IN THE GARDEN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 September 1938, Page 4

IN THE GARDEN

HINTS FOR THE AMATEUR.

VEGETABLES AND FLOWERS.

WORK FOR THE WEEK VEGETABLE GARDEN. Work the land to a good tilth whenever it is dry enough for the sowing of crops. Sowings of almost all kinds of vegetables may be made this month. Potatoes can be planted. Those planted earlier will need spraying and earthing up. When the Potatoes are about six inches high and before earthing give a sprinkling of sulphate of ammonia along the rows. Make sowings of Lettuce, Radish, Mustard and Cress. Plant Onions. Beds should be made firm and do not plant deeply. Sow Brussels Sprouts, Broccoli, Cabbage and Spinach. •Plant Cabbage and Cauliflower. Sow Peas. Those sown earlier should have sticks or wire netting put to keep tops off the soil. Sow Parsnips. These need a long season of growth. Avoid soil in which there are coal ashes, as these cause scab. Make a sowing of Shorthorn Carrots, also Beetroot and Turnips. Lift and replant the herb bed. Choose a sandy, sunny position. In sheltered localities a few early pumpkins and marrows may be planted; cover with a box and a sheet of glass for protection. FLOWER GARDEN. Any further Rose planting should be done now. Delphiniums and Pyrethrums should be planted. Lift, divide and replant Herbaceous Phlox. Plant shrubs and trees, especially evergreens. Newly-planted trees and shrubs should be staked. Finish Rose pruning. Give the beds an application of manure. Prepare beds for Chrysanthemums and Dahlias. Early flowering Sweet Peas must have their growths tied to supports. Surface of soil around Anemones and Ranunculi should be kept loose. • If Anemone foliage begins to turn yellow give a spraying of lime sulphur. Further sowings of Sweet Peas can be made. Autumn sown Sweet Peas should have sticks placed to them to keep their tops off the soil. Hardy annuals can be sown in the open ground during the next few weeks; sow thinly and thin out the resultant seedlings well. FRUIT GARDEN. Any further tree planting should be done as soon as possible. Finish any pruning that remains to be done. Spray stone fruits as soon as the buds begin to burst. Head back trees to be grafted over. Grafting can be done now. Clean up the orchard and apply'manure. Spray Apples and Pears before the buds burst. Black currants are often attacked by green-fly in the early stages of growth; curled or blistered leaves are a sign of infestation. Unfolding leaves of gooseberries are sometimes attacked by caterpillars; spray with an insecticide. Remove dead and withered leaves from the strawberry bed and give a topdressing of manure; fork or hoe in lightly.

SOWINGS FOR THE MONTH SOME TIMELY HINTS. There is never a time when parsley is unwanted in the kitchen and to maintain constant supplies two or three sowings should be made in the course of the year, one of which should be about mid-September. Sow in drills on a piece of ground that was manured previously for some other crop. A shady position is best for parsley, and if it is slightly damp, so much the bettter, for the produce from such a growing situation will be of the deepest colouring and valuable for sauces and for garnishing purposes, as well as an addition to soups, etc. Where the soil is of loose texture, it should be given a liberal dressing of stable manure, which will be an aid to the retention of moisture during the summer. One must, however, be careful not to apply fresh rank manure, because it is productive of coarse leaves and poor flavour. The seed should be sown as thinly as possible in drills ten to twelve inches apart, and if the weather is dry, germination should be assisted by giving a supply of moisture. Thin the seedlings out when big enough to handle, leaving plants at from six to eight inches apart, and make sure these are well firmed into the soil. When once established, give plenty of soot water in dry weather, and continue at intervals should the season be a dry one. GLOBE BEETROOT. Make drills for the seed of this variety of beet from nine to twelve inches apart, and, to save much trouble at thinning time, put two or three seeds in at intervals of from six to eight inches. Avoid land that has been recently manured, or forking and coarse growth will be the result. When the seedlings reach a height of two or three inches, take out the weaker ones, leaving the strongest to grow, and during the summer keep the hoe going between the rows. A topdressing with a good fertiliser will be a great fillip to the crop. Crimson Ball is the finest type of round beet grown, the roots being of a perfect ball shape. The skin is smooth and clear, and the flesh deep red. The leaves are of a browny-green colour, while the foliage of the variety called Round Dark-leaved is so attractive that the beet may be grown in spaces in the herbaceous border. This beet is of fine cooking quality. TURNIPS. Though first earlies may have been sown in some parts in August, seed will germinate all the more quickly in September, and from this month onward to the beginning of April, successive sowings may be made to keep up the supply of young succulent roots. Large sowings are not advisable, because, after the tubers have reached a certain stage in growth, the quality begins to deteriorate, therefore the plan of sowing little and often is the best one to adopt.

Quick growth is the secret of quality, the tubers, when quite young and quickly grown, being sweet and juicy. To get speedy growth, good, rich, wellcultivated soil is essential, and also moisture, for the turnip suffers if the ground is dry. Make drills for the seed at from eight

to ten inches apart, but do not make them deep, as it needs only a very slight covering of soil. If the ground is dry at sowing time, germination will be expedited by watering the bed with sun-warmed water prior' to sowing.

In a week’s time the seedlings should be appearing, and when big enough to handle —that is, when they show the rough leaf—thin them out to four inches apart, and give a watering to the plants through a fine “rose.” As growth proceeds, keep the hoe going between the rows, and when rain threatens, give an application of good artificial'fertiliser, so that it may be quickly dissolved and carried down to the roots. Do not allow the powder or crystals to fall on the leaves, as the concentrated strength will assuredly damage the tissues, unless promptly brushed off.

Radishes and lettuces are always in demand during summer, and seeds of these should be sown thinly and frequently, so as to maintain a succession. Like turnips, both like and need good, well-dug, rich soil, to encourage rapid growth, and there must also be no. crowding. This is especially so with radishes; with lettuce thinnings may be transplanted elsewhere in the evening or on a showery day. ' SAVOY CABBAGE. This is a most reliable and serviceable vegetable for winter use, and may be depended on to stand severe weather. In fact, its flavour is much improved by a touch of frost. The varieties Cartereone, Giant Green, Best of All, Ormkirk Green and Drumhead are a good selection. The first-mention-ed produces a very fine heart entirely free from coarseness. It matures early, but though it does so, it stands for a long time without bursting. Giant Green • is a very improved type, with lovely large, crimped leaves, which keep their fine, tender qualities longer than the old types and varieties. Sow the seed as thinly as possible, and thin out as necessary to allow the plants that are left to become sturdy and not drawn up and leggy. When big enough to be transplanted, put them in well-enriched soil and see that it is firm; this is most essential to good growth. Water the plants in, so that wilting may be avoided, and during the growing season give an occasional dressing of nitrate of soda, which should be watered in if rain does not come to do this task for one. BROAD BEANS. The broad bean is a native of Eastern Europe, and has been in cultivation for centuries. It is the hardiest of the bean crops, and in ordinary seasons and in well-drained ground will stand through the winter if sown in the autumn. Autumn sowing is not so generally practised, and to get the earliest crop a sowing is often made in boxes some time in August. After the seedlings are hardened off they are planted out. The ordinary seedling boxes are suitable, and a soil made up of one part old manure and two of loam with a dusting of lime will do. The seeds are sown two inches apart each way and covered with an inch of soil. If heat is available, either in a greenhouse or frame, germination will be more rapid, but as soon as it lakes place the boxes should be placed in a cold frame, up near the glass, and grad-

ually accustomed to open-air conditions.

Broad beans will grow in any soil provided it is deeply cultivated and well manured, but they prefer a position which was liberally manured for the previous crop. If the ground was not manured and dug over in the autumn, a trench 18 inches wide and the same deep can be taken. Put six inches of well-rotted manure or compost heap in the bottom, give a dusting of lime, and cover with the best of the soil thrown out of the trench. Lift the seedlings with a trowel and plant in a double row at 10 inches apart each way and water should the weather be dry. A few twiggy branches stuck in alongside the rows will protect the plants from cold winds until they become established.

The main crop can be sown in September. The soil, if dug over in the autumn, is forked over, taking care to retain the weathered portion on the top. With a spade take out a trench three inches deep and nine inches wide. Give a dressing of superphosphate, and plant the seeds at nine inches apart in a double row. Cover with the fine soil and firm with the feet or the head of the rake and make the surface fine and level. Often slugs are troublesome in the spring, especially if we get very wet weather, and it is an advantage to dust along the sides of the rows occasionally with freshly slaked lime. After-cultivation is simple. The soil between the rows, which should be four feet apart should be hoed occasionally, and if the weather is dry a good watering with a mulch of strawy manure would help to maintain growth. In windy and exposed gardens it is an advantage to drive in a few stout stakes on each side of the rows and to stretch binder twine along to steady the plants. When they have set about six bunches of pods the tips of the stems should be pinched off. This not only concentrates the energy of the plants into the pods set, but it removes the danger of the bean aphis, which starts in the young tips of the stems and spreads downwards. Rust is sometimes troublesome, and this can be checked by spraying with lime sulphur or Bordeaux mixture.

Beans should not be picked when too small, for then they have a bitter taste, but they should not be allowed to develop a black eye and become dry. After the first crop has been gathered the old stems can be cut .back to within three inches of the ground, when they will send up new shoots and produce a second crop.

There are two distinct kinds, Long Pod and Board Windsor, the former being the best for the early and the latter for the main crop. There are also white-seeded and green-seeded varieties, the latter being considered the best. Varieties to plant are: Whiteseeded —Prolific Longpod, Seville Longpod, and Broad Windsor. Green-seed-ed —Giant Longpod and Green Windsor. HARDENING OFF. The gradual hardening off of either bedding plants or vegetables which have been raised under glass is most important, for the leaf and stem tissue which plants make in heat is soft and not suitable for standing up to cold and boisterous winds. About this time of the year one is accustomed to seeing boxes of excellent annuals set out at seedsmen’s and florists’ doors. If these are planted straight out in the garden there is every chance that they will perish, or they will become so stunted that they will never be any good. The correct practice, where it can be followed, is to put the newly sown seed boxes or pots into the warm greenhouse or frame until the seedlings appear. They are then placed in a cooler, lighter, and more airy place to encourage sturdy, short-jointed growth. When large enough to handle the seedlings are pricked out into boxes, and these are again placed into heat until the • seedlings? recover from the effects of the shift and start to grow. They are again placed into a cooler, lighter, and more airy place for a week oi' two, and when growth is active they are placed out into a cold frame. Here the sashes are kept fairly close for a few days, but they are gradually opened up until they are pulled off altogether when weather conditions are favourable. Next they are placed out in the open, but under a skeleton framework, where they can be covered with a sheet of scrim whenever there is any danger of frost. When all danger of frost is over they are stood out in an open, sunny position on a bed of ashes, and they will remain there until planted out in their permanent positions. It is well worth going to some trouble to secure steady development under as cool conditions as possible so that there will not be any check when planted out permanently.