HINTS FOR THE AMATEUR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 June 1941, Page 2

HINTS FOR THE AMATEUR

Fruit, Flowers and Vegetables WORK FOR THE WEEK « FRUIT GARDEN. Plant strawberries and all kinds of fruit trees and bushes when the soil is in good working order and continue the pruning of gooseberries. currants, apples, pears and plums. FLOWER GARDEN. The chief work in the flower garden at the z present time will be the planting and transplanting of trees, shrubs, and roses, the pruning of trees and shrubs, rambler and climbing roses, and the digging of shrubbery and herbaceous borders. When digging the shrubbery borders, care should be taken not to damage the surface roots, and in the case of heaths, azaleas, and rhododendrons, it is better to scuffle the surface and to depend on a mulch of lawn mowings, leaf mould, or well-rotted cow manure to keep down grass and weeds. ( Polyanthus primroses which are sc< easy to raise and so suitable for spring bedding effects, should be protected from the ravages of birds by stretching strands of black cotton over them. As the bulbs appear through the ground fork up .the surface soil a'little and give a dressing of basic phosphate or basic slag. VEGETABLE GARDEN. Continue to lift and store root .crops, not because they will be damaged by frost, but so that the ground .they are occupying can be manured andl dug over roughly, exposing it to the effects of frest and weather during the winter, so that it will be available and in good condition for 1 sowing and planting in the spring. Manure and dig over all vacant ground, and attend to draining and repairing paths and edgings. Form new asparagus beds and sow broad beans, dwarf peas, and lettuce in a warm sheltered border. Cabbage, cauliflower and lettuce can be sown in a cold frame to provide plants for putting out in the spring. Potatoes should be in boxes ready to sprout and plant later on when frost danger is practically over. For gardens in the vicinity of Pownall, Renall, Essex, and Cole streets Jersy Bennes will be found a good sort to try, but generally Masterton amateur gardeners like to grow Robin Adair, Dakota Red or Arran Chief. One Pownall Street resident has peas (of the 6 feet type) a foot high and very healthy looking. Masterton gardeners should plant a row or two of peas—Blue Bantam, Little Marvel or Greenfeast about, when the new moon comes in, and Coronation as a second early later on.