GARDENING NOTES.

Shannon News, 11 April 1928, Page 4

GARDENING NOTES.

Seasonable Routine Work. Planning Next Year’s Garden: Ere it is too late plants which are not in suitable positions in the borders should, be marked and new positions decided on. The autumn is the best - of all times for planning and making new borders and any structural improvements, or alterations. The winter months are not greatly to be relied on, for if they are wet, little pan be done in garden matters. The autumn made borders, however, will be in splendid order for planting early spring flowering, subjects. Gardening, like many other occupations, needs a vast deal of thought if good, effects are to be produced, and it is mainly during the autumn and winter months that new plans can be given that all-important thought. Many amateur gardeners, make up. their minds and carry out, alterations in a hurry, and then wonder why they are disappointed by the results. For want of a little thought and study a shrub or a perennial plant may get several shifts before it is at all comfortable. These setbacks should, as far as possible, be avoided by a study of each plant’s needs. Rotation. The principle of rotation crops, that being that no two crops of any one kind should follow each other successively, is followed in the vegetable garden by all good gardeners. The same principle can, with advantage, be followed in the flower garden whenever possible. Every particular type of plant takes from the ground a certain particular compound, necessary and essential for that certain plants development, and when the same type is grown for years in succession it will be easily understood that the compound necessary for it will have deteriorated, though two successive years of its cultivation or even more would be much less sei’ious if the land were properly manured. It is coparatively easy to give such things as anemones, ranunculus, and gladioli a. fresh, site each. year. Other more permanent plants should be manured. each season. Manure Problems.

Apart from the weather there is no greater factor influencing the productivity of our gardens than manure Prior to the introduction of the so called artificial manures, the maintenance of soil fertility was a difficult problem for growers, and it was only by adhering to. a rigid system ofi rotation erops, with occasional fallows to enable soils to recuperate that permanent crop production was carried on.

The introduction of fertilisers altered the outlook and enabled gardeners to. increase the yield of their erops and maintain, production without any serious exhaustion, of the soil. The gardener of to-day cannot rely solely on the use of farmyard manure, although where possible, the best results are always obtained by using moderate applications of bulky organic manure in conjunction with dressings of special fertilisers to meet the heeds of crops in question. Many new fertilisers in different countries are under exhaustive trials at the present time* which is a Btep in the right direction. Modern diettetics tend to favour the increased consumption of vegetable products, the natural increase in population stimulating a still further demand for these products, and although increased production depends on many factors, an abundant supply of suitable fertiliser is not the least of them. The choice of a fertiliser largely depends on the knowledge of the grower. Every gardener, large or small, should make a careful study of this subject, for manure costs money, and a grower using the wrong sort of manure for a particular type of plant will get poor value for that money.

The nutrition of plants is a highly complex problem and it would be impossible to set rules to apply under all conditions and circumstances, but the few following maxims, which should certainly be followed in a general way, may be of some service to readers.

It is impossible to get good valuo from any system of manuring unless the physical condition of the soil is good; hence tillage and manuring are closely related factors. Few manures give tip the whole of their nutritive value unless the calcium content of the soil is adequate; hence liming is an important factor in intensive cultivations. A quick acting manure may lose most of its value before the cropj is able to take it if applied too early. Quick acting manures should, therefore, be applied v to crops in active growth. On the other hand, slow acting manures may not become available , if applied too late, thus early application should be the rule when these are employed. Salvia Patens;

Those who love blue flowers should make a note of "salvia patens" for future plantings. Among half-hardy

plants this variety must go very, near 'the top of the list. For colour there are few garden plants to equal it, and for good temper perhaps none. In our climate it is a perennial,; and makes new growth from the root stock in the same way as the chrysanthemum.

To illustrate the hardiness of salvia patens I will relate the experience: of

a flower lover who had occasion to find some plant to fill up a bank of solid yellow clay, which had been slightly forked over the preceding autumn. Its only redeeming points were that it was . sheltered, sloped, east and, south .and got what sun there was. In this undesirable bed, holes were scooped: out with some difficulty, and a few handfuls of loam and leaf mould added. Then the salvias were planted, allowing a good distance between each plant. Their home looked very rough and lumpy, and the venture a rash one. But when blooming time came, never have I seen salvias looking happier. For four solid months they bloomed gloriously, a solid mass of magnificent blue, with so many spikes that there was none of that leggy appearance that sometimes mars the beauty of these plants. The seed of salvia patens is of easy germination if it is desired to produce a stock of these plants by seed. The Art of Picking and Eating 1 Fruit. It is no exaggeration to say that there is both an art in picking as well as in eating fruit. People who have picked bananas and oranges ripe from the trees and eaten this fruit tell us that there is no comparison in the flavour of these and the imported, fruit that we buy. It is equally so with the fruit that we grow in our own gardens, and for this reason it is best to grow a smaller area and have it netted in' than grow a large one. It is an impossibility to leave the fruit on the tree until it is at its luscious best without .having some protection from the thirds, which always seem to select the best flavoured specimens.

Many of the “gage” plums, if left on the tree until they crack, develop a: flavour which simply cannot be. bought because the market grower dare not leave his fruit on the trees until it is ripe. What delicious morsels are the early apples from our gardens when picked and eaten ripe from off the trees, or after they have fallen. If these fruits are kept for a. week or two they lose their fresh flavour. To keep the latter varieties crisp and juicy they should be kept on the tree until the last possible moment. This also appplies to pears. Many connoisseurs store the latest pears in a cool place, bringing them out into a warmer position just before consumption. The best flavours are developed by this treatment. The art of picking and eating fruit is closely connected with sunlight. It iss the grower’s job to see that sunlight is available to his fruit by judicious pruning, but it is the work of the one who would select the best flavoured to' pick those which have been sun kissed. The home-grown fruit of the garden is not only far superior to all hard fruits, but is still more so with the softer kinds such as strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries and currants. A Better Way to Eat Frpit. Many people are heard to exclaim: “I love- apples, but they give me indigestion.” Interested readers should try the following method.. Instead of eating apples or any fruit at the end of a meal, commence with fruit. Then, too, fruit eaten alone will often be found to be quite digestible. Tf an apple a day keeps the doctor away, one’s own grown fruit w’ill be found to be more effective still when the art of picking and eating it is better understood.

Garrya Elliptica.

For a small shubbery garrya elliptica is very suitable. Just now, it is in the bud stage, and will be seen at its best when the chrysanthemums are nearly over. Each season when the garrya elliptica is in its full glory it strikes one afresh with its graceful long catkins, and one wonders why it is so seldom met with. When a wellgrown bush is covered Avith beautiful catkins it makes a lovely and graceful shrub and it also has the merit of being; very hardy. The garrya is lovely cut in large sprays for bowls and vases.