IN THE GARDEN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 March 1940, Page 3

IN THE GARDEN

HINTS FOR THE AMATEUR Fruit, Flowers and Vegetables \ WORK FOR THE WEEK VEGETABLE GARDEN. Remove the berry-bearing growths of asparagus before the seeds fall on the beds. Leeks growing in trenches and not yet earthed-up should be given a sprinkling of fertiliser to be washed in by rain. Keep the cabbage and cauliflower crops sprayed regularly. Lift and store carrots and beet that are full grown. If left they will crack and spoil. Plant out cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli. Prepare ground for sowing onion seed. Sow winter or prickly spinach, cabbage and cauliflower (early varieties), shorn horn’carrots and onions for pulling green. Keep tomatoes tied up and fruits picked, as they keep better off the vines. Cut marrows as soon as ready. Pumpkins should be left till fully ripe. Look over stored potatoes. Any tubers saved for seed should be put in boxes and brought out into full sunlight. Sow cover crops on vacant ground. Dig any weedy patches of garden. Plant out the silver beet from the earlier sowings. Weeds make great progress at this season: take advantage of dry weather to use the hoe frequently. FLOWER GARDEN. Sow hardy annuals in the open ground for flowering in spring. Stocks, calendulas, violas, pansies, nemesia, annual carnations and verbenas may be sown in boxes. Prick off the Iceland poppies from the earlier sowings; keep cool and moist. Remove all fallen leaves and spent plants’ stack in a heap to decay. Sow winter flowering sweet peas. Seed of anemones and ranunculi can be sown. Keep all dead blooms closely picked off the plants in the beds and borders. Chrysanthemums will need regular feeding with liquid manures,’ watch for the caterpillars which spoil the buds. Remove the annuals that have finished their display and replace with plants for spring bloom. Sow down new lawns when the weather is favourable and renovate the bare patches on established lawns. Plant jonquils, daffodils and hyacinths. The ground is now in good condition. Anemones and ranunculi should be planted how. Prepare plots for planting of shrubs and for any changes in existing groups. Dahlias, cosmos, sunflowers, etc, should be kept staked and the flowers cut freely as they develop. FRUIT GARDEN. Harvest the fruit as it ripens, storing only sound specimens; any bruised or damaged fruit can be used at once. Thin out the surplus growths from the peaches and nectarines when the fruit has been removed. If the stone fruits have not had lime lately give a good dressing this autumn. Tomatoes should be picked as soon as they show colour; by this means much loss by cracking is avoided. There is no need to delay the pruning of black currants until the winter; cut out the old growths now. , As soon as the old canes have been cut from the loganberries and raspberries give a spraying with Bordeaux.