OTAGO GARDENERS' CALENDAR FOR FEBRUARY.

Bruce Herald, Volume III, Issue 98, 15 February 1866, Page 6

OTAGO GARDENERS' CALENDAR FOR FEBRUARY.

(From the ' Witness/) This month corresponds with the first of autumn in England. Growing crops of vegetables will require hoeing, weeding, thinning, and, if the weather is dry, watering. Earth up celery, and put out plants. Make the last sowing of turnips. Sow white mustard, cress, radishes, and lettuce every ten days. Plant some lettuces every week, and water them in dry weather, or they will be tough, and perhaps run to seed. Sow cabbage and cauliflower seeds. If the onions are swelled to their full size, and their tops sire decaying, pull them up, and spread them to dry and harden. When the stems become dry, cutoff the roots and long withered stems, and lay them up in a dry room for use. Cut all sorts of potherbs for preservation. Gather sseds as they ripen. Dig and manure all ground out of use. In the fruit garden, examine the trees that were budded last month, and if the bandages pinch the stocks too much, loosen them. Thin out superfluous wood, and see that the branches of espalier trees are well secured to their places. In dry weather, water strawberry beds in bearing. Apple trees, affected by the- blight, should have kerosene or linseed oil applied. Apple trees, carrying heavy crops, would derive great benefit from a soaking of liquid manure. In the flower garden, sow some of the hardier annuals. Lay or pipe pinks and carnations, and increase all kinds of herbaceous plants, by parting and splitting their roots. Before they are planted, trim the roots, and water them immediately after planting. Double sweet-williams, and plants of the same nature, may be also propngated in the same manner as carnations. Stake and tie dahlias and other plants. Continue .to bud roses. Plant out perennial and biennial flower plants, such as sweet-williams, stocks, &c, in cloudy days, and give them water. Also, plant out miu-nionette in dots, to stand the winter. You may now sow inignionette in pots. Gather "flower seeds that are ripe. Set cuttings of geraniums; re-pot those that require more room and fresh earth.