THE GARDEN.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVI, Issue 12588, 24 August 1901, Page 3

THE GARDEN.

WORK FOB THE WEEK. Kitchen Garden. —Sow spinach, a little and often is ■ the best system at this season ; go over the winter crop and remove all the leaves that have been injured by the frosts, sprinkle a little fertilizer along each row, and hoe it-in. Finish planting asparagus as quickly as possible, as the plants are starting into active growth. The roots must be carefully lifted. It is a remarkable fact that, while most people make elaborate preparation in getting the beds ready, they dig up the plants in a very careless way, often breaking, quite a number of roots off each plant. This is a serious matter, and is often the reason why many plants fail to grow when- they have been transplanted. If gardeners would give more attention to careful lifting of the plants ajnd less to the preparation of the beds, better results would be -obtained. Before the plants are put in position each should be examined, and all broken roots should be cut away with a sharp knife. Again, we remind our readers that asparagus beds should be well drained, and the roots kept quite near the surface; the two mistakes that are most often made in planting asparagus are planting too deep, and putting in all the broken and braised roots. Cabbages should be planted out as the weather permits. Go over those that were planted in the autumn and remove all the leaves injured by frosts. Cauliflowers should receive the same attention. Shallots should be planted. These require a long season to, make their growth, and the earlier they are in the better will be the crop. Plant the sets in rich ground, about six inches -apart, and the rows one foot apart. Chives are often useful, especially when onions are scarce. Give these good soil, and get them planted at once. Lettuce and other plants growing in frames should be exposed to the sun and air as much as possible. Fruit Glinden.—Preparations should be made where there are any old trees to graft. If these have not been cut back, they should be attended to at once, os the date is near when they should be grafted. It is sometimes rather difficult for an amateur to decide whether an old tree is worth re-grafting or not. Too often old trees have been re-grafted when they should have btieii /cut down, the roots grubbed up and burnt. It is only those trees that,have made a good growth each year that are worth the trouble of reworking. Make every effort to finish spraying the trees before they burst into leaf and blossom. This condition will soon be reached, after a few warm days. Flower Garden. —-Spring bulbs' are now making our gardens bright. The crocus and snowdrop are quite gay on bright days, and some of the early narcissi are opening their ever welcome blossoms'. An effort should be made to have each clump of bulbs duly labelled when they are in flower. This is necessary to protect them when they are leafless, and 'the borders hoed, dug and cleaned. Another little item is that all stray bulbs should be lifted when in bloom, and transferred to their proper position. These stray bulbs are the result of not marking each variety clearly with labels. Sweet peas.--In gardens near town the sparrow is giving his attention to these pretty flowering plants by picking off the ■ tender points, and unless they are cheeked the birds will seriously retard the plants flowering. A good dusting with soot will keep the birds away for a time, but it must be applied as often as it rains, because the rain will wash the soot from the plants. Another good plan is to sprinkle with a weak solution of kerosene. The weather is more favourable for planting evergreen trees and shrubs now than it has been for some time. Therefore they should be got in -as quickly as possible. One thing, however, must be remembered, and that is, that roots must not be exposed to the dry winds and hob sun -one moment longer than is absolutely necessary. Keep the roots damp, and covered with a sack, until they are finally planted.

Greenhouse.—There are several beautiful plants that are useful, both for the conservatory and dwelling-house, but are not often seen in good condition. One is the cockscomb; it is difficult to explain, why this plant is so seldom met with in good condition, but it is probably owing to some fault when the seedlings are very young. Perhaps the seedlings are nob pricked off as soon as they should be, or the small plants receive a check in small pots. Whatever it is can be avoided, because the plants are very easy to bring to perfection if they axe only kept growing as fast as possible from the time the young seedlings are up until the plants are in the pots they are to flower an. The need should be sown now;; put it joh a brisk

bottom beat; a bet-bed is, most suitable. Directly tbe seedlings send up their first rough leaf they should be pricked into thumb pots, using light, rich soil, made with leaf-mould, loam, manure, a;nd just a little peat. Keep the plants on a nice bottom heat, close to the glass, and give each plant plenty of room to grow in. Cyclamens are as easy to bring to perfection as a geranium, if the plants receive proper attention in the matter of air, rootspace, and good soil. They do not require a very high temperature, as they will grow in a cool frame quite eight months out .of the twelve. The seedlings should-’ be kept growing by giving a constant supply of water, liberal shifts when potting, and a'' sharp look-out for insect pests. The soil' most suitable in a compost made withloam two. parts, leaf-mould one part, well decayed manure one part, charcoal and sand half a part. A little bone-meal may be mixed with the soil when the plants are shifted on into pots larger than 3ih. Bouvardias are so seldom seen in good condition that people often think it is a now plant when one is grown fairly well. There is no class of greenhouse plant so useful as this is during the autumn and winter for all decorative purposes. Old plants should be started now, and when the cuttings are about three inches long they should be inserted in small pots, filled with sandy soil and placed in a hot-bed. When the cuttings are rooted they should be potted oft singly and placed near the glass in a warm house for about two -weeks, and then transferred to a cool frame. Here they can he grown, all the' summer, just keeping them growing by potting cm, and keeping them free from green fly and thrips. The pots should be plunged in some ashes or other material, to prevent them getting dry on hot days.