Kitchen Garden.

Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 4115, 15 September 1883, Page 4 (Supplement)

Kitchen Garden.

The season is advancing—fine, genial weather will bo setting in. Make every ftxertion to put in main crop of vegetableß whenever the ground is in a favourable' state. Make the usual fortnightly sowings of mustard-cress and radishes for salad. Peas sow every three weeks for succession; earth up and stake advancing crop. Plant out cabbage and cauliflower in a wellmanured break. Sow a fresh patch of seed for later planting. Advancing crops thin out, giving plenty of space for eacli plant to fully mature. Early potatoes earth up ; plant a few more intermediate varieties. Sow parsley, leeks, turnips, carrots, onions, and parsnips. Big and manure ail grcund which was under winter or green crop. Let it lie for a few weeks to sweeten for the later crops. Look well after the slugs. Attend to cucumber and melon plants under glass. Flower Garden. In fine weather have the soil finely broken up, and sow extensively • all hardy annuals. Try and make an artistic arrangement of colours, placing the smallergrowing varieties in the front border and the larger in the rear. Some of the annuals make as good, if not better, bedding plants than the old orthodox varieties, which have to be struck from cuttings. There is one thing to be said in their favour—you can purchase seed for a trifle every season, and to get up a stock of other bedding plants takes time and labour. Where such are in stock, make preparations for planting out. Continue plantingout bulbs for successional flowering. Plant out the old. roots of dahlias, and divide and pot those started in heat. The slugs are very fond of the above. Pick dead blossoms off camellias, and prune back slightly those done flowering. When azaleas are coming into flower, water them occasionally with liquid manure. Lawn— Give a dusting'of guano so as to produce a rapid growth, and so as to get a good soil established before dry weather sets in.

Greenhouse.

A more active growth will be apparent in this department. On the first fine day give the house a thorough overhaul, take all the plants out of the house, and thoroughly wash the glass and woodwork with soap and water ; under part of the staging paint with a wash made of quicklime and tobaccowater. This will kill the lava? of any insects which may have lodged there. Returningthc plants into the house,thosewhich do not want repotting, simply wash the pots, scrape about a half-inch of soil off the surface, replace with .fresh compost suited for the plant. Those that require repotting have done at once, turning them out of the pots, reducing the ball, and repotting In clean, dry pots—larger, smaller, or the same size, as they may require it, putting plenty of drainage at the bottom of the pot. All dirty pots should be washed and dried at once, so as to be ready for future repotting. Put in a batch of coleus cuttings, and keep the house closed for a few days, so as to establish the newly-potted plants.

Seasonable Hints.

Never sift soil for potting rooted plants of any description. For the surface of seed pots and cuttings it is desirable to sift it.

When repotting hard-wooded plants, take care that the plants are not placed deeper in the pot than they were before, If the soil about the roots is very dry, water them first, so as to soak the ball before potting. _ __

When sowing flower seeds in clayey soil, make the lines or rings ; sow the seed ; have a barrow-load of finely-sifted soil wherewith to cover them up. By doing this the seed will germinate better, also producing better flowering plants. When sowing flower seed in border or bed, never sow broadcast in the border ; sow in a circular drill. In the bed, sow in parallel lines. The advantage in drill or ring, apart from the convenience of thinning, is that you ran easily distinguish the weeds from the plants, so that you may destroy the former.

Never commence the sowing of annual seeds packet by packet, but sort them carefully into .sections according to height, hardiness, and positions they are suited to adorn. In all cases have the labels written distinctly inaoors, which will facilitate the sowing. Never wait for crops of weeds to become large and imposing before hoeing the ground. Hoe the general surface of the garden frequently whenever there is the slightest appearance of weeds coming through. Pick out the weeds from seedbed, &c, whenever distinguished; thus it will bo found less troublesome and less laborious to keep a garden thoroughly clean than when allowed to get dirty. TAlways, if possible, sow asters, stock, balsams, partulaca, &c, on a bed of fine earth spread in the bottom of a shallow frame, or on a slight hotbed. When sown thus they grow quickly, and are in a good condition to plant out. Sow thinly in lines, and when largo enough transfer directly to the open border some moist, cloudy day, water directly, and they will receive very little check.

Tin-. Care of Hotbeds,

Two dangers threaten plants that are growing in the hotbed, viz., excessive heat and excessive moisture. On bright days the heat of the sun that shines through the glass added to that from the fermenting manure is often sufficient to destroy tender plants before one suspects it, unless the ashes arc partly open. On cool days, on the other hand, when the fermentation of the manure is rapid, the moisture that rises from it is condensed on the glass and drops down upon the plants, keeping them too wet. The excessive moisture, with the heat, causes what is called "damping off," which causes the more tender plants to suddenly droop and die. On examination it will often appear that the stems of such plants aws entirely rotted oft'at the surface of the ground. The remedy for both these evils is the same, viz. : (Jive tho hotbed plenty of air. It must havo uir to let out heat on bright, warm days, and air to let out dampness on cool days. Tho sun coming out suddenly, even for a few minutes on a mild day, will sometimes work Harm if tho sashes are

closely shut. It is only on tho sevorest days of spring that it is wise to leave the sash closed all day.

While tho importance of giving air by day it thus emphasised,it is hardly less important to covor the glass with some additional covering at night, particularly in early spring. It should not bo forgotten that plants grown in the hotbed in September and October are more tender, and consequently less able to endure vicissitudes of temperature than those grown in the open air in summer. Plants in the hotbed should not be watered when tho sun is shining upon them. It is true that the more vigorous plants, like the cabbage and tomato, aro able to endure this kind of treatment, but if persisted in it will destroy the more tender ones. The best time to wator the plants is in the evening or late in the afternoon. ,In case it is necessary to give them water while the sun is shining upon them, it is best to shade them for a time afterward.