Evening star., 1939-06-03
Leaves From
The Garden
Frequent Hoeings
Needed to Keep
Out Crabgrass

1t is time to make the second SOW
ing of ANIMALS so as to provide for
a continuous show of bloom. Several
of our ANIMALS, especially Ragged
Robin, Sweet Alsyssum, Babybreath,
Candytuft, etc, literally bloom
themselves to death and become un-
slightly. Therefore it is desirable to
plant seed at intervals of two or
three weeks to insure a continuous
show of flowers during the summer.
The crabgrass seedlings are be-
ginning to grow nicely and unless
provision is made they will soon
make gardening difficult. Raise the
cutter bar of the lawn mower so as
to cut the grass an inch and a
half to 2 inches high. The grass
leaves will thus shade the crabgrass
seedlings and check them. In the
garden frequent hoeings will be nee
essary to keep down the crabgraSs.
In the lawn it is rather difficult to
pull the seedlings, and the lawn
mower is seldom effective in keep
ing them from going to seed. Sew
eral chemicals have been offered
from time to time that seem to be
effective in killing the young plants.
Gardeners should not delay pinch
ing the tops of their hardy gar
den chrysanthemums to encourage
branching Most varieties except the
Koreans and the azaleamum type
need this help. When pinched back
three times at intervals of three to
five weeks they produce WE'LL
branches bushes that make a fine
display in the fall
Some people let their hedges grow
unpruned, thinking, perhaps, that it
makes their yards look informal.
Usually, however, an unpruned
hedge of any height looks unkempt.
The neatly trimmed hedge adds
materially to the appearance of the
whole yard. Some hedges require
frequent pruning, depending upon
the rate of growth, while others
seem to need very little trimming
X X \ n
The tropical water lilies should
all be in the pools now. They make
very little growth until the water
has reached temperature of go de-
grees or above. The water in a
pool usually reaches this tempera-
ture when the average temperature
OF the air is 10 degrees or above.
X
The question of controlling the
rose midge is being received with
increasing frequency. If the rose
mldge is present in your garden it
is best to remove and burn all in
fected Misunderstanding them just
below the point of injury. Then
mulch the rose with ground tobacco
stems or some other inexpensive
form OF tobacco. The midge spends
part of its life cycle in the soil and
the tobacco mulch will aid in con-
trolling it.
X X X X
Most perennials and shrubs will
grow and flower regardless of how
little care they receive. A much
more pleasing appearance will re-
suit and a finer and richer display
will reward little extra care and
feeding. At this season of the year
an application of 2 to pounds OF
good complete fertilizer (5-6-5 or
4-8-5 formula) per 100 square feet
of bed is desirable.
X X X X
In a recent report on the treat
ment of lawn grasses comment was
made that those plots treated with
lead arsenate were not bothered by
moles, while nearby plots were
ruined by their activity. Other re.
ports have indicated that grubs
japanese beetles and other insects
could be controlled by mixing lead
arsenate with the soil. All of this
sounds as though we should treat
our lawns with lead arsenate at
once and avoid injury. However
the effect of lead arsenate or the
chemicals resulting from a reaction
between the arsenate and the soil
chemicals upon plants has not been
generally determined. Hence any
gardener, in the absence of con-
trolled experimentation is running