the same purpose. The dianthus family is a very large one, and there j are some very pretty varieties. Many j of' them are splendid rock garden plants, but they must not be allowed to run riot all over the place. I Biennial plants can also be planted now. Canterbury bells have been neglected too long. A good sized mass j of these are charming in any garden! and with a little attention can be I kept in bloom for a long time. At one time a garden was not considered to be complete without an assortment ol ■‘granny bonnets” in it and, although hybridists have changed these flowers considerably in the last decade, they still have considerable charm and are worth planting in good clumps. Possibly- if you looked round a seedling shop you would find some of the latest long spurred hybrids, which are really beautnul. Correopsis grandiflora is not] grown as much as it should be. It is | one of the best flowers for cutting and will flower over- a very long period once it begins. Plant before the 1 winter gets too far advanced. Stocks can also be planted. They do j well in fresh ground where they have not been grown before. The ten-week stocks will come into bloom in the early spring and the Broniptons much later on. There are some growers who believe in planting delphiniums in the autumn, but you will find that if they •are seedling plants they should be kept in the boxes for the winter and planted out in the spring when danger from frosts is over. Old plants can be split up and planted if required, or they can be kept in the ground and planted out when they begin to shoot in the spring. Take cuttings of pentstemons and root them in sandy soil, the best shoots are the young green ones that are springing up from the base , of the stems. When one has some good varieties it pays to raise plants of a . good colour. Seedlings give plenty of good blooms but when one often gets | a particularly good one it is a good , plan to keep them by means of cut- < tings whicli can be put out in the spring. In the rock garden there are plenty of subjects that can be increased by means of cuttings, and these can be taken now and stuck in pots of sami under glass. This work is most interesting to those who wish to increase their stock or to replace old, worn-out plants. Ranunculus and anemone plants that have been raised in boxes ; can be put out in beds. Raising these in boxes has found a lot oi friends during the last year or two, because beds can be made by these means without leaving blanks in the rows. Keep the soil between the rows of bulbs well worked and take care to leave the 6oil over the rows intact, because some of the bulbs are beginning to grow. CARNATIONS. Border carnations that were layered some time ago should be well-looted now, and the plants can be cut away from the main plants and then they Can be taken up and planted in a nursery bed where they can remain until the main bed is ready to receive them. When making up a bed for these plants dig it deeply and work in a little manure low down, and raise the bed about six inches above the surrounding soil to make certain that the plants have plenty of drainage. Give the surface a good dressing of lime and work this into the soil. In heavy land j some burnt earth can be worked into . the soil. ]f there are some ashes mixed . in.with the soil it will be all the better for them. Ashes and soot are the safest manures that can be used when growing these plants. Perpetual carnations can be planted out as soon as they are well hardened off. The land can be prepared in much the same way as lor border carnations, except that more rotten manure can be used, but ' it must not be allowed to come in contact with the roots of the newly set out plants. Plenty of lime can be used, and as soon as the plants are in the ground they can be dusted witli lime every week. Keep the plants well nipped hack and do not allow them to send up any flowering^shoots before next October and even then only allow about half of them to flower at once. QUESTION. “Rural” says: “I want to make a rhubarb bed and to plant about two dozen roots, of which one dozen will be a winter growing one. These roots have been given to me from some good growers. The other dozen are to be the summer variety which-'' I have ordered. Will you kindly tell me how to prepare the soil and how soon can I plant. I would like to plant, early next month, as I am too busy later on to be able to do much planting.” The main, thing in making a bed for rhubarb is to see that the land is well drained and deeply dug. Rhubarb is a gross feeding plant, and when working the soil put in plenty of manure and mix it well up with the soil. If the soil is heavy and liable to be wet, put a drain underneath so that the water can get away quickly. If the ground is dry enough there is no reason why the planfX could not be set out at the time you want to do it. When making the bed allow about' thirty inches from plant to

more young. shoots' are sent up from the base. Some of these newer varieties are dwarf growers, aijd. care ha's to be taken not to cut tod much away from them. The strong growers, on the other hand, must be carefully thinned so that sun and air can get to the centres of the plants. As soon as possible after pruning has been done give the soil round the plants a good dressing of manure and lightly fork it into the soil. Fowl or pigeon manure should form a. good po’rtion of the material that is used Any nitrogenous manure has the effect of keeping the pink varieties pink and also of deepening the colour of the red ones. This rule is not infallible because the soil the plants are growincr in lias to lie taken into account, and there are times when 110 manuring process will change them. A move is sometimes advisable, especially when large plants are not behaving as they have always done.

THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. A correspondent says: “I am very i glad to see that you are taking up the question of growing more vegetables, as I think that it is one thing that will bring everyone within reach of being able to do something fpr the country’s good. After reading your appeal 1 thought 1 would go out, and see ' how much more land could he used in my own street. By making a liberal allowance for backyards and leaving all the front gardens alone, 1 came to the • conclusion that there were three acres or more which could be used to advantage. and what a lot of stuff could he grown in that area.” There are plenty of other -streets where the same thing could he found and it is a pity that something could not he done to bring about the use of this soil. However, as long as those who have soil are willing to make use of it to its full capacity it will make a great deni of difference to the.

amount of food grown. The main thing is to make an early start and get the ground worked now so that there will be no lost time when planting or sowing lias to-he done. In the case of land that has been worked for some years it may- be necessary to put .plenty of manure in the ground, and there is no better time than the autumn to do this work. Manure dug into the ground at this period will he in a fit state of assimilation by the soil to give off some of-the salt's that their connection with the soil has let loose. It will not hurt such soil to sow a crop on it to be dug in during the i early part of the spring; in fact it pays better to keep soil busy than to let it | rest. The plants may not have time to j rot down before the soil is in use again, but it will rot in the course of time and will in this way add to the richness of the soil.. Green crops also have the effect of improving the texture of some soils |

in much the same way as lime hrva. There is one thiiig.tliat imisVbe.considered when deciding what p ants to crow. There are some .sods that grow root crops well, but others put m them will not do so well as they would in another-place. You will - know hat suits your own special soil t|ie. lies , and then concentrate on that. 0 ’ )O V®. will grow well in most soils, but do. not tr'v to repeat the same crop in the same soil year after year.. The proper e rotation of crops is an niteresting sub- t , ject -to study and will probably show the gardener the reason for moving , the crops from place _to place In gar- - dens where finger and toe or club root ■ has been found it would be wise not to plant any of the cabbage family until the soil has been well limed and the crops arc not sown or planted again for two rears, at least Almost an> c-roo /can follow peas', celery, or leeks, and such soil is generally used foi •• ■ early lettuces or potatoes. ... y