IN THE GARDEN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 January 1940, Page 8

IN THE GARDEN

HINTS FOR THE AMATEUR FRUIT, FLOWERS AND VEGETABLES WORK FOR THE WEEK VEGETABLE GARDEN. Cultivate soil between growing crops. This will keep down weeds and conserve moisture. Sow dwarf beans to suit requirements. A few every ten days or so will keep up a good supply. Sow lettuce and radish to give succession. A little shade, plenty of water, also manure are required for summer supplies. Prepare the celery trenches and plant when ready. Lift the plants with a ball of soil attached and shade for a few .days after planting. Cabbage and cauliflower seed chn be sown. Shade slightly and dust with derris to keep insect pests down. Sow peas of an early variety. Make sowings of spinach in drills; water the drills before sowing if the weather is.dry. Pinch the tops of runner beans when the plants reach the tops of supports; this will encourage side growths to form. Make a sewing of turnip for autumn use, also swedes. Sow a little Shorthorn carrot seed. This will give good young roots for autumn use. Tomatoes will need tying, disbudding and spraying. Use derris or arsenate of lead to control caterpillars. As an insecticide use arsenate of lead powder at the rate of a teaspoonful to a gallon water. Use derris powder mixed with ten parts of flowers of sulphur. Derris is a non-poisonous insecticide. If onions throw up flower heads, break them off. When the bulbs begin to show signs of ripening, bend over the tops. FRUIT GARDEN. Spray, with arsenate of lead or Hellebore powder for leech. Thinning of late varieties of fruit may still be done. Remove some of theiuseless inside growths of peaches, etc. Spray for codlin moth. Use arsenate of lead —a teaspoonful to the gallon of water. ' Spray stone fruit for brown or ripe rot. Use wettable or colloidal sulphur. In dry weather all busn fruits can be well watered to develop the crops. Another spraying of lime sulphur should be given to the apple and pear trees at one in 80. Peaches and nectarines should have the lime sulphur at one in 120. Where it is intended to save strawberry runners, the best of these should be pegged down. Examine the fruit trees for misplaced growths, which are more easily rubbed off now than later on. FLOWER CARDEN. Dead blooms must be cut off to prevent seeding and to encourage a „ long season of flowering. Securely stake and tie dahlias; also any other tall, herbaceous subject. Chrysanthemums for exhibition purposes should have all side shoots removed. Restrict growth to the two or three stems which are to carry the blooms. Start to layer border carnations as soon as they have finished blooming. The beginning of the year is a good time to start. Spray roses with Bordeaux or lime sulphur to prevent mildew. Cut and trim hedges. This is the best time of the year to cut or trim macrocarpa and other conifer hedges. Bulbs which have completed their growth may now be lifted; dry in the shade away from the attentions of the narcissus fly. The bearded irises should be lifted every third year when flowering is finished. Lupins can be raised from seeds sown in the open ground during the next few weeks. Established beds of lily of the valley will improve with a few waterings of liquid manure during the next few weeks. Flower borders should be kept well hoed to conserve the moisture.