GARDEN NOTES

Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21365, 8 March 1941, Page 14

GARDEN NOTES

(By “Nikau.”)

SEASONABLE WORK

VEGETABLES AND FRUIT Turn in as much healthy green stuff as possible; dandelions, sow thistle, annual grasses, and nearly all kinds of leaves will serve. In spare ground sow turnip (especially the yellow), spring cabbage, lettuce, parsley, endive and winter spinach. Plant cabbage, cauliflower, leek, later celery and lettuce. If ground is not wanted for sowing and planting vegetables now, sow lupins or oats to turn in as green manure when they have reached a height of about 30 inches. Save seed of the best beans, as seed may be scarcer next year. Use marrows and summer squash, but winter squash and pumpkins should be left to mature on the vines . Use maize and sweet corn when the tassel is properly withered, but while the grains can easily be dented with the finger nail. Now is a good time to ‘string’ onions, either on rope or on wire. Examine potatoes in store; keep them in a dry, but cool and airy place. Birds are attacking grapes, and protection should be given by means of scrim, fish netting, etc., if fine-meshed wire-netting is not available. Bud fruit-trees, ornamental trees and shrubs. FLOWERS Plant daffodils and many other kinds of bulbs; bone flour and superphosphate are good manures for them. Prick out Iceland poppies into boxes; a sowing can still be made in the open border for later plants. During March, cuttings of roses and hydrangeas may be put in, but April is still better. Sow winter-flowering sweet peas in a warm, sunny, well-drained place. The soil should be only moderately rich, as the plants must make sturdy and firm growth to stand the rigours of winter. Put in cuttings of carnation, pink and sweet wivelsfield. Save seed of cosmos, French and African marigolds, tagetes, viscaria, lupin, nasturtium, delphinium, godetia, larkspur, gaillardia, etc. Always make sure that seed is dry before it is put away; because of mice, store it in tins, but make a few small holes with a nail to give air. Sow plenty of calendulas, pansies, antirrhiniums, violas, primulas, polyanthus. Siberian wallflower, and other hardy bedding plants. Later on it will be necessary to sow nemesia and stock. lake up gladioli as soon as the foliage has turned yellow; cut off some of the foliage, and store the corms and short stalks in paper After a * ew weeks « clean the corms and save the cormlets. These may be sown in spring (like sweet peas) in shallow but wide trenches. With good treatment the plants will flower in two years. Prepare ground for a new lawn; dig it deeply, level it (or grade it), and stir the surface soil every week or fortnight until the middle of April, when the seed should be sown.

A SPLJENDID RAIN At the end of what had been almost a rainless month in this district, a rain of over an inch was welcomed by everyone who cultivates a garden or tills a farm. Established plants were given every encouragement to attain their best, while the work of sowing and planting could be resumed. Any soil which had been loosened allowed the rain to sink well down below the reach of sun and wind. Once more, the advisability of having the ground ready was fully proved. In this fortunate land of ours, a real drought is unknown. GARDENING IN ENGLAND In a December issue of the English periodical, “Amateur Gardening,” the editor again discusses the real significance of the “Dig for Victory ” slogan. He begins: “From the day the war started, ‘Amateur Gardening’ has striven hard to encourage and to help by every means in its power those who are participating in the ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign. We can go further than that, and say with truth that in the years when we were not at war we consistently urged that facilities should be provided for all who would grow vegetables for the use of their households. Time and again we have contended that allotments ought not to be regarded merely as a means of meeting emergencies, but that they should rank among the permanent assets of English home life. That, of course, is a view which horticulturists can endorse and justify by asserting the sup\riority in flavour and quality of freshly-gathered, home-grown produce as compared with vegetables that have been packed for travelling and passing through markets and shops.”

shall be relegated to the status of second fiddle . . . Our own view is that so far as possible all owners of quite small gardens should have allotments upon which to grow food crops, letting the tiny patches about the house continue to create a little brightness and beauty. Those who have bigger gardens need not occupy allotment space if it is to deprive others who have not the garden ground required for food production. We see no reason to doubt that if all will do their share in the ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign we shall have ample supplies of vegetables, and not be obliged to create more desolation by sacrificing all our flowers.” In this connection it is worth remembering that the 8.8. C. this week announced that England was sowing 3000 acres of carrots and 30,000 acres of onions. The large area of onions is needed to make up for the thousands of tons of onions i which used to be imported from the J areas of the Continent now occupied | by the Germans. POTATO STORIES j The writer has heard more potato I stories this year than ever before—nine pounds of potatoes to the one root, over 50 good tubers to another root, and so on. Not being able to beat these achievements, the writer publishes as a counter-blast the following paragraphs from a December issue of “Amateur Gardening”: “Sir,—l was interested to see in ‘Amateur Gardening’ the excellent results obtained from one pound of Gladstone seed potatoes (six to the pound), in which the sets were cut in half to make 12. Our association has held a potato-growing competition for the last 18 years, and the potato chosen for the 1940 competition was also Gladstone. Each competitor was given a pound of seed tubers consisting of 11 sets, which were planted whole. The winner grew 1341 b., an average of 121 b. a root, a record for the competition, while two other members grew 1211 b. and 1101 b. each. We find that cuti ting large potatoes is not so success- ; ful as planting small tubers whole. The winning potatoes were given plenty of room, and the haulm was ! quite green when the potatoes were j lifted in the last week of September. 1 (G. H. Smith, Hon. Horticultural Secretary, Biggin Hill.)”

After pointing out the folly of growing a few vegetables in “pockethandkerchief” front gardens or on' roof-tops, the editor goes on to say: “What we want is for every owner of a garden which is capable of growing useful crops to do everything possible toward providing for the needs of his own household. It is reasonable to suppose that in pursuance of these efforts such curtailment of floral features as may be necessary will be made; in fact, that for the time being food production shall take priority, and that the purely pleasurable side of gardening