Employ a deeper container filled with moist peat. Plants do particularly well in such containers if the pot is plunged to the rim in the peat. The individual requirements of each plant can then be checked.

By keeping the peat moist it will be found that the plants do not require to he watered as often as those placed individually on the window ledge. However, having emphasised the need for keeping the peat moist one must add a word of warning against overdoing it, as plants cannot possibly be expected to do well in the soggy mess that will result from too frequent watering.

This in itself makes it a very fine plant for exhibition work, and it is especially useful and attractive when incorporated with blue saintpaulias. On the nursery no one was very keen to be given charge ofgreenhouses containing D. Pia, as the chances of success were not particularly good.

This damping down operation may take place several times daily, vet it may not be necessary to water the compost in which the plants are actually growing. If the compost is watered each time the greenhouse is damped down the soil will become totally saturated, depriving the roots of oxygen, a condition which few plants can tolerate for long.

A certain degree of colour loss is entailed during milling of the dried pods and the temperature and moisture content must be carefully con- trolled during this operation in order to minimize the problem.

The traditional method of drying paprika in Hungary was to expose the ‘cured’ fruits to the heat of the sun for 2 to 3 weeks, but now modern methods of artificial drying are used. A brief illustrated article, announcing the installation of a new, artificial drier at Kalosca.

The factors described previously which influence colour retention during storage of capsicums and chillies apply equally to paprika. The temperature of storage is again the most important (Ramakrishanan and Francis, 1973; Guzman eta!., 1973) but the moisture content is also considered to be a significant factor. Paprika also responds beneficially to treatment with antioxidants during storage.

The current Hungarian Standard (MSZ 11 851-76) specifies that pungent and pink (rose) paprika should satisfy the requirements of the standard for at least 180 days when stored under good conditions. Paprika should be stored in dry, cool rooms with little light and, as far as possible, in small batches in order to avoid 6ompacting problems encountered with large masses.

Annual dressings of organic matter, once the shrubs are planted, maintain the humus essential to a healthy soil. One of the contradictions of gardening is that organic matter is the finest conditioner for both light and heavy soils. With the former it increases the water holding and nutrient capacity; with the latter it facilitates the aeration and drainage by opening up the tightly packed particles.

At this stage it is invaluable if some member of the family can be called in to assist as general factotum to move the stakes about as directed.

Remove the existing soil to a depth of 15 to 18 in., mix in the compost and if the soil is heavy a dressing of coarse sand. Where the border is rough dug then left to weather the sand is unnecessary.

I look back with pleasure on long winter evenings spent completely oblivious to the passing of time, planning shrub border after shrub border. After careful observations, many visits to new gardens, and discussions with beginners to gardening, I am convinced that one of the commonest mistakes and the most expensive is to overplant.

I have always had a great admiration for Taxus baccata both as a hedge and specimen tree. Unfortunately, even using large transplants. Many years must pass before we can sit in the shade of a yew planted by our own hands.

Both rosemary and lavender may be used to divide the garden but are ineffectual as boundary hedges. They may both be spaced at 18 in. apart and will, with regular clipping, make beautiful assets to the garden.

Both Griselinia littoralis and Laurus nobilis make impressively beautiful foliaged hedges in favoured areas. Indeed, when grown in a suitable climate griselinia will accept any soil or aspect. even growing under oak trees. Plant the griselinia 11 to 2 ft. apart, the Laurus nobilis at 2 ft. Trim as required during the growing season.

The first house I lived in was called The Laurels for the obvious reason that the whole front garden was enclosed by an immense hedge of Cherry Laurel, Prunus laurocerasus, 6 ft. high and 8 ft. thick. The hours spent searching for cricket balls in the stygian gloom of this handsome shrub could have been better spent learning the art of that most noble game itself.

Contented on acid or alkaline soils, I use the genus extensively especially in the ground-hugging forms. They are so useful for covering steep banks or manhole covers, bad workmanship in rock gardens or marking the edge of a drive. Juniperus communis is our own native juniper and as such should be duly honoured. It is indestructibly hardy and has served me well in a dozen unpromising places. Though found in the wild growing mainly on lime soils, it has accepted acid, ill-drained clay with no outward signs of bad health.

The various forms of the species show the same adaptability. Compressa, a cone-shaped midget, makes an ideal plant for a trough or small rock garden, taking about 18 years to reach a height of 12 in. A wide-spreading, ground-hugging bush, depressa is excellent for clothing steep slopes in the rock garden. Prostrata is of a similar habit.

The various forms of Sawara Cypress, Chamaecyparis pisifera, fit easily into the landscape without the somewhat alien aspect sometimes presented by the hybrids of lawsoniana. C. pisifera and its varieties make delicately poised light foliage trees.

I hesitate to introduce the thought that on occasions birds or animals can be a nuisance, and even then usually manufacture an excuse for their behaviour. Rabbits can be fenced out, although with enough dogs and cats about the garden only the most foolhardy rodent dare show its teeth. Moles will seek less aromatic pastures if moth balls or creosote are inserted into the runs at intervals.

Voles and woodmice can be evicted in a similar fashion but a resident kestrel employed full time is more effective I have discovered! Bullfinches are the worst pest in this garden, their depredations have killed several full grown cherries and we rarely get any flowers on the others. Short of shooting, the gardener must resort to foul-tasting sprays, or netting the trees.

A sharp saw, well-maintained pair of secateurs, and a razor-edged knife are prime essentials. I also include as supplementary equipment a tin of Stockholm tar and a brush for treating cut surfaces if any very large branches have to be cut away.

Experience has taught me that it is better to remove the short-lived shrubs like cytisus, cistus and roses completely. After a few years of neglect these are just clutter and will hamper the work of rehabilitation.

As the rash of tarmacadam and concrete spreads to hide the soft green contours of rural Britain, so will an increasingly office-bound community turn to their gardens for a place in which to relax. Gardening is a healthy, creative hobby with many rewards and a well-planned and tended garden can provide its owner with a peaceful setting in which he can spend many happy hours.

I was very much a novice, depending on annuals for a quick return for my labours. A beautiful clipped yew planted when the house was built and a golden chamaecyparis were central features of the house frontage. Anything which took up space capable of supporting a marigold or godetia was anathema to me so one day when father was away I uprooted both these patriarchs on to the bonfire. No one in that quiet Dales village spoke to me for a week. They were all too busy sympathising with my parents for having produced such a wayward son. The many hundred trees I have planted since have not erased the feeling of guilt this piece of vandalism burdened me with.

Softwood cuttings are made from wood of current season’s growth, before it has time to harden. They root very quickly but need careful handling as they are liable to dry out or fall prey to fungus disease.

The base is made up of 12 in. of broken brick to provide drainage and over this I put coarse ash and then the fine rooting medium. There are three internal divisions, one made up with sharp lime-free sand only, another with peat and sand in equal parts and the third with pumice. In this wiry I have a rooting medium to suit even the most fastidious cutting.

For those who prefer them, the no-soil composts based on peat are very good value. Once the seedlings are large enough, prick them out into John Innes Potting Compost No. 1 . which is made up of 7 parts sterilised loam, 3 peat, 2 sand, plus 4 lb. of John Innes base fertiliser, and 4 oz. of chalk to each bushel of the mixture. John Innes base fertiliser is made up of 11 oz. of hoof and horn, 11 oz. of superphosphate and 4 oz. of sulphate of potash.

So much mystery and potting shed black magic has been woven into the work of propagation that the amateur, not surprisingly, makes a very tentative approach to the seedbox and propagating bench. Once the first inhibitions are lost there is a whole new fascinating field of gardening to be explored with possible attempts at hybridisation to evolve new varieties.

Leave the seedlings undisturbed till they are several inches high and then transplant them at the normal planting season for the species, giving them ample room for further development. They can then be grown on for at least another year by which time they should be big enough to go out into their permanent quarters.

Any obviously dead or very old wood is cut clean out at the base. Then surplus or crossing branches are trimmed out and the bush generally tidied up. Tree pruning is a dangerous undertaking requiring specialist knowledge.

When training in the nursery has been neglected there may be crossing or badly placed branches to cut away but if this happens often I would try another nursery with more interest in the plants they offer for sale.

In fact, I proved to my own satisfaction that just five minutes exposure to a drying March wind reduces the viability of woody plants appreciably. In the case of conifers the dehydration proved fatal in one out of every four seedling thuja lined out as a hedge.

Choose a day when the stubbornest clay runs like silk from the spade, then fine root hairs can be firmed into position with the least damage. I prefer a dull humid day if there are several shrubs to plant up as strong winds or bright sunshine will dry exposed roots in a matter of minutes.

Rarely is the dull humid day followed by a frost at night, rather as the daylight fades comes a warm soaking rain to complete the soil firming in the best manner.