THE GARDEN

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 430, 11 August 1928, Page 28

THE GARDEN

BY

LEONARD A GRIFFITHS, F.R.H.S.. F.N.Z Inst.

“The organism of a plant is as wonderful and mysterious as that of a man.” —SARGENT. INQUIRIES FROM PUZZLED GARDENERS Any inquiries oy our readers on the subject of gardening will be answered in our “Puzzled Gardeners Column’ in the following Saturday’s issue All letters must be addressed to the Garden Editor and forwarded to THE SUN Office on or before every Wednesday. Any specimen to be named must be packed securely in a strong box to prevent crushing in transit.

TWELVE FERTILISER HINTS

tl) Don't adopt tile fertiliser “habit” because your next door neighbours liave acquired it. Many gardens would indeed give better returns without it at times. (2) Don't attempt to use fertilisers until you have learned something respecting their correct application. Many gardens have been ruined by pver indulgent amateurs. (3) Don’t adopt them unless you have good reason to believe that your soil is poor or impoverished. (I) Don’t be wrongly advised respecting the choice best suited to your plants and soil. (5) Don’t imagine for one moment that fertilisers will take the place of proper digging for soil preparation, because they won’t. (6) Don’t apply them to weak and sickly plants or to young seedlings. (7) Don’t use them in excess of the quantities advised on packages. (8) Don’t apply them to newly potted plants, or to seedlings or cuttings in their earlier stages cf growth. t 9) Don’t administer them to your soil in dry unless you give it a thorough saturation both before and after application. tlO) Don’t sprinkle the fertilisers over the stems or foliage of your plants. Scatter around the feeding area and lightly rake in. (II) Don’t store them in damp or badly-ventilated places. A dry, airy place is essential. (12) Don’t buy them in small quantities; they become expensive. Club together with your neighbours, order hag lots and share them.

PLANTING ROSES

SET THEM NOW Whenever it is possible, roses should be given a bed to themselves away from trees or shrubs—and don’t make the mistake of planting annuals or other robbers around the plants, to extract the soil nourishment that should go to the roses; they not onlydo this, but also stop the circulation of air which must permeate the soil. The distances between the plants must be determined by the habit or growth of each variety. In all soils where there is not natural drainage, this must be supplied, as it is very essential not only to take off the superfluous water, but also to aerate the soil. There are two schools of thought regarding placing manure in the sub-

soil. I personally do not favour it,as a rose plant, being a surface feeder, the manures in my garden are placed in the top soil. IN PLANTING, a hole should be dug IS inches square, and eight inches deep, and the bottom of this hole should have 4 inches of virgin soil, or top spit, containing no manure whatever, for I consider that a great many failures in young plants start by manure coming in contact with the young roots. In the centre of this hole, which is now 4 inches deep, make a little mound of earth, and if a standard or half-standard is to be planted, place the stake in the centre, first driving it home firmly, before planting the rose, taking care that the stake will not protrude through the leaf of the plant. Then place the plant on the mound of earth, which will give the roots a downward tendency, spreading the roots out in all directions round the plant, then fill in to the surface with more virgin soil, | treading it firmly. Firm planting and no manure are absolutely essential.

Now give the plant about one bucket of water, and if there is a dry winter after planting, do this periodically.

When the work of planting is finished, rake the ground over lightly, and leave the soil loose at the top, and after every watering repeat the raking or hoeing.

ROSE PRUNING

FOUR COMMON ERRORS (1) Leaving too many shoots when thinning out. (2) Pruning the shoots of varieties severely which require little, if any, shortening. (3) Pruning lightly the varieties which require severe pruning. (4) Leaving the plants crowded with shoots, and cutting all to a uniform length all over the plant, in the way that a hedge is clipped. Expert pruning requires intimate knowledge of the various classes of roses, and an experience of the habits of growth of the individual kinds in their classes. It is an old rule, but it is absolutely correct, that the more vigorous the variety, the lighter it should be pruned, and the weaker the grower, the larger the proportions of growth which should be removed.

KEEPING UP SUPPLIES SAGE CUTTINGS It quite often happens that well established sage plants which seem likely to go on for many years will suddenly die. Sometimes this is the result of a cold or very wet early spring, hut, on occasion, no very clear reason can be discovered. Many gardeners rely on one or two large sage plants, and then, owing to the death of the specimens, may suddenly find themselves without any of the useful herb at all. It is a very excellent rule to raise a few fresli plants from cuttings every two years in order to make sure of having a certain number of young strong plants always on hand. Cuttings or slips of sage, preferably with a heel of old wood attached, will root freely at the present time if dibbled firmly Into the ground. Allow eight inches apart either way and water the cuttings if the weather is dry. Another way of propagating sage is to pull down a few of the woody outer branches of the plant and then peg on to the soil which should be kept moist. Rooting soon take place and the branches may then be severed from the parent plant.

GARDEN CARROTS THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW Origin The carrot is a hardy biennial and native of Asia, Africa and Europe, where it may be found growing wild on dry banks, especially near the sea. The roots of the wild carrot are small, hard and often forked, but that it is the parent of our cultivated sorts has often been proved. The varieties chiefly grown are red, although white and lemon coloured are raised for feeding cattle. Preparation For Sowing The ground, if not trenched, should be deeply dug and thoroughly worked, so that it will be as rich down below as on top. The tap root will then strike straight down, but if the soil is rich on top and poor below the roots will probably fork. A sandy soil well drained suits car- j rots best. Cold, stiff, clay soils and others that are too compact may be improved by adding sand and rotted vegetation. If the soil is shallow, gardeners would do well to confine their cultivation to the short varieties, such as the early horn and oxheart. Where there is a good depth, Intermediate and Althringham are two reliable long j species. Sowing Seed The seed should be sown in drills | and the plants thinned out to sin apart. Plenty of room should be left between the drills to allow for hoeing and general cultivation. In soils where carrots attain a large size, more space should be allowed

The Best Sort for Shallow Soil than where smaller roots and tops are produced. The end of each row should be marked with a stick so that the intervals can be hoed if weeds start up before the carrots themselves appear. SEAWEED AS A MANURE An excellent manure may be made of seaweed. Obtain a quantity of the material, say, about 561 b. Dry it thoroughly in the open air. Do not let it be washed with rain, nor have water come in contact with it. By doing this its phosphatic and potash contents will be largely increased. The rotted dried weed may then be mixed with about 281 b of dried and rotted manure, and about 101 b of blood and bone added. The whole must then be thoroughly broken up and well mixed. It is especially good for asparagus and all vegetables.