HINTS FOR THE AMATEUR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 February 1941, Page 9

HINTS FOR THE AMATEUR

Fruit, Flowers and Vegetables WORK FOR THE WEEK I VEGETABLE GARDEN. Plant out cabbage and cauliflower in showery weather; dip in nicotine sulphate to protect from fly. Lift the onions as they ripen and dry well before storing. Plant out more celery and leeks for successional supplies. Sow for succession dwarf beans and peas. Sow carrots, spinach, lettuce, turnips and beetroot Sow cabbage and cauliflowers for later supplies in late winter and early spring. Thin out the seedling crops as soon as large enough and keep well hoed after rain has fallen. FRUIT GARDEN. Pick up all fallen fruit; that which is not fit for use should be destroyed. Spray the late peaches with lime sulphur to control brown rot. Keep a lookout for patches of woolly aphis on the fruit trees; rub the patches with a stiff brush dipped in oil. A final thinning of late grapes is always advisable. Clean up the old strawberry bed as soon as the last of the fruit has been gathered. / Black currants can be pruned as soon as the crop is finished; remove some of the older wood in favour of the younger branches. The sap will be running freely after the rain and it will be a good time to undertake any budding of fruit trees. FLOWER GARDEN. A good mulch of manure applied to the rose beds will encourage the autumn flowers. Attend to the disbudding of dahlias and chrysanthemums. Insert cuttings of pelargoniums in a sunny spot. Commence planting the earliest of the flowering bulbs. Prepare the site for the winter sweet peas by deep digging. The early-sown Iceland poppies should be pricked off before they become too crowded, as the seedlings are very tender. Hardy perennials and biennials sown last month should be pricked out in nursery lines as soon as large enough to handle.