GARDEN NOTES

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21224, 21 September 1940, Page 14

GARDEN NOTES

SEASONABLE WORK

(By “Nikau”) * VEGETABLES AND FRUIT Turn in as much green material as possible for manure; cut it up before mixing it with the soil in the bottom of the trench. Do not sow or plant over it before six weeks. Plant rhubarb, onion, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, potato, artichoke, herbs (chives, thyme, mint, sage, horse-radish) and asparagus. Sow carrot, parsnip, leek, beetroot, peas, radish, lettuce, silver beet, spinach, turnip (especially White Stone and swedes), celeriac, rhubarb, kohlrabi, onion (for salad), mustard and cress, salsify, parsley, asparagus, cabbage and cauliflower. Stake peas as soon as they are about five inches high; even the dwarf varieties are better when staked. Sow tomato, celery, egg plant, cucumber and bush marrow in boxes which can be protected easily from frost. Apple trees that have iiot yet burst into flower may be sprayed with Bordeaux (lib. to 10 gals, of water) or lime-sulphur (1 in 100). Finish planting citrus trees'(lemon, orange and grapefruit). Water them once a week and protect them from frost. Graft fruit-trees, also ornamental trees and shrubs. FLOWERS Water newly planted trees and shrubs thoroughly once a week, if rain does not suffice. Sow new lawns, if the ground has been thoroughly prepared (dug, drained, levelled or graded, and frequently stirred). Otherwise plant early potatoes, and sow the grass seed in March or April. The attention given to the potato crop in the meantime will have aerated the soil and killed successive crops of weeds. Plant gladioli, to flower in 90 to 100 days from planting. Divide and replant the better/ parts of perennials such as helenium, delphinium. Michaelmas and Shasta daisies, rudbeckia, golden rod, spiraea and phlox. Sow aster seed in an open border (away from the haunts of slugs and snails). Plant cuttings of chrysanthemums. Owing to the danger of frost, it is still too early to sow French and African marigolds, zinnias, cosmos and balsam in the open garden Sow salvia, lobelia and petunia in boxes. Label bulbs before it is too late to identify them. Plant nemesias in a sunny border. Remove all seed-heads from Iceland poppy, anemone, calendula, pansy and viola. Mark the best polyanthus primroses and save seed from them. The others should be dug out and burnt as soon as the flowers have passed their best—say near the end of October. Stir the soil around stocks and other bedding plants; as a “ pick-me-up,” scatter some general fertiliser or blood-and-bone around them. Plant all kinds of hardy climbers now. Stake sweet peas in good time; some more seed can still be sown. Plant carnations in an open, well-drained border; there should be a good deal of lime in the soil.

GRAFTING It is now time to graft fruit and other trees, for the sap is rising, as shown by the opening of the buds. Trees of stone fruits are generally propagated by budding (from December to March), but they can be grafted too, like apple and pear trees. Amateurs are not concerned so much with the propogation of young trees as with the re-working of old ones which have proved unsatisfactory. For example, one of the fruit trees may have borne no fruit, or only poor specimens, though the growth of wood and foliage has been very vigorous. Possibly the tree is a late-bearing variety such as Northern Spy apple and many kinds of pears, or it may be a bad strain of what is generally a good variety. If a tree has proved unsatisfactory for several seasons, it should be sawn off at a height of about four feet from the ground. There will then be perhaps six or eight fairly thick limbs. Three or four grafts may be put on each of the larger of these, and one or two on each of the smaller. There are many methods of grafting trees, but all have this one main principle: the growing layer of the shoot (or scion) unites with the growing layer of the branch or stem (the stock) in which it is inserted. This layer is just under the ordinary bark. A common method with a fairly big stump is “cleft grafting.” With a chisel, or strong knife, a cleft nearly two inches long is made in the branch or stem. The graft is then prepared. As suggested some weeks ago, the shoots for grafting should have been half buried in a shady place, so that they would be retarded. From one of these shoots cut a piece four to seven inches long; cut the lower part to the shape of a wedge, the length of each cut being from one to two inches. Using the chisel as a lever to keep the cleft open, we carefully push the wedge down into the cleft, making sure that the inner bark of the wedge fits with the inner bark of one side of the stock. The next step is to protect the cut from the air. For this purpose a special wax preparation may be used, but a satisfactory substance is damp clay into which some cow-dung has been worked to prevent the clay from

it from moving. Some also use insulating tape for excluding the air, but it is safer to use clay as well OTHER METHODS Sometimes “side grafting” is I adopted. A shallow slanting cut is j made in a branch or stem, and a I graft (with one cut surface over an : inch long) is slipped into the cut. j Binding (and perhaps tacking) will J follow as for the other methods. I Side grafting is very useful in fill—- : ing up bare branches, especially on ; trees growing in espalier fashion beside a wall. This is perhaps the quickest and simplest kind of graft- | ing. ! . When the stock is less than an inch in diameter (perhaps a “maiden” tree), a saddle graft may be made. The stock is cut like a wedge or inverted V, and the graft is cut so that it will sit like a saddle on this pointed stock. If the stock and the graft are not of the same diameter, , it will be necessary to make the in- . ner barks fit exactly on the one : side (as in cleft grafting). This kind of grafting is\ usually done close to J the ground. If the graft fails to ! grow, the stock may have a bud in- , serted in it after midsummer. THOSE FROSTS | Once again the early planting of potatoes have been cut by spring j frosts, and even in November there i will still be the risk of some damage. So, too. with tomatoes; plants put in during the latter part of ; October will make better growth and bear fruit earlier than those planted ! in September under ordinary condii tions in this district.

j For the two or % three rows of potatoes grown in the home garden j it is advisable to have ready covers !of scrim, hessian or' thick brown , paper. Until the plants are six inches high, they should be covered with ; soil every few days, but after that ; the other materials must be relied on. Plants that are frosted should be allowed to thaw gradually; that is the reason for sprinkling cold i water on them and shading them ■ from the sun. Where hay or straw jis available, some should be scati tered over the rows of potatoes on a I cold evening, but it will make the plants soft and spindly it left on dur- : ing the day.

cracking after drying. To make assurance doubly sure, many people tie a piece of rag around the clay. In some cases as much as a handful of this prepared clay is put on the one cleft, especially if a graft has been set at each side of it. Another method is “rind grafting.” The thick branch or stem is sawn off as before, but the wood is not split. Instead, the thick bark is cut at two, three or four places, to a length of about two inches. Then, the graft is prepared. It is cut across at the bottom with only one long slanting surface. Then it is carefully pushed down inside the slit, with its slanting surface inwards. As before, the cut, the graft and the sawn top are all covered with grafting wax or clay and dung. Before the clay is put on. some people drive a tack through the graft to prevent