Tasks for the spring garden

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 3, Issue 24, 5 November 1985, Page 16

Tasks for the spring garden

What happened to our weather Labour Weekend? What happened to all the plans for a major tidy up in the garden? More important what happened to new plantings of aster, French and African marigolds, and tomato plants? Unless they were well protected from the showers of hail and snow, as well as from the frost, I fear there must have been quite a few casualties. However, nothing else for it but to cut our losses and begin again. One thing we can't blame the government for is the weather. We all hope the frosts may be behind us now, but of course that cannot be guaranteed. It will still be safer to cover frost-tender plantsat night for the next week or two. BLOOMS A good variety of bedding plants to give a show of colour are available now and, planted in groups or as a border, will give a supply of blooms all summer long. Little bedding begonias, which make a delightful border, are well worth including in the garden with their red coloured foliage and red, pink or white flowers. Being a very lowgrowing plant they can be interspaced with clumps of blue lobelia to make a very pretty edging around the rose garden. Petunias can also be relied on to make a grand show of blooms. There are a lot of good varieties with large

colourful flowers. Fluffy Ruffles is a popular favourite, with its frilly-edged flowers, and Colour Parade is quite showy. Petunias like a soil enriched with a dressing of cow or horse manure as well as a sunny situation, and will stand quite dry conditions, although they like a good drink after a long hot day. Plant them about twenty five to thirty cms apart and they will clump up to make a lovely show. Salvia is coming along now, and, with its spires of flame-coloured flowers, is quite striking. ROSES Bagged roses in bud and bloom are available now. If you want to add more bushes to your rose garden, or a climber or two along a fence line, this is the time to do it. One advantage in buying this way is you can see on the growing plant if it is the type and the colour of rose to suit your needs. Carefully planted, all the buds will open to give an early display of flowers. Water your roses generously during the summer months, preferably after the heat of the day has passed. Do not remove spent blooms by pulling them from the bush and dropping them on the ground as this will enhance the risk of disease to healthy bushes. Rather, cut the heads back to the nearest leaf bud making a diagonal cut sloping away from the bud, and remove spent heads and any fallen leaves. Keep up your spraying programme during the summer months and your roses will reward you with a good crop of blooms. An application of a prepared rose food every three or four weeks will keep your bushes nourished. Lightly culivate

the soils in between the bushes to keep them clea*- of weeds, being careful not to dig too deeply to disturb any roots near to the surface. DAFFODILS Daffodils and all narcissus types have now finished flowering and the foliage should be left to wither on the plant before lifting. To speed this process, if you want to use the ground for something else, clear the ground between the plants of any weeds that may have sprung up and bend the foliage right over so that it is folded in half. Tie together with a piece of raffia or odd scraps of knitting wool and leave until the foliage is quite withered. Lift the bulbs and if the foliage does not easily come away, leave to dry in a good air current. When all the foliage has fallen away, dust the bulbs with an insecticide and store in a cool dry place. Tulips are giving a glorious display of blooms just now and buds not yet opened will ensure blooms for a week or two yet. A tulip grower told us at garden club that when the plants have finished flowering, the whole plant should be lifted while the foliage is still green, and left to dry off in a dry airy place. When the foliage has died and come away from the bulb, they can then be stored in the same way as other varieties until next planting season. VEGETABLES In the vegetable garden beans can be planted after all danger of frost has passed. It is hard to say when that is likely to be here but I think it would be worth the risk to plant in the next week or so. Beans will do well in any good well-drained garden soil but they prefer

soils which ha-*"1 received a good dressing oi lime a few weeks before planting. As successive sowing of beans can be made all summer, there is time to dig over the soil and dress with lime before planting. Incorporate a good dressing of animal manure when digging the ground. Fertiliser is essential for a good crop, but care must be taken not to put this too near the sprouting seed, nor too far away for it to be of value. In ground that is very well drained, an adequate supply of water must be maintained during the growing season. I remember as a child my father's vegetable garden which was his pride and joy. Not a weed dared show itself. My mother used to say that even the gooseberries would not dare to have a hair out of place. KAPOK When planting his runner beans my father would dig a trench a full spade or more deep, and along the bottom would spread kapok, or what was then called flock, from old pillows, or even mattresses, discarded from use. He would then part fill the trench and plant the beans in the usual way. When I asked why he did this his answer was, "Well, you like a comfortable bed to sleep on don't you? So do my beans." I accepted this explanation at the time, but rather think it has something to do with the kapok retaining a certain amount of moisture from which the roots of the plants could draw. Anyway he always had a super crop of runner beans. Not having kapok as much these days, I have achieved the same result by placing old sheep fleece — cardings from my spinning — beneath the bean trench.