OTAGO GARDENERS' CALENDAR FOR MARCH.

Otago Witness, Issue 1319, 10 March 1877, Page 18

OTAGO GARDENERS' CALENDAR FOR MARCH.

Kitchen Garden. — Instead of neglecting the garden, as is too often the case at this season, it ought to get a thorough cleaning, and every vacant space should be dug up to the action of the weather. The looser the ground ia kept, the better it will resist the effect of drought, and rain will be readily absorbed. Take up potatoes as they ripen, for if left too long in the ground, they are apt to make second growth, which would prove injurious. Celery will now require strict attention as to watering and landing up. Onions for early drawing may now be sown. Sow cabbages, both early and late ; also savoy, curled greens, pickling cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, and radish. The growth of the cabbage tribe will be hastened by a light top-dressing of Peruvian guano being applied between the rows, and raked in with the dunghawk — which, by the bye, is one of the most use-

ful tools in the garden. Take up and dry onions well previous to storing.

Fruit Garden. — Prepare ground for strawberries by digging and subsoiling to at least two feet in depth ; and, after a good fall of rain, select the best-rooted runners from fruitful plants, and set in these, in the shape of a diamond, two feet three inches between the rows, and fifteen inches between the plants in the rows. Remove the runners from established beds, and keep all free from weeds. Gather and store apples and pears as they ripen, and avoid bruising them. Flower Garden. — All dormant bulbs should now be planted ; they thrive best in a deep, sandy soil, and ground not naturally so ought to be worked very deep —applying at the same time a good dressing of well-decomposed manure, and, on clay soils, add a good deal of sand to the dressing. See that the propagation of young stock is attended to, as recommended for last month. Gather flower seeds as they ripen; remove decayed flowers, and keep the ground as neat and clean as possible.