GARDENERS’ CALENDAR.

Dunstan Times, Issue 390, 8 October 1869, Page 3

GARDENERS’ CALENDAR.

0 C T 0 B E R. Kitchen Oaeiien.— For the last sixteen years, with the exception of 18C4, Otago has bean visited by a storm in October, which is generally accompanied with sharp frosts and heavy falls of snow. Those who have potatoes well advanced had better prepare fir the worst by landing them well up, almost covering the young shoots, and

have some boughs, fern, or straw in readiness to put over them on the first appearance of a frosty night. French beans a-W runners will be sown nuite time enough towards the end of the month. Seeds of anv other vegetable may be sown if not already done, as also any planting that remains to be finishe I. Soxv celery on a rich, moist spotend protect from heavy rains until it is well up. Sow melons an- 1 cucumbers on hot-beds; also vegetable marrow, pumpkins, squashes, tomatoes, capsicums, &c., to bring them forward for being planted out. Keep the Dutch hoe incessantly at work during bright sunshine to keep down wee Is. Stir up the spu-facc of thoground, as recommended in the operations for last month.

Fruit Garden. - In exposed places precautions should he. taken without delay to shelter fruit trees in blossom. Some tall scrub stuck into the ground, placed against a temporary rail, and secured witb'fiax.will answer the purpose until more permanent shelter be provided,—a matter which should never be lost sight of by those' who wish to have productive gardens and comfortable dwellings. Remove dead leaves and weeds from strawberries, and apply a mulching of stable manure between the rows, to keep thorn moist during dry weather ; the juices of ( he manure washed down by every shower will prove beneficial. Trained peach and apricot trees may be disbudded, removing only a few at a time, to prevent a sudden check on the growth of the trees. On dry herders, mulch the roots of trained early; and avoid cropping too near fruit trees, Which require all the nourishment they can get without being crowded to their very stems, as is too frequently cone even by those who ought to know bettor;—as if a few potatoes or a few heads of cabbage could not be sacrificed for the sake of fruit-bearing tecs.

Flower Garden.—Geraniums and’other pot plants will require strict attention as to watering, and about once a week a good watering with clear liquid manure will benefit them. Forward plants will require shifting into larger pots, taking care always to have some well-prepared mould in readiness for the purpose. Sow seeds of both tender ami hardy annuals and perennials. Riant, carnations, pinks, pansies, and other flowering plants. Verbenas, geraniums, fuschias, and dahlias: plant out towards the end of tho mouth-