HINTS FOR THE AMATEUR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 February 1939, Page 2

HINTS FOR THE AMATEUR

FRUIT, FLOWERS AND VEGETABLES WORK FOR THE WEEK VEGETABLE GARDEN. Make a sowing of prickly spinach; this should be sown in successional crops from now on. Make a good sowing of cabbage and cauliflower for planting out in autumn. Most of the potato crops are ready for lifting; when saving for seed, choose only those tubers from healthy plants. Keep ‘the Marrows and Pumpkins well watered during dry spells. Sow Turnips, Sweeds, Spinach and Shorthorn Carrots; also round varieties of Beetroot. Plant out Cabbage, Cauliflower and Broccoli. Dip the plants in nicotine insecticide before planting. Make another sowing of Dwarf Beans for late supplies. Late Peas should be well staked and not allowed to suffer from want of water. Permanent crops such as Asparagus, Rhubarb and Seakale will appreciate supplies of liquid manure to builcf up strong crowns. Dust the Cabbage and Cauliflower plants with sulphur and pepper to deter the insect pests. FRUIT GARDEN. Plum trees that are badly affected by leech should have a good spraying of arsenate of lead as soon as the fruit is removed. Caterpillars are busy among the Tomatoes. Spray with arsenate of lead, half an ounce to one gallon. The early crops of Apples will be ready for picking; do not delay the picking too long after maturity. When the Raspberry crop is picked the old fruiting canes should be cut out and burned. Loganberries can also be relieved of the old canes and the young growths tied in. Where patches of woolly aphis are showing, use a brush dipped in benzine or kerosene. Examine the fruit tree “budded” recently. When buds are swelling, loosen the ties. Support any heavily-laden fruit trees or the branches may be broken and lost altogether. The budding of ,fruit trees can be taken in hand; give the stocks a good soaking of water the day before if the soil is dry. FLOWER GARDEN. Sow Iceland Poppies, Cineraria, Calendula, Stocks and Antirrhinums, prepare the beds for ; Anemones and Ranunculi by deep digging. See the site is well drained. Lift Gladioli when the foliage turns yellow. Soaks the corms for thirty minute in 2 per cent solution of formalin before storing. Plants in window boxes and tubs should have a '.weekly application of fertiliser when they have filled the boxes with roots. Seedlings such as Iceland Poppies need all the air possible and yet be shaded from bright sun; remove the shading in the evenings.