GARDEN NOTES SEASONABLE WORK

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20923, 30 September 1939, Page 20 (Supplement)

GARDEN NOTES

SEASONABLE WORK

(By “Nikau”) VEGETABLES AND FRUIT Plant cabbage, cauliflower, onion, lettuce, artichoke, potato (main crop), silver beet and perpetual spinach, herbs (chives, parsley, thyme, garlic, mint, sage), rhubarb, asparagus. Sow every three or four weeks peas (main crop varieties such as Greenfeast, Stratagem and Alderman), and lettuce (especially Iceberg and Webb’s Wonderful or Neapolitan). Sow the main crop of parsnips soon, in soil which has been deeply dug and has been manured only with fertilisers such as blood-and-bone or “garden fertiliser” (containing potash and nitrogen and phosphorus compounds). Sow carrot, turnip, radish, onion (for salads), spinach, cauliflower, savoy and red cabbage, silver beet, beetroot, cress. Sow in frames, tomato, cucumber, Cape gooseberry, celery and marrow. Examine fruit and vegetables in store. Finish planting fruit trees; stake firmly all that have been planted this year. See that newly planted trees get one good watering every week. Graft fruit trees and other trees now, and in October. FLOWERS Prepare ground for a new violet bed in a plot that is shaded for only a few hours a day, but has a cool soil. Plant antirrhinum, pansy, viola, carnation and other hardy plants. Sow asters for the main planting. It is too early for French and African marigolds, nasturtium, zinnia, cosmos, etc. Sow in the open garden godetia, larkspur, clarkia and cornflower. Dig up and destroy unsatisfactory bulbs. Finish planting hedges and continue planting ornamental trees and shrubs, also climbers. Sow lawns, if the soil has been properly dug, drained, levelled and fertilised. Stretch lines with dangling pieces of glass, coloured paper, feathers, etc. to keep off birds. Sow sweet peas; stake and train the early plantings, but do not overmanure them. Plant gladioli; they will bloom within 100 days from now. It is a good plan to have a few much later than the main planting. Plant out dahlias in a nursery bed, and when they have made some growth, divide and replant. Divide hardy perennials, and plant the stronger portions. Scatter some superphosphate around plants, and work it in lightly with a rake or hoe.

THE PUMPKIN’S REVENGE After being subjected to all kinds of jests and insulting remarks for years, the pumpkin has wreaked its vengeance. Instead of being a humble penny-a-pound vegetable, it has moved up to the fourpenny rank; instead of being about seven shillings a hundredweight wholesale, it is now “twenty to twenty-seven shillings wholesale for choice Triamble.” So now “the dairyfarmer’s only vegetable” or “Farmer’s Delight” has become a luxury. Revenge is sweet! A GARDEN FRAME To nearly every garden a frame would be a useful adjunct at all seasons, but especially in winter and early spring, when plants need protection from frost and heavy rain. Though frames can be bought, the ordinary person ought to be able to make one quite well and cheaply. A good makeshift for the cover is a pair of windows of the old-fashioned pre-bungalow kind. It is a manifest advantage to have small panes in case of breakages, though this should always be guarded against by the fastening of small-mesh netting tightly a few inches above the glass. An alternative is to use “Windolite” or another substitute for glass. The frame is usually called a “cool frame,” but this is by contrast with a heated greenhouse (a “hothouse”). As a matter of fact, the frame is intended to maintain a temperature considerably above that of the outside soil and that of the atmosphere. The frame also serves the purpose of keeping off wind, and checking the loss qf moisture by cuttings. The frame may be described as a bottomless box, six feet long by four wide, sloping from about fifteen inches at the back to nine inches at the front. It is important to have the frame fairly shallow, so that the plants do not get drawn up in their attempts to reach the light. It is also necessary to give the plants air, but without draughts. The hinges (and their props) for giving ventilation must be strong and secure, as a sudden fall would probably break every pane of glass. As for position, the frame should face the north, to obtain the full effect of the sun. Various uses may be found for the frame, but generally it will be merely a holder for cuttings and seedlings (usually in boxes). For instance, in winter the frame may be used for housing cuttings of begonias (fibrous-rooted type), pelargoniums and so-called “geraniums,” and for raising seedlings of gerbera, Iceland poppy, stock, cineroria, carnation, pansy, viola, etc. In spring the frame is especially useful for raising tomato, melon, cucumber, celery, petunia, lobelia, French and African marigolds, zinnia, cosmos, and balsam. Woodlice and other pests often give trouble in a frame. To check slugs, scatter some powdered alum around the si #2s and under the boxes. Another thing that discourages pests is a mixture of lime (four parts) and naphthalene (one part). Better still, make a deep pink solution of Condy’s Crystals and sprinkle it from a watering can over the plants to be protected. If woodlice are numerous, lift out the boxes and pour boiling water around the edges of the frame and all over the bottom of the frame, if this is covered with coke. To keep down fungal pests, such as the damping-off fungi, scatter flowers of sulphur lightly over the sides and bottom of the frame. Another point: Quite often it happens that slugs and snails are blamed for damage done by other agents. A careful search of the frame and the sides and the bottoms of the boxes will usually find every snail. If the damage continues, set a mouse-trap; the result will probably surprise people who do not know that mice often burrow for and eat seeds such as sweet pea, marrow and cucumber, and eat seedlings such as schizanthus. POTATO CULTURE In previous notes it has often been pointed out that the use of certified potato “seed” nearly always results in a crop twice as heavy as that produced by ordinary “seed.” This point was emphasised in a broadcast last week by the Department of Agriculture. Upon the outbreak of war we gave in this colunlli a number of suggestions about the crops that should be grown in the ordinary town section—lettuce, cabbages, tomatoes, turnips, peas, runner beans, bush marrows, leeks, parsnips, parsley, rhubarb,

artichokes, radishes, beetroot, and carrots, for example. Potatoes are usually not profitable in a small section. Three or four early rows are helpful while the price is high, but usually it is not profitable to grow many potatoes in the small section. For those who want to grow potatoes in a large section or on their allotments, the following points are mentioned. The situation should be open and sunny, and the drainage good, otherwise the crop will be exposed to attacks of various diseases. The planting of the main crop should take place at the end of September or in October. Certified seed should be used if it is available; failing that, choose “one year off” seed, i.e., the crop from last year’s certified seed. Suitable varieties are Supreme, Majestic, Iron Duke, and Arran Banner. Sprouted seed is good; for this reason the tubers should be obtained some weeks before planting, so that they can be sprouted in shallow boxes kept near the light in a frost-proof shed. The rows should be nearly thirty inches apart, and the tubers fifteen inches apart in the rows. A suitable manure for potatoes contains a good deal of potash, as well as superphosphate and nitrates or ammonia. Throughout October and November there is the danger of frost in all parts of the Waikato. It is therefore a good plan to mould up the tops frequently to minimise the damage done by a late frost. When the tops are a few inches high, they should be sprayed with Bordeaux, at a strength of one ounce to one gallon of water. LOWER HUTT SHOW Last week the 2YA garden expert gave an account of the Lower Hutt daffodil show. The champion of champions in the open section was Grayling (a Leedsii of British origin). The same varietv was also champion in the “other than trumpet” class. The champion trumpet was Rosstrevor (a New Zealand bicoloue seedling from Dunedin). In the amateur section the champion trumpet was Royalist (of British origin, and champion at Lower Hutt last year, too). The champion “other than trumpet” was Rethel (raised by the New Zealander who raised Rosstrevor). This variety has won many championships in the last three years. In the Incomparabilis class the six winners were: Nissar, Killigrew, Pilgrimage, Faithful, D. S. West, Fortune (the last-named is usually over by show time anywhere). The three champion Leedsii blooms were: Milkmaid, Honesty, Grayling. The six trumpets were: Sulphur Prince, Tapin, Romulus, Haifa, Garron, Alchemist. Special mention was made of Master Robert, Waratah, Corinth, Carbineer, Cornish Fire, Cheerio, Dawson City, Principal, Alladin’s Lamp, Honey Boy, St. Just Tenedos, Shirley Wyness, Golden Glory, but there were also the usual show varieties.