TRANSPLANTING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 May 1938, Page 4

TRANSPLANTING

MOST IMPORTANT WORK. This work, one of the most important in horticulture, is not always given the consideration necessary to get the best returns. In good nurseries the young evergreen and deciduous trees in stock are all lifted and transplanted back again each, year, so that when required for sale a well-rooted plant is assured and failure after planting in a permanent position is seldom seen. „ Again, the transplanting of flowering annuals, also seedlings in the vegetable garden, chiefly celery, members of the cabbage family and others, is not done as it used to be. In gardening nowadays it seems to be considered as a waste of time to transplant seedlings with the object of getting a good ball of root to plant later on m their growing quarters. Celery and cabbages are now taken from the seed beds and planted where they are to grow, and the same applies to many flowering annuals, which in most cases it would be advantageous to transplant at least once before planting in the beds or borders. We are in such a hurry trying to attend to all departments that constitute a good and useful garden; we blunder on and astonish ourselves with the results we do get at times. In most cases where favoured with success we have to thank a favourable or cool week after planting, also the water supply for a liberal supply of pure water. Even with these favours mentioned, it is not the right method to ensure an even crop of either celery, cabbages or flowering subjects. The old-fashioned method of transplanting to get a good ball of roots before planting in growing quarters will be found the best, although entailing a little more work. Of course, there are plants grown for the flower and kitchen garden that must not be transplanted after sowing, Where shrubs or trees have to be shitted to a fresh position in connection with alterations or a new garden being laid out, the present month is very suitable for the transplanting of many kinds, and in a genial climate like ours it is surprising the kinds that will grow after being treated this way. Success after a tree or shrub has been shifted depends largely in the first place on getting the roots out with as little damage as possible, not allowing them to dry, spreading out the roots well when placing the tree in the hole, and firming the soil well around the roots. ROOT CROPS SOME VALUABLE HINTS. Lifting and storing root crops, although not necessary because of severe weather conditions, at least has a value in so much that it keeps the roots dry and prevents decay due to excessively wet weather conditions. It allows the ground to be cultivated and rested prior to spring planting. Too often does the space occupied by root crops during winter become weedy and untidy. Lifting and storing allows the ground to be sown down in a soiling crop and cultivation to be carried out so that in spring it is ready for a new crop. Beetroot is quite easily stored and does not deteriorate provided rats, etc., are kept away. It is most essential in lifting beet that the skin is not bruised, or the roots broken. In either case the roots will “bleed,” which means a loss of colour when cooked. Even in a light soil lift beet by pulling them from the ground; we must dig them up carefully, and treat them with the utmost care throughout. The best way to lift beet it with a fork, pushed into the ground a few inches from the root. It is then possible to lift them without injury. The tops are not cut off, as this also tends to bleeding, but are twisted off at about two inches from

the top of the beetroot. Their leaves may be left on the ground to be dug in when the ground is cultivated. The beetroots are left out to dry for a few hours. They are then carefully brought to the store house, and a greater part of the soil rubbed off them. The best way to store the roots is in dry sand, in which they will keep as long as we want them. The storing need not be done for a fey days after lifting, as it will be an advantage to let the roots dry thoroughly under cover. The sand which is used may be procured from a builder unless the reader happens to be in a sandy district where there are sandy pits from which they may help themselves. Sand from the seashore may be used for the purpose. The sand must be as nearly dry as possible. If the roots are to be stored in a shed, which should be considered frostproof, but is cool and dry, a layer of straw or rough litter is spread over the space which the beet will occupy, and this is covered with a layer of sand. We then spread out, in a methodical manner, a layer of beetroot so that on the outer side of the layer the tops are pointing outward. This layer is covered with sand, and the work is continued by making alternate layers of sand and beetroot until all the latter are used up. The heap will diminish in width until it reaches the top when it may be covered with a mat or a thin layer of straw. If the roots are sound and dry at the time of storing there is little liklehood of any decay, but it would be safer to look the roots over once or twice during the season, building them up again when bad ones have been taken out.

Carrots are the next crop to demand attention. We should always endeavour to have a good supply for storing, for they keep very well if the conditions are correct. And we can easily make them correct. There is not quite the same amount of care needed in getting up these as in the case of the beet. We must, however, be careful not to break the roots. In a light soil there will be no difficulty in getting them sufficiently clean, but in the case of a heavy soil all soil should be rubbed off them, and the roots be left to dry for a while under cover. The carrots may be stored in precisely the same way as advised for beetroot or if a deep box is available they may be put in that, with alternate layers of sand. Only the sound roots should be thus treated. Those which are broken, cracked, or otherwise damaged should be set aside for immediate us. This, like the beet, will need looking over occasionally. RHUBARB AN ILL-TREATED CROP. It is no exaggeration to say that rhubarb is one of the most ill-treated crops in the vegetable garden. For this, its astonishing vitality is largely to blame, for it will grow in out-of-the-way corners, under the shade of trees and in comparatively shallow and poor soil. The faet remains, however, that given a reasonable chance, rhubarb is one of the deepest rooting crops in the garden, and one of the grossest feeders. So long as some pains are taken in making up a really good bed it will yield a return that will more than compensate the grower for the labour involved. Both in quantity and quality the crop will amaze those who have hitherto regarded rhubarb as nothing more useful than to fill up an odd corner. For preference, an open site should be chosen, although the plant will not object to shade. Planting can be either in autumn or spring—the former season for preference—but it would be better to delay the planting until spring if the site has not already been prepared. Not only should the soil be trenched to a depth of two or three feet, but a heavy dressing of manure or humus-forming material from the compost heap applied. It is obvious that land so deeply moved, and which has had the addition of a great deal of bulky organic, matter,

will take even longer to sink to a true level. A start should therefore be made at the earliest opportunity. There is one mistake which can be made in the preparation of the soil, and that is, confining the manurial matter to a solid layer in the bottom of the trenches. Instead, it should be worked evenly throughout the entire cultivated depth of soil, in order that the roots may benefit from its presence from the outset. By the spring it will have mellowed down and lost all trace of rankness, so there need be no fear of the roots suffering by coming into contact with it. Leave the surface of the beds rought for the winter weather to break down the much more finely than could be done with a fork. A light raking in spring is all that will be required before planting. Single crowns, although they do not make a large showing the first season, are the best for planting Stems should

on no account be pulled the first season. Flower heads must be cut out as soon as they appear, and it will help if the soil is drenched with weak liquid manure during dry weather. Quite good quality rhubarb can be obtained in the second season from a well-made bed, but it is not wise to distress the plants unduly by over-pulling.