The Garden.

Otago Witness, Issue 1589, 6 May 1882, Page 7

The Garden.

WORK* FOR THE WEEK, r ''. •

Kitchen Gaedbn; — The lifting and storing the crop of late potatoes is one of the chief items of work now. After being dug the tubers should be allowed to dry, and the sooner' they are bagged tip the better, as the sun is yet sufficiently powerful to injure 'them for culinary purposes if they are exposed too long. There are various modes of storing them, all of which have for their ■ object the exclusion of light and frost, but the clamp is, perhaps, - the ( most convenient. Select a dry place, and having taken out a trench to the depth of' a foot, place some straw at th» bottom, upon which the , tubers may be piled in a moderately sized heap. The heap should then be thickly covered' with straw, upon which the soil can be thrown to the depth of ten inches^ and made firm with tho back of the spade. The clamp should not' ex- f ceed two yards in width, as large -heaps have 'a' tendency to heat ; the length will be dependent ' upon the quantity.- :Itis a good plan 'to place : a wisp of straw at intervals (along the top of thei clamp, and leave it uncovered with soil to '■ allow moisture to escape. Cultural operations' are mainly a repetition, pf those given,) in pre-. vious notes. , . ( Flower Gahden.— -The chrysanthemum is now the chief floral attraction, and where 'a good collection 'is grown there will beino lack of blopm until it is destroyed by frost. _ After*' the chrysanthemums aro pv,Qr there will be;,a scarcity of flowers, unless those .varieties vfhich, bloom in tho winter months have been pro-| cured. Among bulbous plants there isschizos--tylis coccinea, which, in > sheltered positions,-, will bloom to the, end of May; and in the: varieties of .hard cyclamen ■; such as Eurbpceumj and hedercefolium, '■ we have ,both- attractive flowers and foliage in^the open border. -The atamasco - lily," zephyranthes -Candida, is also another useful winter - bloomer, producing its snow-white flowers in abundance ;>'and tO-the list may be added one or two late-blooming varieties of oxalis. Following these; the Christmas roses— hellebores— will commence to bloom in the middle of June, and carry on the display until the aconite and early spring bulbs come in. Greenhouse.— The leading plants in bloom now are zonal pelargoniums, which have been prepared for winter blooming. The_ white Vesuvius is a most prolific bloomer during the winter, but it requires a little more warmth 1 than an unheated house affords to doit justice ; in fact,' to have these zonals in perfection the temperature should not be allowed to sulk be? low 45deg, at night, and plenty of ventilation should be given during the day. Cyclamens also enjoy a little bottom heat, but' it should not be given them until the pots are well filled with roots. Koep salvias and libonias exposed in open frames as long as possible, to harden, the wood and to induce the formation of flower buds. , Heaths are more happy in, the ,-cold frame than 1 in the. day air; of otha house 1 , and should be introduced only as they come.m,to? bloom, .' 1 i' '"' ' •*' .i»> '> ' >'' i -•■ , . ■ I ,•• 1. M I.- .' .