GARDEN NOTES

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21176, 27 July 1940, Page 14 (Supplement)

GARDEN NOTES

SEASONABLE WORK

(By “Nikau”)

VEGETABLES AND FRUIT Sow broad beans and dwarf peas in soil that is dry enough to work without sticking to spade and hoe. Plant cabbage, cauliflower, onion, silver beet, lettuce, shallot, potato onion (not potato and onion), and perpetual rhubarb. Artichokes will need to be used in the next week or two, as they will soon start into growth. Sprout early potatoes in shallow boxes, and keep them near the light, but safe from frost. A few early potatoes may be planted in sheltered gardens in the next week or two. Scatter blood-and-bone around autumn-sown crops such as peas, broad beans, lettuce and silver beet. Dig in lupins and other green material; to help it to rot, cut it up with the spade, and work it into the soil. The ground will not be ready for planting and sowing before six or eight weeks. Prepare a plan of the garden showing what crops were grown in the different parts last year. Draw another to show the crops to be grown this year, and observe a system of rotation. FLOWERS Work carefully among the bulbs, and around bedding-plants of all kinds. Stake sweet peas as soon as they are six inches high. Prune roses according to last week’s instructions. Plant some of the hardy bedding plants available now : Iceland poppy, pansy, viola, Primula malacoides, calendula, etc. Plant lilies before it is too late. Plant ornamental trees and shrubs that are hardy enough to withstand our Waikato frosts. Immediately after pruning the roses, dig in some rotted stable manure (or compost), together with basic slag or bone flour. Make a frame for raising seedlings of flowers, and also vegetables such as tomato and celery. GRAPE VINES Prune grape-vines as indicated a week or two ago; last year’s new laterals are to be shortened to about four inches, so that at least two buds are retained on each. Some of the new long rods may be kept almost full length, and one or two old rods near them may be cut out. Still, it is possible to keep the one main rod for twenty years or more, and gather heavy crops from the laterals which come from it at every six or nine inches. The chief thing is to thin out the growths, and yet have enough to cover most of the wall or fence. Plant, prune and spray all fruit-trees that lose their leaves. Burn the prunings, as they often carry diseases and insect pests.

PRUNING FRUIT TREES T V7e have not space to describe in detail the pruning of the different kinds of fruit trees, but a few notes can be given In practically all cases, the main points are these: (1) Open up the tree or bush, so that light and air can reach all parts. This is necessary for the ripening of the fruit and the firming of the wood. (2) Cut out all dead •nd unhealthy wood. (3) Make all cuts cleanly; all large saw-cuts should be painted with any ordinary paint, white lead or tar. This will prevent the entry of disease. (4) No stubs Bhould be left, as they cannot heal over. The cutting and the sawing should be done close up to the blanch, or just above a bud. (5) Heavy pruning means usually strong growth next season. (6) To encourage an open habit, cut just above buds pointing outwards. If a branch Is growing too strongly, the cut Bhould he made just above a sideahoot. If the tree is inclined to droop, it is advisable to cut just above a bud pointing upwards. This should often be done with the Jonathan apple. APPLE TREES

The ordinary apple tree bears nearly ell its fruit on short growths called “spurs.” For the first year or two the aim is to secure a strong tree , with its main branches (leaders) well spaced. After that the pruning is aimed si keeping the tree fruitful and moderately vigorous. New ideas of pruning have arisen in the last few years; the old method of snipsnipping every new growth on a tree has given place to something different. Now a number of the long Withies or pliant growths are left tinpruned for one year. During that time they form fruit-buds or spurs all along. The next year they should be shortened to about a half, so that they can carry all the fruit they begin to bear. The “leaders” are often allowed to extend by as much as 30 inches in the one season. As a result, spurs are likely to develop all the way up. On the other hand, if the leader were allowed only about six inches a year (the old way), few spurs would form. The main pruning each year resolves itself into the thinning out of the new growths—cutting perhaps Itwo-thirds of them out clean from their junction with the branch. The Irish Peach apple bears nearly all Its fruit at the tips of its willowy growths, so these must be left alone. Some of the growths of Jonathan and I

of Rome Beauty are similar, in fact, Rome Beauty is said to be as bad as Irish Peach in this respect.

PEACHES AND NECTARINES Peaches and nectarines are borne on new wood, i.e., wood that grew last summer and autumn. The problem is therefore to keep up a supply of these. If we shorten every one of them, we may cut all the fruit off. A good way is to cut out every second side growth to within a quarter of an inch from the branch. As a result, one or two new shoots (for next year’s fruit) will come from the two buds left on that quarter of an inch. The strong main growths (“leaders”) should be allowed to grow as much as 30 or 36 inches in one year. The longer of the sideshoots left are to be shortened only slightly (or all the fruit would be cut off). Plums need little pruning beyond thinning out the shoots. Japanese plums often make long growths, which may be shortened to half their length. Pears resemble apples in being borne on short side-growths or spurs. The chief thing is to thin out the new growths, but not to do any heavy cutting. As soon as the tree begins to bear, it will need very little pruning. OLD ROSE BUSHES Many favourite rose bushes are apparently too old, and yet they can be renewed. First cut the bushes down to near the ground—to within perhaps three feet of it. Every bit of unhealthy wood should be sawn out. Where there were perhaps twenty stems, there may be only four or five left after the pruning. Another help is to work the soil and apply plenty of stable manure around the bush. The writer has cut down and transplanted successfully bushes that were over twenty years old, and reached a height and diameter of nearly twenty feet. RAMBLER ROSES The proper way to prune these is to cut out the old rods that have flowered. This should be done just after the December flowering. This leaves room for the strong new rods. In winter there is not much pruning to be done beyond shortening the new rods by about eighteen inches and removing a few old growths that were missed in the December cutting.