The Garden.

Otago Witness, Issue 1382, 25 May 1878, Page 20

The Garden.

WATERING PLANTS IN POTS. '

Watering, we need scarcely , eayj constitutes a very important part of plant culture. As a general rule, all stove and green-house plants of free growth want a constant and steady supply of moistura at the roots during the growing season. The soil should neither be soured nor rendered sodden through repeated waterings that are not required, nor through defective drainage — a fertile source of mischief in this respect — nor should it ever.be even moderately dry. This, however, is just the difficulty. A plant should never be allowed to suffer in the least from want of water, for it means starvation and worse ; and yet it should not .be , overwatered. The, beneficial effects of plunging plants in pots in soil, ashes, cocoa-nut fibre, &c, are wholly the result of an equable degree of moisture and temperature at the roots ; in watering, therefore, these conditions must be , initiated as far as possible. The first essential is to drain the pot well, and the next is to leave room on the surface for it to hold water sufficient to soak the ball thoroughly. The practice of filling the pots too full of soil in .potting cannot be too severely, condemned, and yet it is all but universal.