GARDEN NOTES.

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 34, 5 November 1920, Page 13

GARDEN NOTES.

THE VEGETABLE G ARDEN. After sowing seed beds, cover with something, such as old matting or sacks split up. Tliis assists- in retaining the moisture, and thereby encourages the ger. mination of the seeds ; but these coverings must be removed as soon as the seeds are through, and afterwards, if rain does not come, they must be kept going with mulching. Plant out celery as required in trenches J.ft wide and 1ft deep, with the bottom well manured and deeply dug. Give a gopd soaking of water after plantffig. Then, if dry weather continues, place some sticks across the trench and shade them. Thin out spring-grown onions, and if short manure can be procured they will be greatly benefited by a mulching or dressing between the rows. Thin also carrots. and turnips. Sow for succession peas, beans, and spinach, and the main sowing of beetroot should be got in on the first favourable opportunity. Plant out vegetable marrows as advised a week or so back. TOMATOES. Tomatoes under _ glass will require attention by way of pinching out the young side shoots. They should be! kept removed as they appear. Stake and tie them before they get sufficiently long to fall over. If they are allowed to do this they grow crooked in a few liours, then it is a difficult job to get them straight: Eayly planted ones should be in full flower and the young fruit appearing. To keep them setting freely give Ihe bunches of bloom a shake to distribute the pollen. FERNS. Under glass, ferns must be sliaded, or the fronds will lose that beautiful dark tint of grpen whicb is so much appreciated ; but this must not be over dorie, or they become a cabbage-green, whicb is as distasteful. as thc other extreme.. Young specimens must not s'uffer for want. of pot room. It does no't take long to make epecimens if one makes a start. ' with robust, healthy plants. The worst plants to grow are those obtained by splittiiig up old specimpiis; in fact, these old specimens that get too large and un wreldy for any useful purpose should bethrown awav. If vincreased numbers are required, it is better to divide from voung, healthy; plants than from old ones. The best results, however, are derived from the sowing of fem spores. If one has only the patience to wait for them, f-. -n spores will grow in almost any kind of soil, or even without a particle of soil.1 I have collected liundreds from brick walls ; but where sufficient heat and moisture can be procured spores of many hardy and halfhardy ferns may be sown in boxes, placed away under the stage in a co'ol, da.mp and rather dark or shaded position. Ine materialg should be of a rather lumpy and open nature, such as burnt or charred soil, a littlc leaf tnould, some burnt clay dr brokeri brick, mixed up and pressed down in shallow boxes. Do not make it fine, but 'press it down, lumps and all together, and water well. Then scatter the •spores over the surface. Place a square of glass over them, and put the" box away in a cool, and at ihe same- tixne warm and moist, position, as advised above. A good material for potting most ferns in coiisists of equal paris of old turfy loani, peat, leaf mould, and sand ; but for maidenhair da not use the peat-. Another great point in the welkbeing oi fernfi is to give plenty of gocd drainage — • quite one-third of tbe pot should consist of crocks. Keep the plants well watered and the house in a moist, huinid condition, as ferns do not , like winds blov/ing through them, nor do they like cold draughts." THE FLOWER, GARDEN. The season of bedding but is upon us again. To my mind, the first week in* Ncvember is the best and safest. fime to do this work. A word or two as to the best ruatoria! for an efcectiye display — not elaborate, but a simpie, useful, and inexpensive display within reach of the majority -of my readers-— will be ap_ propriate. It may be that there are eertain flower gardens with "numerous small beds and walks between them. It is a difficult matter to deal satisfactory with such gardens. The demand generally in such cases is that each bed shall be independent of its neighbours, and under such circumstanoes it is not easy to biend colours. Nor can such gardens be planted with herbaceous plants satisfactorily, for they never look at home in small forrnal beds. Fill any vacant spaces in the herbaceous borders for the summer with those things that seem most in touch with their permanent inmates. Put a few tall things at the back, such as cactus dahlias, the

bright yellow single helianthus, and even summer flowering chrysanthemums ; or, i. there is already an abundance of flowering plants in the background, the summer "introductions may consist of suc- things as cannas, wigandias, etc. Bare spoki in the front may be filled with carnations, caleolarias, pelargoniirms, and pansies. As to annual beddings — such things as stocks, asters, marigolds, phlox drummbndi, etc. — they do better by themselves than when mixed with a better class of bedding material, such as geraniums, calceolarias, verbenas, ivy-leaved geraniums, and lobelias, for the reason that many of th'e annuals are only a short time in flower, and their going off quieWy disorganises the bed and destroys the general effect.