WINTER HINTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 678, 1 June 1929, Page 12 (Supplement)

WINTER HINTS

Plants which are not quite hardy, but have been left in the ground, may be protected with heaps of. coal ashes placed over the crowns now. Spring-flowering bulbs cannot be expected to be very satisfactory if planting is too long deferred, but they can be purchased very cheaply at the end of the season, and “better late than never.” It is especially necessary to be thorough in preparing sites for plants or crops that will occupy the sites allotted to them for several years. Surface feeding subsequently will then keep them going satisfactorily. Every garden which is large enough should have a resei-ve plot containing those herbaceous perennials which are valuable for cutting, thus saving the plants in the border proper from being spoilt. Soil should not be dug in the ordinary way when the surface is frozen. In this state it affords an excellent opportunity for wheeling manure, etc., on to the plots with the minimum disturbance of the surface. Remember the limitations of your garden and the soil when ordering seeds, but make a rule, if possible, of trying something fresh each season. Even if wearing garden boots, the amateur is inviting a chill by standing on wet, cold soils for an hour or two during week-ends, pruning fruit trees. The simple precaution of standing on a short, dry hoard is well worth adopting. The importance of clean cuts when pruning fruit trees cannot well be over-emphasised; therefore, see that good tools only are used and that they are kept with keen edges always. Lime-washing the stems of fruit trees is of little benefit beyond checking the growth of moss and lichen, and in any case, where insects are to be attacked it is essential to deal with the whole tree, not merely the trunk.