Evening star., 1950-07-16
ThisWeek
in the
Garden

Gardening activity at this sea-
son of the year is pretty much
routine-cultivate after each
shower. fertilize. spray or dust at
weekly intervals and keep the
plants supported. OF course, if
the garden is well mulched the
cultivating and wedding are pretty
well taken care Of. Spraying or
busting and feeding should be
regularly practiced in order to
keep the plants vigorous and
healthy. Sickly or stunted plants
do not add to the pleasure of
gardening. The same may be said
Of plants which are toppled over
or sprawl about. Keep them
staked.
The frequent showers of the past
week have brought crabgrass along
IN luxuriant growth. If allowed to
grow and set seed, it is a prolific
seeder, the gardener will be fight
Ing crabgrass for years to come.
There are crabgrass killers on the
market that are much easier, and
usually more effective than hand
wedding.
In the lawn chemical control is
satisfactory, although shading the
lawn for few days with a tar
paulin. roofing paper or some
similar material will usually kill
the crabgrass and only temporarily
check the growth of the desirable
lawn grasses.
In the flower and vegetable
gardens, the crabgrass should be
pulled or chopped out with a hoe.
II allowed to grow unrestricted
crabgrass will rob the cultivated
plants of food and moisture. and
may also smother many of them.
Red spider mites are unusally
bad this spring and many plants,
including azaleas, phlox, roses,
dahlias, etc.. will need to be pro-
tected from this tiny pest. Dusting
with sulphur is the old method
OF control. Spraying with HETP
is recommended by the Bureau
OF Entomology and Plant Quar-
antine, United States Department
OF Agricultural. Still another ex.
cellent remedy is teaspoonsful of
liquid ime-sulphur and "a tea
spoonful of Dreft to gallon of
water.
Regardless of which material is
used it must be applied to the
undersides of the leaves in order
to reach the red spiders.
The Japanese beetles are show
ing up in considerable numbers
and the foliage should be pro-
tected from the greedy insects.
otherwise the plants will not make
normal growth and will go into
the winter in a weakened condi-
ton.
The New York Agricultural
Experiment Station reports that.
in tests conducted recently, three
varieties Of squash and pumpkin
were least subject to attack by the
squash vine borer. In other words,
even though the pests were en-
couraged, they displayed reluc-
tance to feed upon Table Queen
squash. small sugar pumpkin and
Connecticut field pumpkin. Some.
will, no doubt. wonder if they have
the same kind of borers in New
York that we have in this area.
Now that the hollyhocks and
delphiniufns have practically fin
ished blooming the main flower
stalks should be removed just be-
low the lowest florets. Secondary
flower stalks often form following
this cutting back and produce a
second crop Of bloom. It also
prevents the usual crop of chance
seedlings.
Severe pruning of tomato vines
is likely to reduce the yield by Is
per cent. according to a report by
the Missouri Agricultural Expert
ment Station. By permitting the
shoots to grow which come from
the leaf axis and develope one
pair of leaves. the yield of fruit
was increased on the average by
is per cent as compared to those
pruned to single stem as is COM
monty practiced. This is another
way of saying that if the leaf
surfaces are too greatly reduced
the plants ability to function is
affected.
Potassium cyanate, commonly
referred to as PC, is a potential
weed-killer worth trying on crab
grass. Apply in early summer
when growth is lush and before
seed forms. 1t is non-poisonous
and eventually breaks down into
two fertilizers, nitrogen and
potash. Oast Sundays column
called the preparation potassium
cyanide, which was erroneous
W. H. Y.