THE GARDEN.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 265, 6 October 1933, Page 10

THE GARDEN.

Notes are published under this heading, and readers interested in gardening are invited to send in questions relating to matters upon which they wish expert advice; answers will be published with the weekly notes.

THE FLOWER GARDEN. The nice warm rain that came last week was a great boon to gardeners and farmers alike and was heavy enough to do a wonderful amount ol good. An old gardener speaking about the rain said it was reminiscent of what was known years ago as the “kowliai floods.” He said that when the kowliai was in bloom a heavy rain could be expected. We have examined the records for some years back and find that with a few exceptions rain has fallen fairly heavily between the 2(Jth and the end of September for years. There will be no need for watering and better growth will result if gardeners will leave the hose alone and resort to the use of the lioe for the purpose of conserving moisture in the soil. Watering from a main is a very poor substitute for rain at the best of times, and when moisture can be conserved by simply using the hoe it will be better for plants all round. Using water from the main makes the soil too cold, but ■water collected by the soil from rain is as warm as the air through which it has fallen. There is a lot of planting that can be done now. All hardy, bedding stuff can be planted out in the open and much of the half-hardy stuff can be planted out as soon as it is ready. There are some seeds which are becoming harder to raise each year. We think that there is a certain fungus which is carried on the seed itself aiid which is easily killed by immersion in a solution of bicarbonate of soda. At least it has been our experience that some seeds, such as antirrhinum and asters, will come up better if they are put in a muslin bag and soaked for fifteen minutes in a solution of bicarbonate of soda, made with one teaspoonful of the soda to one pint of water. Sow the seed before it is dry and it will come up quickly. Some delphinium seed imported last season failed to germinate. Half was sown as soon as it arrived and the balance was kept for spring sowing. This was put in very hot water and left until the water cooled and a fine lot of plants have come up. It seems as if this is the treatment it requires. Sterilised soil used for some seeds was very slow in giving any result and the whole box was nearly condemned, when some young plants were noticed. Now they are coming on well and look quite equal to those sown from the same packet. We have noticed several times that; plants pricked out into sterilised -soil do not start away as quickly as those in ordinary soil, but that by the time they are ready to plant out that they will be sturdier than the others. The following seeds can be sown in the open ground next month. Make up a bed ol good fine soil in a sheltered, place and sow the seeds thinly in drills. Such seeds as antirrhinums barely require any covering, at all. Others are asters, Phlox, candytuft, stocks, dephiniums, calendula, cosmos, antirrhinums and larkspur. Keep the soil clean when the young seedlings come up and plant out where required as soon as they are large enough to handle easily. It does not pay to have them overgrown at any time. Watch out for slugs. QUESTION.

“Amateur” says: . “Last season I saved some dahlia seed from several of my best plants and would like to know when to sow it. lam told that it will bloom this season, but I think that some mistake has been made. I would like to know if there is any special treatment to give it. Dahlia seed is very easy to grow Sow the seed at once in a box of soil prepared in the same way as for other seedlings and cover the seed with about a quarter of an inch of soil, the box with glass, and the seed will come up in about a fortnight. When the young plants are large enough to handle, prick them out in the same way as other seedlings are planted and when they are large enough plant out in rows about two feet apart. They grow very quickly and many of ■them will flower before the winter. Discard all the useless ones and mark any which you would like to keep. You will find a large percentage of them to be useless, but there is no reason why you should not be able to raise something superior to existing varieties. New varieties are raised from seed every year and in a general collection insects which visit the flowers freely cross fertilise them. The soil to plant the seedlings out in should be well manured so as to bring them along quickly. You can decide for yourself whether the plants are worth staking after you have seen the first flower or two. Generally, the first flowers will give you an indication of what the blooms to follow will be like.

WINDOW BOXES. “Unlucky” says:—“What grows successfully in window boxes ‘C At present I have tried bulbs and geraniums. The geraniums were fairly successful, but the bulbs gave no' flowers. I want something that likes plenty of sun. I also want something to give more privacy to the use of the verandah, which is open to the passers-by.” Tou do not say how your window boxes are made, or how you fill them. We suspect that the soil used has something to do with your want of success. The drainage may be bad; geraniums will grow in badly drained soil. The window boxes themselves should have plenty of root space for the plants and should be a bout, nine inches deep. Window ledges have a decided slope and this must either be allowed for or the bottoms of the boxes fitted with wedge-shaped pieces of timber. The outsides of the boxes should be painted to conform to the colour of the house, A suitable soil to fill them with should be made up with about six parts of good turfy loam, two parts of leaf mould and one part each of well-rotted manure and coarse, sharp sand. It is necessary to give the boxes good drainage, this being supplied by crocks or fine gravel about two inches in depth, which can be covered with a piece of sacking to keep the earth from working down. When the box has been filled, water it well and put it on one side for a day to dry. When planting, try to pnt something in the front row which will hang down and plant as close to the woodwork as possible so as to get the next row well away from the window. It will be necessary to have several sets of boxes for the different seasons of the year. By having a number of boxes for the seasons one can keep up a good supply of flowers. Flowers | that revel in full sunshine are those j that belong to the diantlms family, I which includes pinks and so on. Geraniums are suli-loving plants. Ipomea muritanica is a first-class plant to liang down and blooms well in the sun. Murgaricarpus fruticosus is another good plant for this purpose. The dwarf antirrhinums will do well in window boxes for a long season of the year and the cupid varieties of sweet peas are also used as well as tuberousrooted begonias. The ivy-leaved geranium with coloured leaves is always a good subject in the sun.. Lobelias are well-known plants for this purpose and both the double and the single can be used. Schizanthus is a good plant for the back row and must have a sunny position. For winter and spring flowering there are a fairly large number of plants that can be grouped. Alyssum sasatile, anemones, aubretia, auricula, crocus, daffodils, forget-me-not, mignonette, pansies and violas are all good and with a little care flowers can be got through a greater part of the season. It must be remembered that during the summer when growth is vigorous that the quickly growing plants soon exhaust the soil and moderate feeding can be done to keep them in good health. A fortnightly application should be quite enough. Watering must be carefully done at all times and a tray with a small down pipe in the corner will stop the water from running down the walls and discolouring them. There are dozens of climbing plants which could be used as a verandah screen. Put wire netting between the posts and grow sweet peas up it. Bignoma australias robesta is a vigorous grower for this purpose. Climbing roses of various kinds would suit and these can be trained to where they are wanted. HYDRANGEAS.

The changing of colour in hydrangeas has always been a matter of unusual interest to the gardener. When there was nothing more to experiment upon than the original plant with its pink trusses, those who live in districts where the natural soil is irony, or where ironstone is found, were considered fortunate, as it was proved that the loam from such sources gave no trouble in growing blue flowers. In soil containing liine, and in light sandy soils, the natural colour was always difficult to change. This gave the key. to the necessary treatment and recourse was often made to mixing iron filings with the compost and watering from a tank containing rusty iron. While these measures were not altogether satisfactory, they often resulted in the object being attained, but even sometimes it was impossible to forecast what the colour would be. It was quite possible to say that young plants would be pink in spite of the fact that they were propagated from plants showing blue flowers. The change, if any, was brought about by extended treatment. The hybrids of the present day will produce their original colour in a neutral soil, but what they will do when planted up,is hard to say. At the same time many desirable colours' can be obtained by treatment and alum and sulphate of iron are largely used where blue shades are wanted, but growers must not be disappointed if the desired effect does not take place at once. It often takes considerable time for the plants to assimilate the necessary colouring matter, and yet if the stuff is used persistently it will mean that the colour will change in the end. A colouring compound has been put on the market, but as there are several makers the instructions on one packet do not work with the whole lot, and the directions for each must be carefully followed. THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. It was rather unfortunate that we had so many frosts in the latter part of last month, as they caught a lot of gardeners unprepared and in some cases potatoes which were well forward were badly cut back. These will come on again, but a check was given to them which will keep them back for a while. One grower said he had lost a lot of tomato plants which he had planted, but these can be replanted and then they will be in the ground quite early enough. It does not pay to waste time over these out of season crops; rather get on with those things which will stand a sudden cold snap and then you will have time to devote to the other things when you have got them started. Next week a row or two of French beans can be planted for an early crop. Choose a nice warm corner where the soil has been well drained and they should do very well. The great trouble which was experienced with this crop last year was root rust, and although we have been given several recipes we have not had ■ time to try them out yet . Oiie is to dip the seed in lime sulphur at a strength of one part to 100 of water and to leave them in this for three hours and then sow. Lime must be used in the drills when the seed is put into the ground. Some growers say that a soil fumigant will do the work equally well, but until we have tried these things we cannot say. A good tip to those who are growing cabbage and cauliflower plants now is to treat them to a light dressing of nitrate of soda. About an ounce to- a running yard of plants will be quite enough, but it must not be al-

lowed to touch tire foliage or it will be burnt.

Make another sowing of peas for succession, and sow lettuces- in the open ground. In well manured ground lettuces come on quickly now and it is better to sow the seed in the open than to transplant. The row of runner beans that did duty last year should be cleaned up and given a good dressing of manure on each side. If a good follow-on is wanted, put in another row about the end of November. When making a position for runner beans it is well worth the trouble of doing the work in the same way as for sweet peas; that is to say, trench the ground and add plenty of manure to the lower strata of soil. When the seed is sown now there is very little chance of slugs leaving them alone, but later on very few will be lost. ' Tomato seed can be sown under glass now and the plants will be large enough to plant out in the open next month. Marrows, pumpkins, cucumbers and melons can be started into growth now. A very good way to do this is to put the seeds between two pieces of sacking and, as soon as the seeds send out a shoot, plant them up in a box or-a pot. Care must be taken when handling the shoots, a.s they are very easily broken. The soil they are put into should be fairly good and warm so that there will not be any check. Cucumber seeds are better potted up in single pots as they are more delicate than pumpkins.