IN THE GARDEN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 May 1938, Page 10

IN THE GARDEN

HINTS FOR THE AMATEUR.

VEGETABLES AND FLOWERS.

WORK FOR THE WEEK

VEGETABLE GARDEN.

Sow Prickly Spinach. Thin out the seedlings when they have made two or three leaves. They can be used for culinary purposes. A sowing of Peas can be made now—one of the dwarf sorts. Sow on a slight ridge and put sticks to the plants as soon as they are up. A sowing of Turnips can be made. Sow plenty and use them as soon as they get to the size of a small plum. Sow Shorthorn Carrots. These should be sown in large enough quantities to be used quite small. There is sure to be a lot of plots becoming vacant. Use these for sowing Carrots, Turnips, Spinach. If not required, sow a soiling crop. Spent crops should be cleared away. Burn all woody, hard or diseased rubbish. Recently-planted Cabbage should be assisted with an application of manure. The draining from stables and pig sties is useful for this purpose. Potato sets for early planting should be boxed and stood in full daylight. Choose clean, even tubers. Silver Beet and Perpetual Spinach can be sown. If plants can be obtained a planting may be made. Leeks should have a little soil drawn up to them at least once a week. Give a weekly application of liquid manure. I FLOWER GARDEN. Plants that have finished flowering should be cut down if perennials and removed altogether if annuals. The buds of Chrysanthemums are developing fast. Keep a keen lookout for grubs, etc. Hand picking is probably the best method of control. Disbudding will take a lot of time. It must be done for exhibition blooms and is advisable if blooms are for decorative purposes. Dahlias,are getting past their best, but if kept trimmed and free of spent flowers will still give a few welcome blooms. Prepare the ground for Rose planting. Roses occupy/the same ground for years, so give them a good start. Deep trenching is advisable. Make a sowing of Mignonette; that sown earlier showed be thinned and an application of sulphate of ammonia, half an dunce to a gallon of water, is advisable. Bulbs that are showing through the ground should have the soil stirred around them. All kinds of spring flowering Bulbs can be planted now.

GRAPE VINES HOW TO STOP BLEEDING. The trouble known as “bleeding” is sometimes difficult to check in a grape vine, especially if pruning -s carried out when the sap is moving. As a matter of fact, the sap often flows freely in a vine some time before the buds show signs of swelling. When a cut stem starts to bleed and continues to do so for hours it is important to stop the waste of sap, otherwise the results may be serious. The commonly-used styptics, such as hot wax, tar, and paint, may fail to stop the bleeding, and cauterising with a red-hot iron is not always successful.

Here is a method which is effective even in severe cases of “bleeding.” Obtain a piece of stout rubber tubing about 4in long and of such a diameter that it will fit snugly over the stem. Put this on the cut and bind the lower end securely with thin wire to the stem. Also tie the upper end tightly. In this way the bleeding can be stopped at once, and the tube may be left in position until the leaves develop. If it is then removed it will be found that the end of the shoot is dry and the cut part healed.

GROWING OF DAFFODILS

PRODUCTION OF EXHIBITION BLOOMS.

To produce exhibition Daffodil blooms, the essentials are good drainage, thorough and deep cultivation of the soil with rotted turf, very old cow manure —trenched well below the bulbs —bone meal and wood ash, all as good manures. Where possible, always grow exhibition blooms on ground not previously used for daffodils, or in a plot which has been “rested.” A light dressing of sulphate of potash is beneficial to the bulbs. In spring time two or three waterings with sulphate of iron, a dessertspoonful to a can of water, will be found to intensify colour. For flowering sized bulbs, planting is recommended to be not less than six inches deep. Those who intend to exhibit at local shows should take care each variety is carefully labelled, and the additional precaution of a ground plant in a notebook, indicating the exact location of each variety, is strongly recommended. Even in the best ordered gardens labels are apt to go astray or displaced by mischievous youths, dogs, or cats.

LUPINES

PLANTING HINTS.

Although lupines are leguminous plants, most of which are great lovers of lime, yet in this instance it does not appear to follow. In one garden an old wall was pulled down, the mortar rubble from which was dug into a nearby site, in which herbaceous plants were cultivated. Eventually everything flourished but the lupines, and by planting these and others in a position where no lime was given much better results were achieved.

No herbaceous subjects root much more deeply, therefore it is essential when preparing the site to go down two feet. Both sites should be liberally enriched with stable manure for preference, and, when planting, the long root must be stretched straight down. Any upturning, twisting, or forcing into an unnatural position must result in a severe check and an indifferent result until the roots regain their normal course. The crowns should be bur-

ied an inch or so —no more. Deep planting is followed by the split crown and a _,large number of small spikes rather than a limited number which tower upwards and declare their preeminence among border flowers. Group planting of these gives most glorious effects in early summer, and if at all possible get the plantings done in late autumn. Spring planting never gives anything like the same results. Seed, too, should be sown at the present time, but will need plenty of moisture for germination.

MAKING OF HUMUS THE CHIEF POINTS. The chief points are that all vegetable matter can be converted rapidly into but the decay must be assisted by nitrogen (animal manure of any kind), phosphates and potash (wood ashes or lime), water, and an abundance of air. One method is to stack 12 inches of vegetable matter, then two or three inches of animal manure, and repeat the stacking to a height of about three feet. After two or three weeks the heap is turned over loosely and mixed, finally being watered. Another turning and watering, with another month for fermentation and bacterial action, and the heap is found to have changed into a dark, friable compost, ready for application to growing crops or to a seed bed. It should be noted that an important part of the process is the free circulation of air, both round the heap as well as through it. This completely rules out the idea of a pit, which is somewhat of a misnomer. Experiments in New Zealand (states the Taranaki “Herald”) have shown that the job can be done without any retaining walls at all, although an above ground structure will be an aid. in stacking. If the heap can be built quickly the fermentation is very rapid and it has been found that one inch of poultry manure is as effective as three or four inches of cow or horse manure.

It does not matter how coarse the vegetable matter is, for that helps to admit air to the stack, and any hard pieces are easily disposed of when breaking the heap down. The intensive production of humus is a most interesting subject, for it seems to be a most vital problem of plant welfare.