GARDEN CALENDAR.

Dunstan Times, Issue 711, 3 December 1875, Page 3

GARDEN CALENDAR.

o December* Kitchen Garden. —This is a busy mouth in tho garden : vegetables are growing vigorously, root crops require thinning, peas and beans staking, and above all weeding ; and hoeing has to be attended to. Peas sow ; also French beaus and runners, turnip, early horn carrot, lettuce and radish. Early varieties of tho potato may still be planted, A slight top-dressing of stable manure mixed with sand will benefit onion and leek beds if the growth bo at all backward ; and, in the event of dry weather, water with weak guano or manure water. Celery will be improved by similar treatment. buriT Garden. —Trained trees now require tying or nailing. Slight frosts, which occasionally occur this month, are apt to blister the leaves of peach and nectarine trees. A temporary coping of scrub, to project a foot over the wall or fence on which they are trained, will protect them. Pinch the tops off the strongest growing shoots of young fruit trees, to equalise the growth and induce a bushy habit. Remove all suckers as they make their appearance below grafts lately put on, and pinch the tops off their main shoots when they have pushed two or three inches. This will encourage the growdh of lateral shoots, and in some measure prevent the trees from being injured by the wind. Flower Garden. Sec that dahlias and hollyhocks are well secured to stakes, and encourage growth by frequent waterings with liquid manure. Lilies, phloxes, &c., will require stakes ; and verbenas, petunias, and other trailing plants pegging down. Stake sweet peas, canary creeper, and convolvulus major. See that annuals are not too thick, and let all thinning he done when the plants are young. Young fuschias now making rapid growth, should ho encouraged by shifting into larger sized pots, and when established, water once a week with weak liquid manure.