Gardeners' Calendar for January.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XIX, Issue 1780, 8 January 1886, Page 3

Gardeners' Calendar for January.

flown Garden.—Thu department should not be in ita greatest beauty. Particular attention should be given to eleanlines*. All dead Inw and flowcn ahould be picked oS, lawns kept well mown, and edging* neatly dipped. Attend to climbing plant*, carefully nailing or tying in the young growth. Peg down verbenas, petunias, Ac.. Tie up dahlia*, hollyhock*, and all tall-growing plant*. Hybrid perpetual rotes may be encouraged to prod not autumn blooms by being now at landed to. Pick off all withered flower*. Otva the plant* a good watering with liquid manure, and mulch the mrlace; mulch everywhere wbare practicable ; it save* a great amount ol labor, and is more effectual than constant watering, by retarding the evaporation. Beds and ribbon borders will now be well covered. Pick off every dead leaf and flowar, and maintain the line* of color well defined, not allowing one to grow above, or into the other. Cuttings of geranium*, verbenas, phlox, penatemon. fuchsia, *c, will atrika easily now in any shaded corner of the garden. The tri color and silver-edge leaf •eetion of geraniums will be found to strike easier in this month than in any other, where the nsnal appliances are not to hand. Layer pieoleas and carnations. Plant ont biennials, ■nch as sweet william, Canterbury bells, Bromptoa stock. Ac. Continue the budding d toeea. Lift and store hyacinths, ranunculus, tulips, Ae. Annual* remaining in the ■eed boxes may bs planted oat for late bIPCMBIBg.

Greenhouse.—The bouse will now be gay with fuchsias, zonal geraniums, aehimenes, gloxuuae, eoteus, Ae. Water effectually, and attend oarafully to shading. Cut back pelargoniums, that bay* ripened their wood, and ataaa them in a cold frame. Ae soon as they ■agin to .start efreeh, torn them ont of their pots, prune the roots, and re-pot them into a smaller six*. The cutting* will strike freely in a cold frame. Be-pct chrysanthemums, psnefa out the tops to form compact head. Cinerama and calceolarias that have proved themselves worth saving should now be divided, and petted in 3-inch pets. Amateur florists era inclined to trust too much to raising fresh plants from seed specially obtained from England, and the virtue* of which they sometime* estimate too highly, the result frequently being disappointment. It would bo preferable to utilise the plants worth saving by dividing and potting them in the manner already indicated. Sow cineraria for late blooming, and repot those that were sown early. They moat sot be allowed to get potbonnd, as the roots reach the sides of the pot they ahould b« shifted into larger. Put in eolsos cutting* ; they will make pretty little plants, and will stand wall till Ist* in Antonin.

Fnut Garden.—Bemove all arose branches in <ndt Uses that would require to be eat oat at the winter’s pruning. so that the remaining branches will get the benefit ; remove all cockers, keep a clean stem, and an open bead, so as the sen may get to the iiuit. Prune out the centre of gooseberry trees, if not already done, and remove suckers. Thm the irnit on apple and pear trees where uecessary, as it will tax the energy of the trees for the following season. Kitchen Garden. — Sow iu the first week winter cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and aatumu giant, or Italian cauliflower, in good soil. Cauliflowers should receive as little check as possible at the time of planting, and grown iu tl.t richest of soil, with liberal waterings dunug dry weather. Make the last sowing of peas. Sseds should bo soaked at this lime of year before sown ; if the soil be dry, the drills should be saturated with water before sowing. Take tops off broad beans, the result will be finer pods and earlier. Keep tomatoes well thinned out. and give them water ;they are naturally a tlur-ty plant. Keep the boe at work to prevent weeds from seeding, have seeds as they ripen.