IN THE GARDEN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 April 1940, Page 8

IN THE GARDEN

HINTS FOR THE AMATEUR Fruit, Flowers and Vegetables WORK FOR THE WEEK VEGETABLE GARDEN. Plant cabbage and cauliflower for spring supplies, also lettuce for winter. Sow early horn carrots for pulling while small, prickly spinach and turnips. Sow onions for transplanting later; sow on raised beds if the soil is likely to lie wet. Remove all decaying leaves from green crops and clean the ground of weeds. Pumpkins and marrows that are mature should be well dried before storing. Prepare a plot for broad beans by well liming and giving an application of potash. ’ Celeriac that is mature can be lifted and stored in a clamp, or earth may be drawn up round the roots where they remain. Salsify is ready for lifting; grade the roots before storing. FRUIT GARDEN. Vigorous but unfruitful trees can be root pruned during this month. Vineries containing late grapes should be kept dry. Plums and peaches regularly supplied with lime or mortar rubble are less likely to shed their fruits in early summer. Make a list of the fruit trees required for the coming planting season. Plant out strawberry plants if the ground has been well prepared. To keep a healthy stock of raspberries, a fresh row should be planted every two or three years. Fruit trees from which the crop has been removed may have a good spraying if infested with insect pests or fungoid disease; some burning of the foliage will not matter now. FLOWER GARDEN. Plant the main batch of ranunculus for spring flowering. Evergreen trees and shrubs can now be planted with safety. Chrysanthemums developing their blooms should not be fed after the colour shows or the blooms will lack substance. Sow down new lawns and give a topdressing to the old ones, making good any. bare places. Plant out Iceland poppies, stocks, calendula, bellis perennis, pansies and violas. Remove the spent annuals from the beds and borders, replacing with spring-flowering subjects. Cut down herbaceous plants which have ripened off their growth. Liliums should not be cut down while there is any green in the fetem.