GARDEN NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20284, 28 August 1937, Page 20 (Supplement)

GARDEN NOTES.

Seasonable Work .

VEGETABLES AND FRUIT. Turn In green rubbish, oats, lupins, prairie grass, etc., for manure. Plant potato, cabbage, onion, asparagus, rhubarb, shallot, lettuce, chives, parsley, mint, thyme, sage and other herbs. Sow lettuce, radish, pea, carrot, parsley, parsnip, turnip, broad bean, sliver beet, spinach, beetroot, asparaigus, mustard and cress in the open garden. Sow celery and tomatoes In a frame, or In a box on a sunny verandah. Topdress the asparagus bed with rotted stable manure. A generous sprinkling of superphosphate and salt can also be given. Plant small fruits (gooseberry and currant chiefly), and fruittrees such as apple, pear, peach, nectarine, also grape-vines. Plant lemon and orange trees, but take the precaution of covering the trees on cold nights to protect them from frost. Wait a few weeks before planting passion-vines—the danger from frost is too great. Spray fruit-trees with Bordeaux (lib. to 6gals.) If no buds have opened. Keep a oareful watch for elgns of flrebllght. Any diseased branch should be out out cleanly and burnt at once. Take scions for grafting, and keep them stuok In the ground like outtings for another fortnight. * FLOWERS. f Plant roses, hedge-plants, ornamental trees and shrrubs. Sow Phlox drummondll, primrose, Nlgella, Clarkia, GodetJa, eto. Viscoria, larkspur and cornflower should be sown where they sre to Hewer. Plant bedding-plants. Including nemeslas, stocks, violas and antirrhinums. Label bulbs as they came Into flower. Scatter blood-and-bone around hydrangeas, roses, eto. Plant gladioli; these will flower in 90 days If planted about this time. Put In outtings of chrysanthemums, oanratlons and some evergreen shrubs. Finish pruning hydrangeas and roses, but do not be too hand on them, as they have started Into growth. Plant lilies; those in the ground have started into growth, but nurserymen still have bulbs In a dormant condition. Divide and replant the best parts of clumps of Helenlum, Shasta and Miohaelmas daisies, Rudbeckia, perennial phlox, Gerbera, Sweet William, Lobelia fulgens, eto. The best parts are usually on the outside of the clump. This is an excellent time to sow sweet peas; if possible, give them fresh soil, even though this may mean borrowing enough soil to fill the trenoh to a depth of a foot and a width of two feet.

, THE CARROT FLY, Last year most of the carrot crops in some parts of the Auckland Province were ruined by the carrot fly, and It seems that this new pest has come to stay. The llrst reoord of its being found in New Zealand Is perhaps that in the New Zealand Journal of Agriculture for October, 1938. In an article on the pest, Mr J. Muggeftldge states that the first and only specimens received by him up to that date were sent in In August, 1931. From the specimens of carrots lnfeoted with maggots only one adult fly was reared, but that was sufficient for the identification of the fly as Pslla rosae (the! oarrot-rust fly). The popular name comes from the rusty burrows whloh the pest makes when feeding on the roots of carrots. Although oarrots are the preferred host, parsnips, parsley, celery and turnips are also attacked. Pslla rosae is a small-shining blaok, fly-llke Insect about 1-6 inch long, with pale lemon-yellow legs and 1 lrldesoeut wings. The head Is rustcoloured, with red eyes. The life history of the fly in Britain and the United States of Amerioa is broadly similar, and there Is every reason to suppose that the salient features under New Zealand conditions will be broadly similar to those of its life history In the Northern Hemisphere. The' adult inseot deposits its eggs in the soil, near the young plants, and sometimes on the leaves of the seedlings. From the eg g, which hatches in stx to twelve' days, a tiny legless maggot emerges, similar in appearance to the small maggots found on fly-blown meat. This maggot makes its way to the root of the carrot and oommenoes feeding, and as growth prooe'eds It works upwards In the outer layer of tissue, eating out Irregular-shaped grooves or tunnels which are characteristically rusty. The adult maggot whloh is yellowish in oolour, measures about J-lnoh in length, and when fully fed it pupates in the soil at varying depths. The time occupied in the larval stage is approximately one month. SEASONAL CYCLE. The 1983 artloie goes on to point out that the seasonable oycle of the fly varies in different localities. In Russia it has been found that there Is one oomplete generation of the fly and a partial second. There the bulk of the first generation and a part of the second over-wintered in the pupal stage, though some' of the seoond generation did not pupate until the following spring. In Scotland and America tw’o or three generations have been deteoted. In New Zealand (northern portion) at least two generations may be expected. INJURY AND CONTROL. Small oarrots are killed by the cutting off of the feeding roots and by the entrance of fungous rots. More often, however, the plants are temporarily stunted and develop into bulbous, many-lo'gged carrots. The leaves of affected plants wilt, turn yellow, and develop a characteristic reddish fringe which easily distinguishes them from healthy plants. In a slight attack growth is arrested and the roots are badly cankered, whereas In a severe attack the crop may be only fit for ploughing or digging in. Numerous methods and practices for the' control of the fly have been recommendod, ineluding screening, late sowing, the sowing of onions and shallots with carrots in the same drill, and soil treatment, with materials such as bichloride of mercury, paraffin, naphthalene, tar compounds, sheep-dips, lime, salt, bordeaux, oil emulsion, and various proprietary compounds. After numerous experiments with different chemical compounds, a Scottish scientist named Ureenhowe recommends the use of naphthalene, as he has found from years of experience that it is thoroughly reliable. This treatment consists In broadcasting crude or flake naphthalene over the carrot bed when the carrot seedlings are well above ground, using It at the rate of loz. to two square yards or 1 lb. to 40 square yards, further applications at the same rate being made at seven-day to ten-day intervals as required. Usually six to eight applications aro necessary. Unfortunately there are no control methods suitable

for ustf on a farm aoale in this country. The most that can be done is to sow the carrots after the main period of emergence of the first brood is over. This point, how’ever, will vary according to locality, and can only bef determined by subsequent observations when the fly beoomes prevalent. Mr Muggerldge stated that It might take years for thef full effeota of the depredations of this Inseot to be felt, and that there was good reason to be on the w&toh for its appearanoe, as It Is one of thef most serious of carrot pests. Within three years Mr Muggeridge's propheoy was fulfilled, at least in this part of New Zealand. INTERESTING TO NOTE. With last week's serlefs of hard frosts, and Prunus Pissardil In full bloom, It will be Interesting to notloe whether its orop of plums Is destroyed or not. One frost of nine degree's and two of eight degrees may be expeoted to have a serious effe'ot. This week the old favourite, Satsuma, has Just oome into bloom, and a few peach blossoms have opened. Gardeners who did not spray their trees before the flowers opened should wait until the fruit has formed and then use a lime-sulphur or colloidal sulphur spray at the strength recommended by the makers for summer use. A strength of 1 in 100 or 1 In 120 is enough for a lime-sulphur spray to be used when the foliage has appeared, whereas the winter strength Is 1 in 15 or 20, SHRUBS FOR SHADE. From time to time we are asked what shrubs can thrive In a shady position, and the following list is given as a general answer to enquirers. First of all, dozens of New Zealand shrubs, Including the finest plants In our flora. Examples are rama-rama (Myrtus bullata), horopito (Wlntera), Alsouosmia. various lancewoods, especially the trl-foliolate variety, and Qulntlnla. Then come plants from all ever the world. The following alphabetical list will be handy for quick reference: Aucuba, Azalea frontlca, Berberls, Box, Broom, Butcher's Broom (Ruscus), Cholsya, Cotoneaster, Daphne, Dogwood, Elder, Escallonla, Enonymus, Forsythia, Fuchsia, Holly, Hydrangea, Laurel, Laurustinus, Lilao, Mahonia, Pernettya, Philadelphus, Phillyraea, Privet, Rhododendron, Skimmia, Snow-bc-'rry (Sympliorlcarpus), and Hypericum. With the New Zealand natives should be associated two fine native climbers. Clematis indivisa and the passion-fruit. The latter will not stand severe frost, but it thrives under the protection of large trees, as in the Claudelands bush. A CORRECTION. A fortnight ago. In connection with autumn tints, Que'rcas purpurea was mentioned. This was a slip of the pen for Quercus cocclnea, the “scarlet oak,” The “red oak,” is Q Rubra and the swamp oak or Pin Oak is Q. palustris. The latter lias beautifully serrated leaves which turn a lovely red In autumn.