THE GARDEN

Otago Witness, Issue 4028, 26 May 1931, Page 11

THE GARDEN

g WORK FOR THE WEEK NOTES BY

D. TANNOCK,

THE GREENHOUSE AND NURSERY Chrysanthemums will still be providing the chief display in the cool greenhouse, but cinerarias and primulas will be showing colour, and will be ready to take their place later on. Those who have a heated greenhouse' or a propagating house can add considerably to the interest and attractiveness of their garden by growing a number of the easier kinds of orchids, and several winter flowering begonias and other sub-tropical plants. Foremost among these is the Poinsettia Euphorbia pulcherrima, a native of Mexico. It is much hardier than many people think, and can be grown without heat in a cool greenhouse or frame during the autumn. The flowers are small and greenish yellow, but the bracts are large and bright vermillion in colour. These should be developing now, and the plants should get plenty of water with weak liquid manure twice a week. Euphorbia fulgens is also a very decorative plant, and also _ native of Mexico, though it requires more heat than the Poinsettia. It has slender arching branches which produce small flowers with bright orange-scarlet bracts, forming long wreaths. This plant is very satisfactory when planted out on a border and trained up the back wall and on the roof. Euphorbia splendens is a very spiny plant of a succulent nature. It has bright red waxy bracts, which remain attractive for a long time. Coleus thyrsoideus -is a blue flowering plant from Uganda. It has nettle-like foliage and spikes of bright blue flowers like a small delphinium. Phynostachys Dawii is also a strong-growing plant with blue flowers. THE FLOWER GARDEN

Most of the outdoor plants with the exception of chrysanthemums, and (in frost-free places), Salvia bonfire, are over now, and the beds and borders can be cleared and planted up with wallflower stocks, forget-me-nots, double daisies, and primrose polyanthus to provide a display in the spring. Spring flowering bulbs and tubers should have been planted some time ago, but if they are still available it is better late than never. The weather, though dry lately, has-been very favourable for transplanting, and if well watered in, the plants soon recover and are little the worse for their shift. Continue to clean, top-dress and plant the rock garden, plant out bog primulas, and all kinds of herbaceous perennials, and plant out roses, and both deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs. This is really a busy month in the flower garden, and it is better to push on with planting and any other alterations which are contemplated while the soil is in good working order, and to leave the cleaning up of leaves and other tidying up until later on. Those who desire to have hardy flowers all the year round should grow a good patch of Iris ungiiicularis, a native of Algeria. It will thrive anywhere, but flowers best on a fairly dry border on the sunny side of a wall or hedge. It has already begun to send up its solitary bright lilac flowers, which are neat .and dainty and last well in -water. It is a plant which, when well-established, should be left alone. THE VEGETABLE AND FRUIT GARDEN It is not too late to sow peas and beans, spinach and lettuce. Continue to trench and dig all vacant land, and lift and store root crops. PRUNING BUSH FRUITS The Gooseberry.—The gooseberry is one of the most useful of hardy fruits, and one which is frequently spoiled by pruning or the lack of it. To get really useful crops it is necessary to regulate the growths, and to pick the berries. There must be sufficient space between the branches. Gooseberries are very satisfactory when trained as cordons or fan-shaped on a fence, or wall, but are generally trained as bushes. They bear their fruit on both the young wood developed last season, and on little spurs on the older branches. To get a large crop it is better to take advantage of both methpds, but the best and largest berries are produced on the young growths. When summer pruning is carried out all that will be necessary now is to shorten back the side growths to about an inch and the young growths to about six or nine inches, according to the age and growth of the bush. The centre of the bushes must be kept open, and from time to time old branches are cut right out and replaced by young ones brought up from near the base. If there was no summer pruning, the same methods will be suitable, all weak and unsuitable branches being cut right out, and also all dead and decaying wood, and any branches which show a tendency to grow into the centre of the plant. There are two types of bushes, —one with upright stems, and another with more or less weeping stems. When pruning the upright kinds cut to a bud pointing away from the centre of the bush. With the weeping kinds it is necessary to cut to pointing upwards, to keep the branches off the ground. The lower branches should be cut away in both types, for it is more ■ convenient to cultivate among bushes with a clean stem, and the lower fruits become spattered with dirt in any case. When trained as single or double cordons all side branches are cut back and the setms extended by adding from six to nine inches every year until they reach the top of the wire or fence. When trained in a fan-shape it is better to add more young wood and to cut out old branches more frequently. Red and White Currants.—Red and white currants bear their fruit entirely on little arrested spurs formed on the old wood, and consequently pruning consists of shortening back all side growths to about three buds' from the main stem, and the leaders to about nine to 12 inches in young bushes, and six to nine inches on the older ones. It is not necessary to renew the branches so frequently as in black currants or goose-

berries, but it is an advantage to cut away an old branch altogether occasionally, and to train in a young one to take its place. Red currants are very suitable for training as cordons on a shady wall or fence, their treatment being similar to that given gooseberries. The fruit on cordon currants trained on a cool’ shady wall takes longer to ripen, and consequently the season is extended. Raspberries.—The pruning of raspberries is a very simple process. First all the old shoots which have fruited are cut away, and then the number of young canes is reduced to five or six. the weaker and less satisfactory being cut right out. The young unripened usually curved tips of the selected canes arfe then cut off, and they are ready to tie up. There are several methods of training raspberries, probably the most satisfactory being to tie out the shoots fan-shaped to a wire fence. This gives the fruiting growths plenty of room to develop, and also room for the young canes to grow up without interfering with the fruiting ones. Another satisfactory method is to tie three' canes together, and to bend them over until they’ come into contact with three from the next stool, and to tie them together like a hoop. This also allows the young canes room to develop, but the fruiting ones have not as much light and air as those trained on wires. Sometimes they are tied up to a stout stake, but this method is not so satisfactory as the two already described. Loganberries.—The pruning of the loganberry is similar to that of the raspberry, the old canes which have fruited being cut right. out and selected young ones tied in to take their place. They are then tied on to wires for support, or they are allowed to trail over a heap of stones or a stone wall. The heat from the stones helps to ripen the wood and the fruit.

Figs.—Figs bear their fruit on the young one or two-year-old shoots, and they are peculiar in this way, that they form their fruits one season and ripen them the next. Figs ripen quite well when trained on a wall or fence, the branches being tied out fan-shaped at from 10 to 15 inches apart. All unnecessary wood should be removed by disbudding in the autumn, and the fruiting shoots can now be shortened back to five or six buds. Every year at least two shoots should be trained up from the bottom to take the place of a like number of old branches which are cut out. The young fruits, which are in reality inflorescences, should not be larger than peas in the autumn, for if too far developed they will be damaged by frost and drop off. Figs have a tendency to make too much growth, and not to ripen their wood properly. When this is the case root pruning should be carried out in the autumn or early winter. As soon as the pruning is carried out all twigs and branches should be gathered up and burned, and the ground turned over. It is not advisable to dig at all deeply under the bushes for fear of damaging the surface roots. In fact, it is better to draw away the surface soil and leaves and bury them between the rows throwing back a little of the fresh, clean soil. Unless the soil is very rich, a topdressing of farm yard manure should be applied as a mulch, or a dusting of basic slag or basic prosphate at the rate of three to five ounces to every square yard of soil, dusted round the bushes. Birds often pick out the goosberry buds just as they begin to soften in the early spring, and it is advisable to dust the bushes with a mixture of slaked lime and soot in equal parts, or to stretch a few strands of black cotton from branch to branch.

Myrtus Ugni.—l have frequently drawn attention to this very decorative and useful shrub; but it is still rather rare in gardens. It is a native of Chile, with leathery leaves very like the myrtle, and when planted in good soil grows to a height of six or more feet. At the present time it is simply hung with blueblack fruits with an agreeable aroma and a pleasant taste, something between a strawberry and a pineapple. They are pleasant to eat raw and make very good jam and jelly.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS “Walnut,” Anderson’s Bay.—The brown spots on the walnut'trees are caused by a fungus Morssonia juglondis. Unless present in very large numbers, these spots do very little harm. If the tree is not too large it could be sprayed with Bordeaux mixture when the leaves are young. Collect and burn all fallen leaves. I would suggest giving your tree a good dressing of basic phosphate. “ Tomato, ,J Palmerston.—New so.l may be contaminated, though as a rule it is not. To grow tomatoes properly it is desirable to sterilise the soil with steam. With a clay subsoil it will be necessary to have excellent drainage, to water carefully, and to keep the atmosphere as dry as possible.