IN THE GARDEN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 November 1941, Page 8

IN THE GARDEN

HINTS FOR THE AMATEUR Fruit, Flowers and Vegetables WORK FOR THE WEEK VEGETABLE GARDEN. The staking of the peas should receive attention; the dwarf ones repay for small stakes to keep them off the ground. Prick-off the celery seedlings for the main crop in; some'rich compost. Make another small sowing of globe beetroot; the tap-rooted varieties for storing can be sown at’the end of the\mcnth. Sow the main crop of carrots and thin out the earlier ones as soon as they are large enough to handle. Parsnips require a long season of growth and should now be through the ground; keep these and all other seedling-crops well hoed. . FRUIT GARDEN. Apple and pear trees growing on grass land are apt to suffer from lack qf nourishment; keep a circle free around the tree and apply fertiliser. If there is any spare manure available it will be better used ori| the raspberries jand loganberries; fork in lightly. Keep a sharp look out on all green shoots for attacks of green and black aphis. Outdoor,vines will need disbudding; remove shoots not required for extension and those which are 'barren. Autumn-fruiting raspberries cut down a few weeks ago are pushing up new shoots. These should be reduced to five or'six per stool. FLOWER GARDEN., Autumn-raised antirrhinums and those increased from cuttings should be transferred to the beds. Make fresh plantations of violets from the best of the runners. Many rock garden plants may now Ibe propagated by pulling them into small pieces. A border of annuals can be very effective if sown in (bold groups. Heavy soil will be improved by the addition of burned ash( or sand before raking'the soil to a fine tilth.

HUNGRY SOILS

HOW TO TREAT THEM. A hungry soil is one which cannot retain plant foods for any length of time. No matter how much manure js given (in reason) he soil soon becomes more or less starved and needs more. For example, when a hungry soil is liberally manured as it is dug over in autumn, it seems to lose all this by the spring and crops do not get anything like the benefit expected. Hungry soils are mostly of a gravelly or sandy nature and cannot retain water. Something in the nature of humus of a spongy nature is needed to assist in retaining moisture. Artificial fertilisers are of little use. Even when plenty of fertiliser has been added, there is not sufficient soil moisture to cause solution, and it is possible foi' crops to be starving in the midst of plenty. It should always be remembered in connection with hungry soils, that a thin mulch of old manure, compost, lawn cuttings, or anything that is humus forming and not unsightly, is highly beneficial if spread over the surface almost as soon as plants come up. It keeps the soil cool and moist underneath, thus enabling the roots to get food for themselves. Such a mulch should be kept loose and not allowed to become caked and trodden down. ONE LEAF TULIPS ARE NOT USELESS. Those who grow tulips may have noticed that some of the bulbs behave in a peculiar manner. They start with a shoot which have every appearance of containing a flower bud then the shoot develops into one large leaf and nothing more. Such tulips are known as “blind” and are liable to be pulled up and destroyed as useless. However, given an undisturbed season of growth the bulb will give a good account of itself the next season. The condition indicates that the bulb is undersized or immature or it has had wrong treatment after flowering. The one leaf tulip is Nature’s effort to restore the plant to health and in this process it must not bloom for one or even two seasons. Any bulbs of one leaf tulips should be carefully lifted and planted in a rich reserve bed where they may be undisturbed. SEEDLINGS GIVE THEM HELP. One thing which seriously checks good progress of tiny seedlings is the caking of the soil surface as soon as dry weather sets in after a period of rain. Two precautionary measures are capable of minimising this trouble. The first is to rake into the soil some finely pulverised wood ash just before sowing the seed. The other is to have ready a straight-edged rod about half an inch in thickness when each row of seed is sown and covered in. Place the rod close along the garden line that guided the drawing of the drill. Put’ just sufficient pressure upon it to make a depression about half an inch deep. Even after rain the mark thus made will still show enough to indicate the’ exact position of the seed row. With that to guide one it will be possible in the event of crust hardening of the soil to just break it up with the edge of a push hoe, even before the seedlings push through the soil. To the inexperienced it may seem to be unnecessary to undertake a task which must obviously be done slowly and with care. The point is that a surface of compressed soil prevents penetration of air and exclusion of air arrests root activity and growth. Two days after such a hoeing seedlings will have made surprising growth. Without the hoeing, they may stand still for a week or ten days at the end of which time they will be weaker instead of stronger, i

NITROGEN STARVATION

HOW TO READ THE SIGNS. Yellowish green foliage, accompanied by feeble growth, is often a sign of nitrogen starvation. Premature loss of leaves in the autumn, or failure of blossom to set fruit are other symptoms. These latter conditions may, however, arise from other causes. Pale green leaves, that drop prematurely, and a weak growth may sometimes result from insufficiency of water or attacks of borer. Conditions must be ideal for proper self and cross fertilisation before a failure of the young fruit to set can, with certainty, be attributed to a lack of nitrogen. The necessity for fertiliser treatment can be determined sometimes by a process of elimination by .which more obvious troubles can be set aside first. On the other hand, the absence of any pronounced symptoms is no proof that the the plants will not respond favourably to nitrogen treatment. In the orchard, the surest way to tell whether the trees will respond to fertiliser treatment, is to experiment with a few first before trying it on the whole orchard. Even though a deficiency of nitrogen has been clearly shown, the use of fertiliser may not be the best way to meet it. Sometimes cultivation is all that is required. If circumstances demand that the orchard be kept in grass, it is a safe assumption that nitrogen carrying fertilisers can be used with advantage. No other nutrient element, indeed no other single factor of their environ? ment so profoundly affects fruit trees,! as nitrogen. It is in more respects than one, the key to their composition, their growth and their production. It is a key always in possession of the grower.