CLEANING UP WORK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 December 1938, Page 3

CLEANING UP WORK

■ BEFORE GOING ON HOLIDAY. While you are away on holiday the garden, will have a tendency to revert to. Nature. Freed from, all restrictions, the plants will fall about and make friends with the weeds. The grass will grow as it never grew before and there will be a glorious wilderness when you return —that is, unless a little time is spent on the garden before leaving. There are many keen gardeners who are loth to leave their choice plants to suffer during their temporary absence;' but the floral treasures will survive unharmed if a few simple precautions are taken. PICK FLOWERS AND BUDS. All flowers and buds, especially with such things as sweet peas, should be picked. Give them away to your friends if you have no use for them. Also remove all seed-pods, for they will sap the vitality of the plants and prevent further flower production. Hoe the ground thoroughly, thus destroying weeds and providing a mulch of loose soil that will preVent undue evaporation of moisture. Stake and tie tall-growing herbaceous plants, for sudden storms are known even in holiday time. In the vegetable garden, peas and beans should be gathered to ensure that pod production will not cease through seed setting and crops maturing. It is a wise plan to arrange for a friend to gather all flowers and crops 'that seem ready for picking while the owner is away.

Plants, which require much moisture,, like tomatoes, pumpkins, marrows and dahlias, should be hoed and mulched with lawn cuttings, dead leaves or material from the compost heap. Damp the mulch thoroughly just before leaving. This will be invaluable to the plants if real holiday weather is experienced. The lawn will require mowing just before leaving and the edges trimmed so that all will present as neat an appearance as possible on your return. Any small fruits should be picked and the bushes given a good mulch. Choice pot plants are usually a serious problem when it comes to leaving them for a week or two. There are several ways of treating them so that they will be quite safe. Arrange the pots in a ring on the floor round a bucket of water. From the bucket to each plant a length of wet wool should be placed, tucking the end of the wool into the soil of each pot. Water will seep slowly along the wool continuously, so keeping the soil in the pot moist. An alternative is to plunge the pots up to the rims in a shady place out of doors. The plants will enjoy the holiday in the fresh air. It is not advisable to place them under trees, for they yyill not benefit by any rain which niay fall. 'The pots and surrounding soil should be moistened thoroughly before leaving. WINDOW BOXES. Single plants can be kept safely by standing them in a deep bowl, then packing moss or other material around them. Anything which will hold moisture will do, so long as it also allows a free circulation of air. Window boxes can be kept moist by the wet wool method or by two .or three good-sized jam jars filled with water with the wool leading from them to the soil in the box. With these simple precautions the house plants will be quite safe during the absence of the owner and the garden will greet you on your return with a wealth of flowers, instead of a wilderness of weeds, spent flowers and seedrpods.