GARDEN CALENDAR.

Dunstan Times, Issue 763, 1 December 1876, Page 3

GARDEN CALENDAR.

Kitchen Garden,— This is a busy month in tho garden: vegetables are growing vigorously, root crops require thinning, peas and beaus staking, and above all, weeding and hoeing have to be attended to. Teas, aoiy ; also French beans and runners, turnip, early horn carrot, lettuce, and radish. Early varieties of tho potato may still bo planted. A slight top-dressing ol* 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. FiiiitT Garden.— Trained trees now require tying or nailing. Slight frosts, which occasionally occur this month, aro apt to blister the loaves of peach and nectarine trees. A temporary cropping of scrub, to project about a toot over tho top of tho wall or fence on which they are 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 growth of lateral shoots, and in some measure prevent the trees from being injured by wind. Flower Garden.— See that dahlias and hollyhocks are well secured to stakes, and encourage growth by frequent watering with liquid manure. Lilies, phloxes, etc., will require stakes ; and verbenas, potuneas, and other trailing plants, pegging down. Stake sweet peas, Canary creepers, and convolvulus major. See that annuals are not too thick, and let all thinning bo done whilst the plants aro young. Young fuclisias now making rapid growth should he encouraged by shifting into larger sized pots, and when established, water once a-week with Weak liquid manure.