Gardeners’ Calendar for October.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XVIII, Issue 1741, 2 October 1885, Page 3

Gardeners’ Calendar for October.

Flower Garden.—Sow seeds ofL’annual, biennial, and perennial flowering plants. The middle of the month is soon enough for the less hardy kinds—such as; balsams, asters, amaranthus, &o. Where roses are troubled with aphides, boil a stick of tobacco in about one gallon of water for half-an-hour, then mix it with three gallons of strong soap and soda water .after the clothes have been washed in it. Make it hotter than the hand can be borne in it, about 180deg.; use a watering can with a tine rose to it, after the sun is down in the evening. The water being hot, baa a greater effect in dislodging the insect than it used cold. Flower of sulphur dusted on the trees when the dew is on is also n good remedy. Fruit Garden.—This is usually a trying month on fruit trees where they are in the least exposed, owing to the various and sudden changes of weather from summer’s sunshine to winter’s frost, and the cold, cutting winds seem more than the constitution of the peach can bear. For the last few seasons with us the peach tree has been growing weaker and less able to withstand the combined action of insect and cold. We may have to mourn the loss of a delicious fruit for a few years, but we hope not for ever. Disbudding at the end of the month should be commenced on trees that have made good growth ; remove a few buds at a time, to prevent a sudden check at the roots : toots and leaves work in sympathy with each other ; what injures the one, affects the other. The training of fruit trees should now be looked to. Kitchen Garden.—Main crops of peas and broad beans should now be put in, and successive sowings of summer spinach, turnips, and celery. Draw the earth in dry weather to peas, beans, cabbage, and potatoes, where sufficiently forward. Flower stems from rhubarb should be out off as they appear. Make first sowing of brocoli, and red Dutch cabbage for pickling. Make preparations for sowing hardy cucumbers, melons, marrows, pumpkins, and tomatoes. Plant out any that have been grown in frames. In the last week of the month cauliflower should he planted out and fresh seed sown. Sow French Leans about the 20th ; the Canadian wonder is to be recommended for prolilicuess and is also a dwarf bean.