GARDEN NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 September 1922, Page 11

GARDEN NOTES.

WORK IN VEGETABLE PLOT. c WHAT TO PLANT NOW. (By “Agricola.”) From a gardener’s standpoint the season, has, so far, been seldom surpassed for general excellence and vegetables are making rapid growth in consequence. The copious rainfall has thoroughly saturated the ground, and it should be the endeavour of all to retain the moisture in the soil to the fullest possible extent by frequent use of the cultivator or hoe. The value of judicious hoeing can scarcely be over-estimated and the practice cannot be too strongly advocated or too frequently indulged in. Arrears of sowing and planting should be attended to at the earliest possible moment, as it is not only advantageous for seeds or plants to go in immediately after rain, but it saves a good deal of labour in watering as well. Plant—Cabbage and cauliflower, endive lettuce, and tomato. Sow—Asparagus, beet, beans, borecole, cabbage, oaUjliflower, cape gooseberry, carrots, celery, cweet corn, cucumber, endive, herbs, khol-rabi, lettuce, leek, melons, parsnip, parsley, j onion, peas, pumpkin, radish, rhubarb, sea kale, spinach, squash, tomato, turnip, and vegetable marrow. CUCUMBERS.

The practice of pot-culture in the initial stages of growth of cucumbers is quite a simple proceeding and the veriest amateur, with the exercise of ordinary care, and attention to detail, can be almost assured of success when he adopts this means of raising his cucumber plants. The first requirement for sowing the seed will be seven or eight flower pots. Half a dozen plants when well grown should produce enough cucumbers for an ordinary family, but it is better to raise one or two more in case of accidents. Three or four inch pots should be used, or, in the absence of these, half-pound empty tea tins will answer the purpose. It will be necessary in using the latter to make a hole about the size of a sixpenny piece in the bottom of each. The next step is to spread a sack on the ground and to place on it a spade or shovel full of good garden loam, half this quantity of well rotted and thoroughly broken up stable or cow manure and a pint of coarse sand or? road grit. If the grit is used, care must be taken not to procure it from a tarred roadway as such stuff it dangerous to associate with any soil in which plants are grown. Mix th e materials w’ell together with the hands for a few minutes and finally pass it through a quarter inch meshed sieve on to another sack. The latter proceeding will not be necessary so long as the material is free from sticks, lumps or stones, Place a few pieces of broken brick or small cinders at "the bottom of each pot for drainage, and on top of this about an inch layer of either old manure, rotted turf, or dead leaves and fill the pots up gradually, firming at intervals, until the compost, or soil, it within an inch and a half of the top of each pot. Make the surface even, plant three seeds in the centre and cover with half an inch of the compost. Plump seeds are the safest and the best to use; those which are soft, or yield under pressure of the thumb-nail, should be discarded. The potg may then be stood in a shallow box for convenience in handling and shaded by covering with paper first and then sheets of glass, or a damp sack may be placed over the pots, but it must be supported a few inches above them. The box and pots ahanld be stood in a warm and sheltered spot, such as a verandah facing north or against a wall or fence with the same aspect. An effective means of keeping slugs or snails away is to cover the bottom of the box with a layer of lime and to stand the pots in it. When the seedlings appear the coverings must be removed as otherwise weak and drawn specimens will result. Only one plant will be required in each pot, so that it will -be necessary to carefully remove any others after the first pair of leaves have opened. The young plants must be grown on steadily in a warm and sheltered, but open position, removing them to a safe refuge in times of boisterous weather. When watering is required, stand the pots for a minute or two in a tub containing about a three inch depth of water, taking care to let the surplus water drain from the pots before returning them to the box. When the plants have developed two pairs of leaves (apart from the seed leaves) they will be ready for planting out. Cucumbers are sometimes planted between crops of cabbages, cauliflowers or rows of potatoes. This methodi of growing them is often necessary in small gardens where space is limited and a separate -bed cannot be provided. Fair crops generally result from the practice when the requirements of the plants, as regards manure and moisture, have been properly attended to. Still, at the best, it can only be regarded -as a makeshift method a« the environment of the plants when so grown, renders it impracticable to furnish them with the conditions essential to the production of a heavy crop of the best quality cucumbers. This can be realised only when the plants have been given a well prepared bed to themselves. Where space is plentiful, it is comparatively easy to concede this requirement, but, on the other hand, the grower who is not so fortunately situated, will of necessity be compelled to make the best of the space at his disposal and in these circumstances it is better to wait until the removal of a portion of an early crop from the ground enables the bed to be prepared, than to incur the risk of securing indifferent results by growing them with other crops. Before making the bed it is important that the site chosen should, if possible, be convenient to a good water supply, as an insufficiency of moisture is otten responsible for the failure of a cucumber crop. Having selected the position, remove the top soil evenly to a depth of eighteen inches so ns to form a trench three feet wide and fifteen feet long. On the bottom of this place about a .ten inch layer of half rotted stable manure, or a mixture of equal parts of dead leaves and manure and fill to the previous level of the ground with the soil that was taken out and stamp the top soil over with the back of the rake so as to firm the bed. This will cause the latter to sink an inch or two below its former level. Leave the depression thus formed as it will enable liquids to be administered much more effectively to the plants later on than would be the case if thev wo-n growing on level ground. : Tu« admixture of leaves and manure, by '

a process of fermentation, will cause a gentle beat to Arise and permeate through the surface soil, and it will prove of great assistance in giving the plants a good start, especially at this season of the year when the ground is cold at night. The bed should be planted within a day or two of being prepared in order that the plants shall receive the full benefit of the warmth. For later planting the presence of artificial heat is not necessary as the soil is sufficiently warmed by the increased heat from the sun. It is advisable also to use cow in preference to horse manure as a cooler root run is thereby assured. When plants have been raised in pots and are ready for transplanting, they should be removed carefully by first of all inserting the blade of a table knife down between the soil and the side of the pot, and moving the blade round in a circle. Then place the palm of the left hand over the surface of the pot in such a position that the plant is held near its stem ibase between the third and fourth fingers. Invert the pot, rap the sides sharply, but lightly with the knife handle, and withdraw the pot, and remove the drainage from the bottom of the soil. This operation should be done as closely as possible to the spot where it is intended to plant, and if the holes have been previously made, each plant can be inserted quickly in the ground as-it is taken from the pot, without damage to the attached ball of soil. Press the soil firmly around each plant and water if the weather is dry. Shade from the sun should also be given for a few days. If a circle of soot or lime, alone or in a mixture, is applied around each plant, attacks from slugs or snails may be avoided. A liberal dressing of black ashes from a rubbish fire can be worked into the bed at this stage with advantage. When the plants are growing freely pinch out the points of each so as to encourage the formation of fresh shoots. Gather the soil up around the plants as they progress and give occasional waterings with liquid manure so as to induce a vigorous growth and assist the fruit to set. Pinch out the tips of the vines if the fruit is not setting freely and destroy all weeds that appear in the bed. As regards watering generally, it should be done thoroughly as a good soaking once a week in dry weather is infinitely better than a dribble every evening. An occasional shower bath if given in the evenings of fine days will benefit the plants considerably. If it is preferred seed may be sown on the beds in clumps of four or five, allowing the same epace between as for plants.

THE FLOWER GARDEN. SOME .SEASONABLE HINTS. As a reeut of the heavy rains the soil in this department is in splendid condition for bedding out flowering plants. Unfortunately this task is usually performed in a great hurry owing to stress of work, and many plants suffer more or less in consequence. If a little extra time and care is taken to put each plant in well, the after results are invariably satisfactory, but when the plants are thrust into the soil anyhow failure is almost certain. Each hole should be made slightly larger than the ball at the roots of the plants so that it can be set in the ground easily. When the hole is not large enough, the plant has to be literally forced into the ground and the pressure thus used often breaks many of the small roots and disturbs the soil that is between them also. The result is that the plant has to form new roots and repair the broken ones before it can go on growing. Sometimes the leaves wither and die and the plant has a very forlorn look for many weeks after. Another stupid practice is to take plants from a box and lay them on a bed, exposing their tender roots to hot sunshine and air. Every second these roots are exposed is harmful to every plant. The hole in the bed should first be made, then take one plant from the box, place it in the hole and cover the roots firmly with soil. By this method, the roots are not exposed to the air more than a second and consequently do not suffer. Plante from boxes should be watered immediately they are set out and kept moist for several days if the weather is dry. A little extra attention to this detail will not be without compensation later on. CARNATIONS. Keep the soil well stirred about these plants, and provide them with stakes as growth proceeds. The coil stake is much the best -for the purpose. Give the soil at the base of the plants a light dressing of finely ground bone-dust and keep a sharp look out for green aphis on the stems and syringe, if necessary, with soot water or some other approved insecticide. ROSES. Roses should be gone over and all shoots removed that are running out of place. Sometimes a growth starts from the underside of a stem and makes, as it were, direct for the ground. These growths will do no good and should 'be promptly taken away. Many other shoots Will be found crossing each other. Here, again, it will be necessary to do some thumb pruning, retaining those growths only that are properly placed. Red shoots that are springing up from the base of the plants should be left alone. There are instances, of course when the growths come from low down the stem of a full or half standard, where everything in the way of an interloper must be taken away at once. To leave the shoots would endanger the shape of a nicely balanced rose-plant. It is the practice of many amateurs to cut away the foliage of Narcissi and bulbous flowers when they have finished flowering. The excuse offered for thio proceeding is generally on the plea of untidiness, but if the beds are kept tidy in other ways there is no justification for such drastic treatment. It must be borne in mind that it is aiUr the flowering is over that the work of building up the bulbs for next season’s display commences and to denude them of foliage at this time is to deprive the bulbs of their food making apparatus, and consequently to injure the blooming next season. Many bulbs will soon be finished flo»,v. , ering, but before they are quite p.vaO i examine the labels and if any have perished prepare new ones. Should the writing have faded, paint or re-write the names. While this may not seem very important just. now. it is so if the bulbs are lifted in December. WEEDY LAWNS. Many are the efi’orts made and recommendations put forward to get rid of weeds on lawns, some being very in- J genious and successful, others only par- i tially effective. By far the best method ' is to pull them out individually. The operation requires patience and persevvrauce, but with »n ordinary lawn it is

wonderful what a little persistency will accomplish. There are various ways of taking up weeds; some make a great mess of the operation, whilst others lift them so carefully that very little disturbance of the ground is visible. A simple tool to use is an old table knife with the blade, broken off a few inches from the bundle. If this tool is pushed

in a slanting direction down to the foot, and gently lifted an ordinary plant will come out easily, in the case of deeply rooted dandelions some more drastic method may 'be needed. In any case it is advisable to have a box containing some loamy soil and to use this for filling up the holes, just treading down the application. The weeds

should be burnt and the lawn afterwards rolled. Where space permits a r~ ’ ly. acceffli between plants in beds and borders, stir the surface soil lightly with • the hoe< The use of this implement, besides contributing largely to the welfare of the plants, will also freshen up and improyg the general appearance of the beds.