IN THE GARDEN

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 375, 9 November 1932, Page 7

IN THE GARDEN

FORMING ROCKERIES DEEP TRENCHING NECESSARY IN SWEET PEA CULTURE. VIOLET CULTIVATION. As a gexieral rule violets are sadly • neglected, being allowed to remain without attention for an indefinite time until they have thoroughly exhausted the soil and become so crowded that they eannot produce good blooms. Proper cultivation more than pays for the trouble by the improvement that results, both in the number and size of the blooms. violets love rich soil. The ground should be dug two spits deep, adding a good layer of manure or decayed vegetahle matter, and keeping some of the hest soil for the top. The best | position for a violet bed is one which j gets the full benefit of the morning sun and shade at midday. The old plants should be taken up as soon as they have finished fiowering, and the young rooted layers be chosen for replanting. Ch'oose damp weather if possible for the planting, and allow about nine inches between the plants. All the largest leaves may be cut off as this will leave less surface for the evaporation of moisture. Make the soil fairly firm round the plants, and water them well in. About a month after planting a sprinkling of nitrate of soda may be given, and water in. Care should be taken to keep the nitrate off the foliage as it hurns. A further similar dressing of loz to the square yard may be given a month later. During the summer months the surface of the beds should be kept hoed, and should the weather become very dry, watering should be resorted to. A thorough soaking once a week is better than more frequent sprinklings. V/hen the weather is dry, red spider is liable to attack the plants, turning the leaves yellow or rusty eoloured. In the event of this occurring, spray with linre sulphur at a strength of one in seventy-flve of water. It is necessar^ to remove all runners during the summer, especially in the case of newly-planted vioiets, as these weaken the main plants. Old established beds which are to remainundistrubed will benefit if the rank growth of foliage is cut off and a good mulch of rotted manure spread over the plants. The great drawback . to this is the great number of weeds which come up from seed which is in . the manure. A mulch of good rich j clean soil with which is incorporated a small quantity of bonedust would have as good an effect without the

weed trouble. Sweet Peas. Perhaps, with the exception of roses, there is more literature on the subject of sweet peas than the whole of the rest of horticulture reading. It is necessary that they should have a good feeding at least twice a week. A ffne spray jet may be set to play on the plants after the drying winds of the early p>art of the week. This may be done without fear to sweet peas as the fertilisation of the bloom takes place in th'e bud. Also it is not the rule to grow for seed, so no objeetion to feeding the plant in a manner as of rain can be quoted. From now on water and feed must be the rule. The blooms must also be gathered daily. Learns to pull the blooms. rake a firm hold with the left hand below the joint of the bloom stalk; with the fingers of the free hand, grip tightly th'e lowest inch of the flower stem and with a sharp tug upwards sever the joint of the bloom stalk from the plant. If you are unaDie to do this without harm| to the plant, use only scissors and cut each bloom. Any other mode will ruin the plant before it has given its hest. It is pleasing to pick one colour at a time and lay them aside, before going to another colour. This helps in malting up the vase. Picking haphazardly means a heap of blooms from which each flower is lifted by the bloom, to the distress of the tossed about buneh on the table. The result is many broken blooms, some perhaps being the hest.

While on the subject of sweet peas, one may quote th'e methods of trenching of various growers. It is mostly ac'cepted that the root will go down to any depth in suitable soil. Trench Deeply. The prize winner of the Daily Mail sweet pea competition trenched 7 feet. To obtain the best blooms, it is necessary to trench and take away the subsoil at least 2 feet below the black garden soil. Set the black soil on one side, i.e., away from the path, and then cast the subsoil on the path', to he wheeled away when eonvenient. The trench, now 4 feet deep, may receive all the rubbish of the garden, and, after a dressing of lime, fill in with the top soil. Posts should be firmly fixed at each end of the trench while it is empty, and a wire drawn at a height of 7 feet from post to post. The plants, for which seed should be sown at once, should be planted, with plenty of root, firmly, 12 inches .apart, in two rows 18 inches apart. Bamboo sticks tied to the wire should he stuck into the soil near the plant; and the plant given a lead by a piece of tiegrass. Given this attention, the plant should not look back, even in the hottest part of the summer. Its roots will seek for and find the buried food, and little top moisture will he needed. In buying sweet pea seed there is only one kind, th'e best. It is ,a waste of time growing guess-work seed, even those given by your best friend. Choose the colours you like, note that the reds are sun-proof ; some are not.