HINTS FOR THE AMATEUR.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 November 1938, Page 9

HINTS FOR THE AMATEUR.

VEGETABLES AND FLOWERS. WORK FOR THE WEEK VEGETABLE GARDEN., Thin out sowings of Parsnips. Allow each plant to stand single, six to eight inches apart. Carrots can be sown. Early sown crops should be thinned out. Make sowings of Dwarf Beans to suit requirements. Allow each plant room to develop properly. Make further sowings of Peas. Put sticks or wire netting to any that require them. Sow Melons, Vegetable Marrows, Pumpkins, Squash and Cucumbers. Tomatoes can be planted more generally. Keep plants staked, tied and trained to one stem. Vacant ground should be prepared ready for planting. Cabbage and Cauliflower ean be planted. Firm, heavy soil is best. Seeds of Salsify and Scorzonera can be sown. The latter is a winter vegetable. From now on Lettuce is best sown thinly in drills, then thinned out; this saves a lot of work in transplanting and watering. FLOWER GARDEN. Fill up the borders with your favourite bedding plants. Conditions are now splendid. Prepare new Violet beds. Take strong-rooted runners and plant out in welt-prepared ground. Thin out shoots of clumps of herbaceous plants, leaving only three or four of the best. You will get better and more lasting blooms. Many hardy and half-hardy classes of annuals’ can be sown in the open ground. This sowing will give late summer and autumn flowers. Canterbury Bells and Aquilegias should be sown in open ground. This sowing will give strong flowering plants for next season. Seeds jof Dahlias can be sown. No heat will be needed. A little protection from cold winds and heavy rains is all that is necessary. Spray Roses for green fly and.mildew. Free dusting of the bushes with sulphur and derris iwill both in check. Sweet Peas should have all weak shoots pinched out. Main stems should be tied to their supports. Sow seeds of annual Sunflowers, Cosmos, Zinnias and Celosias. Polyanthus which are retained for another season, should be lifted and planted in a shady portion of the garden for the summer. The started Dahlia tubers should be divided and planted; one shoot with la tuber attached is sufficient to make a good plant Prune the spring flowering shrubs as they pass out of flower; the pruning should be more in the nature of thinning out the older growths. FRUIT GARDEN. Rub off robber shoots starting on newly-grafted on budded trees. Peach and Nectarine trees should be sprayed to control brown rot and leaf curl. Spray Apples and Pears with arsenate of lead to control codfin moth. Currants and Gooseberries will need spraying to control mildew.