THE GARDEN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2985, 31 May 1911, Page 12

THE GARDEN.

OPERATIONS FOR THE WEEK

KITCHEN GARDEN.—The formation of { 8, warm 1-order in a sheltered corner where the frost will hard'ly reach, as on the north ! side of a fence, is a (great assistance in I raising and growing small saladings dur j ing the winter. The border should bo j composed of the lightest soil obtainable, j and well enriched with the manure from a j spent hot-bed. It should be raised a foot above the surrounding level, and slope from lxiek to front, to enable the surface water to drain, off quickly. By means of movable or fiked ~ frames, roughly put together, which can be covered at night, * and a few bell glasses or band lights a | good deal may be done in raising early crops. Radishes, lettuce, mustard and cress eto.y can be thinly sown at onet), j and another part of the border can be de- j voted to raising early ashleaf potatoes, j By collecting all the tree leaves and plae- J ing them round the frames, a gentle neat < will be obtained which will be serviceable, in bringing the "young plants, forward. j FLOWER GARDEN.—Unhappily, the ' fine hardy kinds of lilies are anything but as plentiful as they should be, though in | a free, rich soil they increase iead.ily enough. Few may have them sufßc'ontly I plentiful for some time to make beds of them, but when once people know how i truly fine they are when seen well arranged in a large- bed- in in isolated place, they j will hardly rest content without such glori-' ous garden ornaments. With such kinds \ as Lilium testaceum and Tigrinium for- j tunci in the centre, surrounded by the queenly oandklum, burnished cropeuTO, spotted canadense, pomponium, colchicum, ! vivid chaloedonicum, and gradually worked down to the edge with dwarf but beautiful I kinds like eximlum, iongiflorum, and tene- j folium, a large circular or oval bed might j be made on the grass in some isolated spot j which for the 'highest beauties of colour, | form, and fragrance—tor, in fact, almost j every quality by which vegetable beau'ty i endears itself to us—could not be surpassed j by any arrangement of indoor or outdoor j plants. The only precaution that need be mentioned is that it grow lilies well thloy | should have 3ft, or rearlv that, of free I loamy earth, with a good daeih of vege- '■ table mould in it.

GREENHOUSE.— As the beauty of salrias, chrysanthemums, and schizostylis will •oon be on the wane, the amateur who deiiires to keep up a display of bloom, mast look out for other plants to supply their place. If the double Roman narcissus and the Roman hyacinth were potted, they will be ready to bring _'nto the house. Three, with Helleborus niger and some of the early cyclamens, ought to begin to bloom by the middle of next month. The plant; of calceolaria, in the cold frame, will be sufficiently advanced to have the central shoot pinched oiit, to cause them to send up half a dozen trusses instead of one. If a few plants are wanted to come in ea P rly let it run up to bloom, without pimpbf.ng: still ke-op the plants cool, give plenty of air, and look a.ftor greenfly. ■ Cinerarias will require similar treatment, but they are a little more sensitive to frost. ---•• FRUIT : GARDEN.— Preparations for planting fruit trees of all kinds should bo in a forward condition, so as to admit of removing out early in June. Bush fruits • of all kinds may now be planted, either in beds by themselves or along the borders, near the paths of the kitchen garden. In these positions they generally succeed, and produce regular crops of good fruits, as they tare well under observation and get regular applications of manure. Raspberry canes should now be piarf>ed out, and the oanes in existing- beds should be thinned, leaving only about a dozen oif the strongest canes of last season's giowth.