YOUR GARDEN AND MINE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 31, 26 January 1940, Page 41

YOUR GARDEN AND MINE

By

Ann Earncliff

Brown

(No. 19)

17] HERE vegetable gardens are producing heavy crops of legumes, greens, and roots for present and future use, it is necessary to ensure that there is no lack of moisture to give a check to growth. As I have mentioned previously, I find a thorough. soaking by means of shallow trenches effective, and this should be carried out regularly in dry weather, where tomatoes are fruiting, beans and peas podding up, and celery and leek plants now going ahead after their temporary setback at transplanting time.

After replacing the loose soil over the irrigation ditch, where available, it is wise to strew lawn clippings, stack bostom, or decayed leaves as a mulch to protect the soil from over evaporation, and to ensure that the growing roots are reasonably cool. Celeriac or turnip rooted celery, although not grown in trenches, also requires rich well manured soil. Frequent applications of liquid manure, following a good watering, will ensure the successful bulbing of this useful full flavoured root. Celeriac has the desirable true celery flavour, and requires no blanching, so it is less troublesome to grow well. Both varieties are subject to attacks by the celery fly. A dusting of lime and soot helps to check disease, but Black Leaf 40, tarwater spray, or even soapsuds to which a small proportion of carbolic disinfectant is‘ added, all prove effective. To assist. against further attacks pick off all affected leaves. Carrots which show signs of insect attacks or carrot blight respond well to this spray treatment also, so use your washday suds to keep your garden clean. An application of naphthalene flakes--one ounce to the square yard well hoed in — also proves of use in the healthy growing of carrots in dry seasons. "Watch Your Tomatoes Watch your tomato plants very carefully for distress signals. For tomato blight, spray at frequent intervals with Bordeaux 4-4-40. For tomato moth, use arsenate of lead powder. The proportion is 1lb. powder to 100 gallons of water. You may reduce this to teaspoons to the gallon according to your prowess at arithmetic, and the size of your: tomato bed. ‘At the risk of being too pessimistic, I add even one warning more about the pests in’ your vegetable patch, While you continue to dust your cabbages, etc., with Derris dust to protect them against ithe ravages of the white butterfly, don’t forget to keep an eye open for cabbage aphis. Hot, dry weather is favourable to this destructive agent. Once again use

soapsuds, hot, and preferably with @ little Black Leaf 40 added. Follow after a suitable interval with a copious hosing with cold water. To Control Club Root Club root in all the cabbage family can be discouraged considerably by frequent dustings between rows with lime during the growing season on ground that was well limed before the plants were set. When planting out broccoli, savoys, cauliflowers, kale, and cabbages for winter use, dip your plants in arsenate of lead — loz. to 4 gallons of water. The Hardy Hydrangea I fear this week that I have made vegetable growing sound like a pitched battle against the Powers of Evil. It is therefore cheering to turn from the contemplation of attack and counter attack to the hardy hydrangeas, now a gorgeous mass of colour, which flourish happily and very undemandingly in cool, moist beds. Modern hydrangeas have such a splendid range of colour and form, and grow so vigorously, given a cool root run, that even if you have room for only one or two tubs instead of a special plot you will have much joy in their cultivation. They are all decorative, and the quaint "Hen and Chickens" type (with the tiny chicks in a flat huddle guarded by the circle of Hen flowers), is especially amusing. It is not rare to hear the inexperienced hydrangea grower complaining that the blooms persist in turning from the original shade — say, pink — to blue, or even a mauve, The colour, though varying in intensity according to specimen, is broadly controlled by the nature of the soil. Sour soils give blue blooms; alkaline soils produce pink ones, Applications of lime or alum will control the colour scheme for you. If left to become thoroughly dehydrated on the shrub, late blooms take on delightful autumn tints. These range from pale green to deep crimson, and make excellent winter decorations indoors.