JAPONICA

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 November 1939, Page 8

JAPONICA

A PRUNING PROBLEM. Cydonia Japonica, more familiar to most gardeners simply as japonica, often presents a problem in pruning, but it is really quite easy to manage. All the young growths, except those at the ends of the branches which are needed for extension, should have their tips nipped out when about four or five inches in length. The work is not done all at once, but spread over a period from the middle of November until the middle of January. The effect of this pinching is to cause plump buds to form at the base of the shoots. If desired these can be shortened still further to about two inches in May.

KEEP THE HOE BUSY IN THE VEGETABLE PLOT. From now on the hoe should never be idle in the vegetable plot. It is in the vegetable garden that surface cultivation counts for most. Few, if any. vegetables will give good return if allowed to become dry at the roots. Many home gardeners still labour under the delusion that the chief purpose of hoeing is to keep down weeds. This it undoubtedly does, but, more important, it reduces the loss of moisture in the soil by reducing the surface to a fine friable tilth. It is useless to wait until early summer before making a start, for by then, much of the reserve of moisture may already have been lost. The hoc should be brought into use just as soon as the soil is in a fit condition to be worked, and from that time on, should be constantly employed. The push hoe is the best tool for the job. Mulches will, of course, do much to reduce labour and these, too, should be laid down early if they are to be of any real service. As a general rule, it may be taken that feeding should not commence until the plants are well established. Quick acting stimulants, given in the early stages of growth will not be needed if the soil is in good heart. Used judiciously, fertilisers can do a great deal to improve the yield. There are instances, however, where it is permissible to use stimulants at a fairlj’ early period of growth. Members of the cabbage tribe for example, are often slow in getting away; one ounce of sulphate of ammonia per yard run of row will have a wonderful effect on their progress, as it will on green vegetables of any description. It is a wonderful stimulant in the vegetable garden. Sprinkled along the rows and well watered in it will have a marked effect on growth. The making firm of the soil along the sides of the rows of carrots, after thinning, has been emphasised in a previous article. This is helpful in warding off attacks of the carrot fly. It has been found effective to lay a line of lawn mowings along the side of the rows and close enough to enclose the base of the leaves. The flies cannot then reach the roots to deposit eggs.

It is also a good plan to scatter sand or sawdust between the rows, the material having first been impregnated with kerosene or creosote. These dressings need renewing when the odour has passed away. For .a like purpose horticultural napthalene can be used. The use of any of these materials is to camouflage the odour of the carrots which attracts the fly. The first brood will be on the wing by early November.

CARE OF POTATOES HOE REGULARLY. From the time the potatoes appear above the soil the ground should be hoed regularly. No other vegetable responds more to frequent stirring of the soil.

THE CUCUMBER CULTIVATION METHODS. The cultivation of cucumbers has been carried on for thousands of years in China. India and Egypt, and the long varieties can reasonably be considered tropical plants, requiring glass houses or frames. They can be grown quite well in frames over a mild hotbed, and for this purpose a layer of at least two feet of fresh stable manure and leaves is necessary, with six inches of good loam on top. The frames should be placed where they will get full sunshine, though during the middle of the day it may be necessary to provide a little shade. The growths will require to be stopped from time to time, and thinned out a bit. and top-dressings of loam with some blood and bone manure added can be given occasionally during the season. The ridge cucumbers can be grown well in the open under similar conditions to vegetable marrows, and for those who have no glass they are a great boon. The plants can be raised under glass or obtained from nurserymen and if planted out under shelter about the end of November they should grow away and fruit freely. During dry weather give plenty of water, with' liquid manure once a fortnight, and a mulch of well-rotted manure, spent hops or leafmould will be an advantage. For house or frame cultivation Telegraph or Rochford Market will be suitable, and for the open air King of the Ridge, Prolific or Stockwood will do.

TIMELY HINTS. Those who are confined to the use of a frame placed over a hotbed for cucumber growing will find the present a suitable time for raising the required plants. Place each seed edge downwards in a small pot and germination should not be long delayed if the pots are placed in a warm propagating case. They will quickly “draw" if not given a position close to the glass directly they are well through the soil. Subsequently pot on until the plants are well established in six-inch pots, by which time the hotbed should be ready. In each successive potting keep the plants as low as possible in the new pots, a* roots are emitted from the stem.