IN THE GARDEN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 June 1938, Page 4

IN THE GARDEN

HINTS FOR THE AMATEUR. vegetablesanFflowers. WORK FOR THE WEEK VEGETABLE GARDEN. Clear away spent crops. Dig over vacant plots and sow them down in Lupins, etc., if they are to be vacant for some time. Hoe around standing crops of Turnips, etc. If necessary root crops can be lifted and stored. Harvest Pumpkins, Marrows and Citrons. Store them in a dry shed. Prepare ground for the early crop of Potatoes. A sowing of Dwarf Peas and Broad Beans can be made. Sow Lettuce and Radishes in a frame. A sowing of Carrots and Beetroot can be made. Choose a warm, sheltered position. Earth up Celery and Leeks as required. FLOWER GARDEN. Hoe between bulbs. Prepare new Rose beds. Plant evergreen shrubs, such as Rhododenrons, Erica, Azaleas. Put small twigs to early flowering Sweet Pea plants to keep them upright. Prepare ground for summer flowering Sweet Peas. Dahlias can be cut down to within a foot of the soil. Chrysanthemums that are over should be cut down. Clear away annuals, etc., that have finished flowering. Manure and dig borders and beds. Prepare ground for new lawns. Plant Iceland Poppies, Calendulas, etc. Prepare the ground for Stocks. Clear up fallen leaves. Put them into a stack to rot or dig them in. FRUIT GARDEN. Pruning can be started as soon as possible. Cut out decrepit, useless trees. Prepare ground for planting new trees. Choose varieties that suit your purpose. Prune and train them to the position you wish them to occupy. Collect fallen leaves, dead twigs and other rubbish. Either bury or burn them. , Resolve to spray your fruit trees when the leaves have fallen. Use Red Oil for Apples, Lime Sulphur for stone fruits.

THE LOGANBERRY. A FAVOURITE HARDY FRUIT. ; Since its first introduction few hardy fruits have met with more favour than the loganberry, but there are still many gardens where its inclusion would extend the season of soft fruit for cooking purposes, while for preserving it is particularly valuable. It is of easy culture, and bears remarkably well year after year. As a dessert fruit it does not find much favour. In shape it resembles the raspberry, but it is without the core. Although possessed of a vigorous and hardy constitution, which makes it not too particular in regard to Soil, it does the grower more credit when planted on ground that has been brought into good order by deep cultivation.

Newly turned up soil should be deeply dug and manured to encourage a quick growth. When established it is not unusual for plants to make as much as 12ft of growth on a single shoot; consequently there need be no hesitation in training it over arches, where the effect of the heavy clusters of fruit may be admired, and gathering is made easy. For making a hedge it is useful and pays well, and may be kept neat if two rows or so of wire are securely fixed to strong posts to support the long growths. Pruning consists of cutting out the old fruiting wood in early autumn. Propagation is readily carried out by pegging down the young wood and covering it with fine soil. Autumn is the best time for making new plantations; the young layers may be served from the parents and planted where required. The loganberry has been used with good effect in conjunction with one of our best raspberries, Superlative, and has given us the laxtonberry. The fruits are rather more palatable and produced over a lengthy period. It is not over-difficult to suit in regard to soil, and being rather pendulous in habit it. does best when trained on wire trellises or secured to stout stakes. Another hybrid is the lowberry, obtained by crossing with the blackberry. The fruit is born in bunches and of true blackberry flavour. Both are of easy culture and well worthy of a place in every garden. KEROSENE EMULSION. A DEPARTMENTAL FORMULA. Kerosene emulsion came into vogue as an insecticide especially for the control of scales and woolly aphis, but has been displaced by the use of emulsified red-oil. A formula recommended by the Department of Agriculture is: Soap (or soft soap) Boz, kerosene (150 deg. test) 2 gallons, water 1 gallon. Heat the water and to this add the soap cut into shreds, and* stir until dissolved; remove from the fire, and immediately add the kerosene; agitate until completely emulsified, either pouring several times from one vessel to the other, or preferably by passing through a small spray pump. Use in the dormant season at the strength of 1 part to 6 parts of water; but during the growing season at a strength of 1 part to 15 parts of water.

WATERPROOFING CALICO. A USEFUL RECIPE. Here is a recipe recommended by the Auckland Horticultural Society:— Soften 4| ounces of glue in 8J pints of cold water; then dissolve same in a boilerful (6 gallons) of warm water with 21 ounces of hard soap; put in. the cloth and boil for an hour, then wring and dry; then prepare a bath of 1 pound of alum and 1 pound of salt, soak the prepared cloth in it for 2 hours, rinse with clear water and dry. One gallon of the glue solution will soak about tne yards of cloth—enough to cover three of four propagating frames.

BLACK SPOT. HOW TO COMBAT IT. Black spot is a fungoid disease that can be largely controlled by spraying in addition to the annual pruning off of dead twigs. Spray when leaves have fallen—June to August—using Lime Sulphur 1 to 10. Then when fruit is well formed, spray again at 1 in 100, repeating three weeks after, and your fruit should be reasonably clean. Apply a winter spray also of Red Off at 1 in 12 for scale and woolly aphis. On old trees, severe pruning should not be necessary unless neglected in the past. Shorten back all higher growths to ten feet or twelve feet and thin out other wood, taking off two-thirds of those left. THE STRAWBERRY PLOT FRESH BEDS FOR BEST RESULTS. It is never advisable for home gardeners to replant an old strawberry bed with the same crop. Commercial growers work on a different system to the home gardener. The soil soon gets tired of strawberry plants and must be well cultivated before it is used for a strawberry crop again. There is also less risk of transmitting pests and diseases if the new stock is put into a fresh location. The ideal place to choose is a site which has been wellcultivated recently and manured during the growth of some vegetable crop, such as potatoes. Little further preparation will then be needed. If such a plot is not available, dig the land deeply and work in plenty of manure. Strawberries are gross feeders and deep cultivation is not desirable once the strawberries are planted. It pays' to cultivate thoroughly at the outset. It is not worth while attempting to raise one’s own plants, unless they are of a very vigorous strain, and above all healthy. A great deal of the trouble experienced with strawberries can be traced to poor stock, which cannot be expected to resist pests and diseases. Strong runners cannot be raised from weak parent stock. Purchase your plants from a reliable source and have the site already prepared. When planting time comes round, the plants can then be put straight in. If the old beds are to stand anothei year all the old leaves and runners should be cut off and removed. Where aphids are present, much success has been achieved by burning over the beds. The old leaves and litter are allowed to dry thoroughly, then the dry matter is fired so that the whole burns quickly over the bed. This will destroy many pests and the plants come away quite strongly again. The job must be carefully done when the conditions are right to effect a perfect clearance. When the plants are again growing nicely, a good dressing of organic fertiliser will put fresh vigour into the plants and ensure a better crop for the following season. CROOKED POPPIES WEAKNESS OF STOCK. The crookedness of stems in poppies is due to weakness of stock. If you are saving your own seed after picking blooms, it is only to be expected, as the stock has then become weakened. If you desire to save your own seed have a separate bed for the purpose and let the first and best flowers go to seed. Any plants that show any deviation from type, that is, have crooked stemmed flowers or other undesirable characteristics, should be pulled out at once; otherwise your straight-stemmed seed plants will be cross fertilised by the bad ones,, and although you may save seed from the good plants only, the crooked stems will appear again. It may take several ‘seasons to get a pure strain again. The manorial programme could not be improved. It is simply the fault of the strain.