IN THE GARDEN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 31 December 1940, Page 9

IN THE GARDEN

HINTS FOR THE AMATEUR

Fruit, Flowers and Vegetables

WORK FOR THE WEEK

VEGETABLE GARDEN.

Runner beans in flower should be syringed in the evenings after hot days; use sun-warmed (water.; Make another sowing of short carrots for autumn use; water the drills before sowing. Sow spinach beet for-autumn and winter use; space the seeds in pairs at five inches apart. Pollinate the female flowers of marrows and pumpkins if they are shy setting. Spray main crop potatoes with Bordeaux as a precaution against disease. If autumn-sown onions have (completed their growth and the tops are yellowing, lift them and spread them out ini a sunny place to dry. Spring-sown onions will benefit by a topdressing of nitrate of soda about per square yard; scatter evenly and hoe in.

FLOWER GARDEN.

Sow seeds of wallflowers, Brompton stocks, myosotis, isilene, and bellis perennis for (spring bedding. Gladioli will need constant attention to support or the spikes of bloom soon become bent and'twisted. Most spring-flowering bulbs have completed their growth and 'may be lifted if so desired. If the bulbs are to remain in the ground, |rake off all the old foliage and fill (in the holes left, as this is the entrance for the .narcissusfly. The autumn-flowering bulbs are best planted as soon as the bulbs can be obtained. Cordon-grown sweet peas will benefit by frequent applications of weak liquid manure. Cordon-grown sweet peas will benefit by frequent applications of weak liquid manure.

FRUIT GARDEN.

Summer (prune the spur-bearing fruit'bushes; the friut trees can be attended to in January. . ' Any stocks intended for budding over should/be freely watered during dry spells to make the bark lift freely. Grafts require some kind of support toiprevent being blown off. If disease has been present,in thelstnawberry bed, or if the plants have been badly attacked by pests,’set fire to the litter on the bed as soon as the crop’has been (gathered. Continue to propagate a stock of young strawberry runners from healthy plants. Examine all the stone fruits for signs of silver (leaf disease; it is wise to cut out all infected branches.

BROCCOLI A VERY USEFUL VEGETABLE. Broccoli, like cauliflower, is a cultivated variety of the .wild cabbage, the flower stalks having become soft and succulent, and they bunch together to form a head, or it is sometimes called curds. When left in the ground the parts of the head open up, and ordin-' ary yellow flowers are produced. Broccoli is sometimes considered to be a hardy cauliflower, but there are certain differences in appearance. The broccoli usually has more numerous, broader, and stiffer leaves, generally bare leaf-stalks, and the veining of its leaves is also stouter and whiter. It is a very useful vegetable, and if several varieties are- planted which take different times to mature it is possible to maintain supplies during late autumn, winter, and spring. Seed can be sown on a small, well-prepared, but not rich, bed from October until December, the drills being six inches apart. It is necessary to protect the seed bed from birds with pieces of twiggy branches, but as soon as germination takes place these are removed and strands of black cotton are fastened over the rows. Broccoli, and, in fact, all winter greens usually follow early potatoes, but if these are not dug in time to put out the broccoli before the plants become too large they can be lined out on a well-cultiva-ted border at six inches apart, where they can grow until space is available, when they can be transplanted with a good ball of soil and, therefore, receive little check.

After digging the potatoes or removing early peas, the ground is lightly forked over and levelled, a dressing of superphosphate and lime being worked in, two ounces of each to the square yard will do. It is not advisable to dig over the ground, for when grown in a firm soil they stand the winter better.

Before planting, draw drills two feet and a-half apart and four inches deep, and if the soil is very dry fill this with water and allow it to soak in, likewise give the plants in the seed bed a good watering. This will help the soil to stock to the fine roots when they are being transplanted. Lift the plants carefully with a fork or a trowel, make a hole with the trowel sufficiently large to allow the roots to go in easily, place a liitle deeper than they were in the seed bed. and pack the soil in firmly round the roots. Give one good watering to settle the soil among the fine roots, and then surround each plant with a ring of lime to keep off slugs, which are specially fond of young plants which have been newly transplanted. To maintain a succession, different varieties are planted; for example, Michaelmas White for the autumn, Superb Early White for winter, and Snow White for spring. The sprouting varieties are also worth growing, for their supply shoots which are nice and succulent for a fairly long season. There is a sprouting white and sprouting purple, but purple is the better. Other greens which come into use during the winter and spring are curly kale, a most useful vegetable in a district where there is heavy frost, sav-

oys and winter cabbage such as Improved Winnigstadt. Advantage should be taken of a rainy day to transplant the winter greens, but should the weather be dry a sprinkling overhead in the evenings will help to freshen them up, and as soon as growth commences the soil can be hoed into the drill, and later on they will be earthed up to steady them during windy weather. Leeks can also be transplanted as soon as the seedlings are large enough, but they require rather different treatment.

GARDEN PESTS HOW TO DEAL WITH THEM. One garden pest is the well known grass grub, of which one of its stages is the brown beetle, which flies about at nights during the latter part of November and December. The beetle also does considerable damage eating the buds of roses and the leaves of turnips and beet, but the grub is still more destructive, eating the roots off lettuce, cabbage, and many of the other plants when they are in the infant stage. The beetle lays its eggs among long grass for preference, but also among weeds and on lawns, and, as prevention is better than cure, by keeping the garden free of weeds and the lawn and grass paths mown closely we discourage the beetle, and it will go into a more neglected garden where it considers its young will have plenty to eat. It can also be discouraged by spraying the ground and the plants with tar water or hoeing in some of the coal tar products, such as restar and naphthalene. Apterite was also used some time ago, but probably it is off the market at present.

When taking over an old, neglected garden or breaking in a new one, it would be better to chip off the surface grass and burn it, rather thgn run the risk of turning in grubs in their infant stage. Collodial arsenate of lead is suitable for destroying the grubs in lawns, but. it would hardly be suitable for cultivated ground, though it might be worth watering in a little round young plants in the early part of the year.

The beetles, when flying about at night, are attracted by lights, and a little bonfire or an electric light suspended over a tray of treacle or water would destroy many. Another underground pest is the wire worm, which is the underground stage of the click beetle, which, like the brown beetle, also lays it eggs among long grass and wceds . For it, 00, c can cultivation and absence of m°e C th ai d , firaSS is nn advantage. Unvellowi«hS^ aSS Ub ' the wire worm is incl ? tough, hence tL "am P “ which is very appromHi W ° rm ' ately it lives in the worm several years, and durintr nil . -

One is usually recommended to grow a crop of potatoes the first year breaking up a lawn and bringing i n a new garden, and it is then that the wireworms are most destructive, eating their way into the tubers and spoiling them as food, states a writer in the “Otago Daily Times.” If the

ground is broken up in autumn, a dressing of gas lime can be applied at the rate of from 501 b to 601 b per square rood, and forked in. They can also be caught by means of bait, either pieces of potato oi’ carrots buried' a few inches under the soil near plants which the worms are likely to attack. A piece of wood stuck into the bait will mark where it is set, and when examined in a day or so the worms will be found to have partly eaten their way into it. They can be pulled out and burned or dropped into a tin of kerosene. They are also said to be very fond of‘oil-> cake ,and this, too, can be used as a bait.

Slugs are also very destructive in cold, wet seasons, but when the weather is dry and the soil dusty they are not nearly so troublesome. Lime in some form is the best deterrent, and when planting out young cabbage, cauliflower, or any of the brassicas it is advisable to dust a ring of lime round each, and to renew it from time to time after rain, for it loses its effect after being wet. There are several preparations guaranteed to destroy slugs, but for an ordinary visitation there is nothing simpler and more effective than lime and soot, though Vaporite and Apterite are also recommended. The most satisfactory method of control is to destroy their hiding places, to dust lime freely amongst all rubbish, and to maintain a loose, fine surface soil, which dries out readily. Woodlice and earwigs are sometimes troublesome, especially among young seedlings. Boiling water can be poured into their haunts, all rotting wood and other rubbish cleared away, and poison baits laid. The following was recommended recently:—Mix together a quarter of a pint of treacle, threequarters of a pint of water, and one ounce of sodium flouride. Then stir into this about lib of bran, enough to make it moist, but not wet. Put bits of this about in match-boxes, in crevices where the earwigs or woodlice would find it, but out of reach of small children or birds.

SPRAY APPLES LOOK OUT FOR SILVER BLIGHT. Continue to spray apples with arsenate of lead for codlin moth, pears and cherries with hellebore for leaf slugs, and cut any branches of cherries or plums which show signs of silver blight.

ASTER WILT METHODS FOR DEALING WITH TROUBLE. A good deal of aster wilt has appeared already, and more is bound to appear as the season advances. Three methods of facing this trouble have been suggested. First, grow a wiltproof variety. The theory is perfect, but the writer has seen these so-called “wilt-proof” asters badly attacked. The next method is to sow the seed where the plants are to stay, because the lifting needed before replanting breaks some of the roots and makes an opening for disease. Readers have probably transplanted most of their asters, so they have the third line of defence to fall back on. This is the treatment of the soil with some solution or powder. Cheshunt Compound is suggested by nearly every garden writer in the Empire, but one of our leading scientists says that this compound has not been very effective in New Zealand. Readers are advised to use soluble sulphur (if procurable) or Bordeaux, or a deep pink solution of Condy's crystals. The soil all round the plants should be sprayed.