CROPS FOR DAMP POSITIONS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 922, 15 March 1930, Page 28

CROPS FOR DAMP POSITIONS

i In some gardens mint does not do at all well; possibly the soil is too sandy and dry, for all the mints grow naturally about ditches or along the edges of lakes. If you would have a beautiful bed of dark emerald mint ready for next year’s young lambs, plant the roots in soil as like to that of their original home as possible. Have you noticed what wonderful shoots of self-sown mint often grow in the damp soil about the drain of the scullery sink. They just love the damp soil, enriched by frequent overflows of washing-up water with floating organic matter in it. That is, of course, where soap-flakes are used in the water, not soda. Why not pla-nt a whole bed of mint roots about the little square drain if the soil is sandy? Plant the tiny roots a foot apart each way, and next year you will have an inexhaustible bed to cut from. Old-fashioned country folk never use steel when gathering mint, only their fingers. They used to say that if a wounded man eats mint he will never recover and so the superstition j has grown that it must never he gathered with an iron or steel tool, or harm will befall the gatherer. Two other roots that flourish ‘in the damp soil round the scullery drain are Jerusalem artichokes and rhubarb. ! I ARE YOUR PALMS DYING? Twice a week in summer and once a week in winter place palms in a tub with water enough to cover about an inch over the top of the pots. In about five or ten minutes you will see bubbles rapidly coming up from the centre, which indicates that the water has reached the roots; then lift the pot out of the tub and allow it to drain well. Once a month give them weak liquid manure. If the leaves have a tinge of brown, caused by the dry air in the house, sponge every few weeks I with water.