Gardeners’ Calendar for December.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XIX, Issue 1909, 1 December 1886, Page 2

Gardeners’ Calendar for December.

Flower Garden.—This should be one of the three gayest months of the year, when most flowering plants will be at perfection. Make a last sewing of annuals in first week, for late blooming. Layer down choice Care nations after rain. Should the weather b« dry, water rose trees. See that no suckers aie springing from the stocks they are worked on. If attacked with green fly, syringe with hot tobacco water and soap suds, after the sun is down. Continue taking up bulbs as they die ofl. Take off side shoots from dahlias and seenre them to stakes. Where the flower garden is limited, such plants as pansies, violets, primrose &0., as bare done duty, can be removed to a back place, allowing the summer bedding plants to take their plaoes. Do not neglect to use the hoe in stirring tbs soil and eradicating the weeds, as one year’s seeding give seven years' weeding. Foscbias in pots or boxes require more water than s geranium, and a partial shade, to make it flower well. '

Fruit Garden. —Do not forget to pinch back strong growths and misplaced shoots, and thus give vigor to the weaker growth*. By careful summer pinching, tree* will bs brought into bearing sooner, and winter pruning to a minimum. Bemove all suokara that may spring from the roots. Trass bearing a heavy orop of fruit would be greatly assisted by holes filled with liquid manors a few times during the season. The results would be seen the present and the following seasons. Make notes of varieties that do well, for future guidance. Kitchen Garden.—Stir the soil and keep weeds down between all growing crops. Thin out root crops—carrots, turnips, beet, Ac. Make a sowing of peas : First soak the seed, then tread the soil on them. Late sown onions would be forwarded by liquid manure or a little Peruvian guano sown over the bed before rain occurs. Keep up a succession of lettoes, turnips, and radishes. Plant out broooli from first sowings. Thin out and pinch leading shoots of cucumbers, marrows, and pumpkins ; thin out tomatoes. Make a sow* ing of broad beans, but no French beans after the middle of the month.