GARDEN NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20266, 7 August 1937, Page 20 (Supplement)

GARDEN NOTES.

(By "Nikau.")

Seasonable Work ,

VEGETABLES AND FRUIT. Plant cabbage, cauliflower, shallot, rhubarb, asparagus, autumn-sown onion, herbs, and a row or two of extra early potatoes. Sow radish, dwarf peas and broad beans In the garden, and lettuce In boxes. Dig in lupins and other material grown for green manure. The ground will not be ready for sowing and planting before several weeks have passed. If a frame Is available, sow tomato seed. On a frosty night the glass should be covered with sacking. Finish pruning peach and nectarine trees, as the buds are swelling. This is the best time to spray them with Bordeaux (lib of powder to 5 gallons of water). Continue pruning apple-trees. Most kinds bear the fruit almost wholly on short growths called 'spurs,’ but Irish Peach bears its fruit at the ends of willowy shoots, and most of these must therefore be left unout. Many kinds of apples which bear sparingly under heavy pruning should be left almost unpruned for one year; a surprisingly large number of fruit-buds will form along the shoots, and the latter can be out back to half length the next year. Continue to plant fruit-trees. Some of the best apples are Gravenstein, Scarlet Pearmaln, Jonathan, Cox’s Orange Pippin, Golden Delicious, Stayman’s Winesap, Munroe’s Favourite, Ballarat Seedling, Granny Smith and Sturmer Pippin. The variety which hangs longest on the tree is Elsie Grant. Its fruit may be picked from the tree as late as August, FLOWERB. Work the soil carefully around hyacinths and other bulbs. Sprinkle a fertiliser around Iceland popples and other bedding plants, and work it lightly into the soil. A weak application of nitrate of soda will help stocks. Finish pruning roses In the next week or so. Cut out dead, unhealthy and spindly wood, and shorten the healthy. Continue planting roses, ornamental trees and shrubs, and hedgeplaints. For all these the soil should be dug deeply and drained properly. Don't forget that many of them will probably last for twenty years and more. Plant Iceland popples and other plants available. Keep seed-heads removed from Iceland poppy, calendula (hardy marigold), anemone, primrose and viola. Put In cuttings of chrysanthemums, but for garden deooration It is simpler to use little but sturdy basal growths already rooted.

THE GROWING OF ASPARAGUS. In the July Issue of the New Zealand Journal of Agriculture the following account of asparagus culture is given:' "The life-period of perennial herbaceous plants varies widely; that of edible asparagus, asparagus officinalis, is one of the longest—three or four years is the really productive life of most plants of this class, but good crops have been gathered from asparagus plantations tour or five times as old as that. Apart from a good seed strain, production depends on good natural conditions and regular attention. This species is a native of Europe and Central Asia, where it Is usually found growing by the seacoast and river-banks. The light, deep, moist, well-drained soil found about estuarian flats in a temperate climate is its natural home, and such country should be selected for commercial production. The month of August, when the young plants are about to oommence the new season’s growth Is very suitable for setting out new plantations. For this purpose graded one-year-old or two-year-old plants are best. There must be no doubt as to the eradication of twitch and persistent weeds of every kind, the ground must he thoroughly Clean, end if not naturally rich it should receive generous dressings of organic matter, which should be turned in ‘ deep. This plant is very partial to supplies of potash and nitrogen; a generous potash dressing should therefore be included in the preparation of the land for planting. if a dressing of kainit has not already been applied, 3 owt per acre of sulphate or muriate of potash should be applied now. "In older countries extensive experiments have been carried out to ascertain the most profitable planting distances, and local experiences endorse most of their conclusions on this point; 18in. between plants, and sft. or 6ft. between rows —the wldfer space In the richer soil—is usually the optimum spacing for commercial crops. In the homestead garden a double row may be planted, 181 n. between plants, and the two rows making the double. If more is required, there should be an Interval of sft. before planting a further double row. Asparagus plants are set deep. The usual method Is to plough out a furrow lOin. deep, place the plants in position, and cover firmly with about 2ln. of soil, the remainder of the filling being made during the summer during subsequent cultivation while the plants are growing. The ultimate covering Is about 81n., or rather less If the land is inclined to be heavy. No cutting is done the first season after planting, but at the second spring growth a short cutting season of two weeks is done If good progress has been made. Where asparagus plants are required for.planting next year, seeds of a good strain should be sown now so that a long season of growth will be obtained to enable sturdy plants to be produced. As with other seed-beds, it is important that weed-seeds near the surface should be germinated and destroyed beforo sowing, thus obtaining a clean seed-bed. To hasten germination, asparagus-seed Is soaked In hot water, about 85 to 00 degrees F., for a period up to four or five days, the surface moisturo Is then dried off’, and the seed sown at once. The sowing is made sufficiently thin to produce good plants at Intervals of about flln. or 41n.—a depth of 2ln. to 3in. and 24tn. to 30in. between rows Is usually most suitable. MANURE FOR ASPARAGUS. “ The asparagus crop Is partial to an alkaline soil condition, and established plantations, unless given generous treatment during the summer immediately after the cutting season has finished, should now be given 6 'owt basic superphosphate and 2cwt sulphate or muriate of potash per acre, and such prepared farm manure as may be necessary to maintain the supply of humus in the soil. in any case, early in the month of September a dressing of nitrate of soda (2c\vt per acre) should be applied and repeated at monthly intervals as may be necessary. The present dressing is broadcasted and disced in both ways And the land harrowed down—further cultivation being done between the rows as may be required." It will be remarked that the’ above account deals with asparagus culture on rather a large scale, but many of the hints may be applied to the growing of asparagus on a small scale — depth of planting, spacing, manuring, etc. The present time is right for the top-dressing of tho bed with rotted manure and a mixed fertiliser or simply blood and bone.

PRUNING HYDRANGEAS. As the present time is perfeot for pruning hydrangeas, some notes on the subject may prove helpful. First of all, it is a mistake to treat all the bushes in the same way. The giants may well be pruned in the old, severe way, as the common blue giant, but some of the new kinds need quite different treatment. The main point to notice in the pruning of the new varieties with moderate growth is to cut out weak, spindly wood, especially if it is in the middle of the bush. Old wood should also be cut baok hard, but not If most of the young growths come from it Instead of from the base. After the removal of the spindly shoots, the strong new growths have to be dealt with. In the case of fairly new varieties suoh as Goliath, Parsifol, Gertrude, Glahn, Mareohal Fooh, and Sensation, it is sufficient to shorten these new growths by only a few inohes. It is a good plan to out Just above a strong pair of buds; if there are two or three other pairs of strong buds below, that is an advantage, as it means so many more flowering shoots. On the other hand, if an ordinary shoot were left unpruned, it might bear well over a dozen growths—a crowded effect, surely. If a plant is very weak, it may be necessary to cut this back hard, in the hope that strong shoots will come from the base. If these try to flower they should be prevented for the one season. The writer’s ideal of a pruned hydrangea bush of a new variety is this: From 12 to 20 sturdy new growths rising regularly from the base, and reaching a height of 30 inches. From year to year the bush may be renewed by the removal of some of the flowering shoots to make room for sturdy new shoots. Cuttings should be made from some of the strong, new wood before the buds start into growth. In another two or three months cuttings can be made f*om the young shoots produced in the meantime. FIREBLIGHT. Although flreblight has not caused the terrible losses that were feared some years ago, we must consider the possibility of the disease becoming virulent and widespread, and must also take precautions to check it. At this season, when the branches are bare, it is rather hard to notice the parts affected. It is a good plan to cut back unhealthy wood until the healthy wood has been reached, and to burn the rubbish as soon as possible. If we do that, we need not worry whether the injury was caused by fireblight or some other disease. Later on, when growth has started, dead wood is soon distinguished from the healthy. New attacks of flreblight are to be noticed soon after blossom time, as some of the infection is carried by bees and other Insects to the flowers, and then passed down the shoot, and : then down the branch. The foliage I on the diseased wood is seen to be shrivelled, Just as if It had been scorched by flame, so that tho name “ flreblight M is certainly an apt one. SEASIDE PLANTING. Owing to the large number of Waikato residents who possess cottages at the seaside, we give some suggestions for the planting of the sections. First comes shelter from the cold winds, and then comes shelter j irom the fierce summer sunshine (which we used to have, and may hope to have again). For a hedge we may plant a variety of pine, either Pinus laricio (Corsican pine) or P. pinaster (Cluster pine), tho plants to be from*3o to 36 inches apart. The favourite Wellington hedge-plant, the Taupata (coprosma’ Bauerl) can also be used. It stands salt spray and cold winds. Other - plants that thrive near the sea are’: Tamarisk, Australian she-oak (Casu- | arlna), hydrangea, Cotoncaster, rosei inary, dogwood (Cornus), and garrya l Native trees and shrubs in addition to the taupata are: Tainui (Pomaderjris). various olearias (such as angusj tifolia and Traversii), ngaio (Myoporuin laetum) ; various veronicas (such j as Sookinna, elliptica and macroura) ; : flax (botli the ordinary Phormiuin I tenax and 1\ Colensoh ; pohutukawa I (metrosideros tomentosa : manuka \ ordinary white, and tin* red and the pink, and the double white); ake-ake I iinia lucidu): niahoe or ina-ina (\j o _ ! licytiis raniitlorus ; pittosporums such las orassifolium, Ralpliii and umbel- ; !-'•>-« Corynocarpus laeviI gat us) and tanekalia us seen along I Thames Coast). ] To provide flowers for the cottage 1 there should be plenty of hydrangeas. . These will grow well within 20 feet lof the sea—as seen in Raglan Har- ' hour.