THE WEEK’S WORK AT A GLANCE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 442, 25 August 1928, Page 28

THE WEEK’S WORK AT A GLANCE

THE BUSY MAN’S CORNER AMONG THE FLOWERS Good advice is as essential as good tools or good seed, and the gardener who follows the various hints tendered throughout The Sun columns will be backing sure success if the information is applied properly. Spring is again here and busy week-ends can be promised to the eager gardener. Lawns may now be attended to and the bare patches resown and genei’ally top-dressed. A good application of loamy soil spread over the suft'ace will promote fresh growth, and an evenness during the dry months of the year. Herbaceous plants are now throwing up new growth, varieties such as Chrysanthemums, Shasta Daisy, Perennial Phlox, Rudbeckias, and Golden Rod. Those plants that have been growing for three years or so should be lifted and divided, planting the best of the newer crowns. Where replanting in the old soil, plenty of manure will be required. For quick displays sowings may be made of a few hardy annuals in open beds or borders. These will soon germinate now the sotf is warmer and early results may be relied upon. For massed effects plant Phlox Drummondi. Shirly Poppies make a fine 'display when scattered about in clumps. The following are all useful: Mignonette, Virginian Stock, Linaria, Nemesia and Candytuft. Plants flowering in pots should be carefully looked after. Old flower stems of primulas should be cut away to allow new stems to appear. Cyclamen in bud may be given liquid manure in weak quantities. Where the fronds of Adiantum are turning brown they should be cut off and repotted if necessary. The following plants may be bedded out: Stocks, Violas, Pansy, Nemesia, Poppies, Antirrhinum, Calendulas, Statice, Carnations, Primulas, Cyclamen, Everlastings, Ageratum and Alonsoa. The following seed may be sown in boxes: Aster, Marigold, all sorts; Phlox. Koshia, Petunia, Zinnia, Delphinium, Brompton Stocks, Aquilegia and Geum. VEGETABLE GARDEN Have you ever grown Choko Vines? These excellent vegetables are rapid in growth and quickly cover old fences or trees. The vine produces numerous egg-shaped fruits which are cooked like a vegetable marrow. See illustration how to plant. Make haste if you are going to set any rhubarb roots this season. Do not be tempted to buy the oldest roots, as first and second year crowns are always the best. Dig the ground deeply, heavily manuring with rotted vegetation and stable manure. Potatoes and onions are two important crops that every gardener grows. Arran Chief, Early Puritan and Gamekeeper are three varieties of “Murphys” that are hard to beat. Onion seedlings are now plentiful. Either straw or Brown Spanish are the most favoured. Peaches and nectarines now require spraying. If no sign of buds swelling, lime and sulphur may be used fairly strong, say 1 in 15. This will clean the bark and branches moss and scale. If buds have swelled and are showing signs of bursting, spray with Bordeaux powder or lime and sulphur in weaker solution to prevent leaf curl. Gardeners should be warned to read carefully the directions on every spraying preparation. Each maker has a different recipe, and the strengths vary accordingly, and so I won’t quote spraying directions, trusting that my readers will benefit from this timelv word of advice. Runner Beans may be planed now. Scarlet Runners come up for several seasons on end. Ever-bearing Stringless Runners are a splendid cropper, and are quick maturing. Others worthy of note are "White Dutch, Zebra and Kentucky "Wonder. All seeds as quoted in last week’s calendar may still be