FLOWERS ANO VEGETABLES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 October 1940, Page 9

FLOWERS ANO VEGETABLES

CAN BE GROWN IN POTS, TINS' • OR BOXES. Those who have very small gardens and, in fact, those with no garden at all, can grow quite a number of both flowers and vegetables in pots, tubs, tins, or boxes, and by keeping up a succession have something of interest! and use for the greater part of the year. A window box should be seven inches wide, eight inches deep, and any length which will fit into the window, but for a balcony three feet six inches will be quite long enough to handle. For a balcony, a front or back yard, oil drums, petrol tins, nail barrels when painted green can be used; and in them hydrangeas, fuchsias, dahlias, geraniums, or pelargoniums can be grown, with wallflowers, hyacinths, or other bulbs for the spring. For the window box, geraniums, pelargoiums, nasturtiums, ivy-leaved geraniums. dwarf michaelmas daisies with lobelia or white alyssum would be suitable for summer and autumn; for spring, wallflower, grape hyacinths, hyacinths, polyanthus primroses, aubretia, daffodils, and tulips can be used. Mignonette and night scented stocks, though not bright, add perfume

to the rooms. In the back yard, iceland poppies and chrysanthemums for providing cut flowers can be grown in addition to the plants already named. It isn't necessary to confine one’s efforts to flowers, for certain kinds of vegetables can be grown quite well in boxes the chief being mustard and ] cress, shorthorn carrots, radish and ( lettuce, and where wall space is avail- t able runner beans can be planted and t trained up strings. They are not only t useful, but are also quite decorative j when in flower. £ Soil would be a problem for anyone f who has no garden at all, but it is c usually possible to get good loam from c new formations or widening of roads t in the suburbs. Leafmould can be obtained from the bush, and sand t from the beach. This would be mixed a together at the rate of four parts loam, one of leafmould, and one of sand. One a part of manure would be an advantage f and this can often be picked up in the a street. A six-inch potful of lime can be j added to about every barrowload of j the mixture. t A number of holes should be made in v the bottom of the receptacles for drain- t age, and over these some pieces of t brickbats, or crocks, should be placed, d and on top of this a layer of leaves, f moss and turfy soil can be pul to keep s the soil from washing down and block- ] ing up the drainage. Make the soil t fairly firm and leave' the surface at f least an inch below the rim to hold fl enough water to saturate the soil. fl Boxes for beans, carrots, lettuce, and n radish should be nine inches deep, but e for mustard and cress four inches will w be enough. The beans will be planted a six inches apart, the lettuce sown e thinly and thinned out to six inches a

: apart or transplanted at that distance, i the radish and carrots will be sown : thinly and pulled as they develop, ■ parsley, which is always useful, can be thinned out to three inches each way. For mustard and cress, the soil should be covered with a piece of thin scrim and seed being sown on it, and covered not with soil, but with a wet sack, kept about an inch above the soil. This is removed when the seed germinates and the seedlings are rooted through the scrim. To keep up a succession small sowings will have to be made at intervals of a fortnight for mustard and cress, and free or four weeks for lettuce, radish and carrots. In a sheltered, sunny yard, tomatoes can be ripened when planted in tins. / BEANS SOW WHEN FROSTS OVER. French, butter and runner beans may be sown unless the soil is wet and cold and there is a danger of frost. The dwarf kinds should be sown in drills,

two inches deep, six inches wide and three feet apart. All kinds of beans are improved by applications of phosphatic and potash manure. Mix in the soil before planting superphosate at the rate of loz to the yard run and Joz sulphate of potash to the same distance. A little bone meal will also improve the crop. As soon as the young plants are well through the ground mould them up. and hoe frequently. Runner beans are the most profitable. They are easy to grow. Both the foliage and the flowers of runner beans are ornamental. A row of these plants is useful for screening unsightly objects. The preparation of the soil for ■ this crop must be given special culti- ■ vation if the plants are to be productive throughout the season. Take out a trench two feet wide and two feet , deep, break up the bottom spit with a ; fork. In the bottom of the trench place , some well decayed manure. When fil- j ling in the trench dust bone meal ; through the soil at the rate of loz to - the yard run. Place the seeds four < inches apart in the row and three j inches deep. If more than one row is ( needed. the rows should be placed ' eight feet apart. When the plants are ] well up dust a little superphosphate < along the row and mould up. Give ; each plant room to develop and stake i as soon as possible. i