GARDENING IN VERANDAS.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1927, 28 April 1880, Page 3

GARDENING IN VERANDAS.

[Sydney “ Town and Country.] There is no one, perhaps, engaged in gardening pursuits that labours under more disadvantages than those who are engaged in keeping up a display of flowers in balconies and verandas. In the first place, when the house happens to be in close proximity to a much-used thoroughfare, the dust arising from the road is destructive to vegetation. In the second, those who have a balcony or veranda with a southern aspect have to contend with the difficulty of preventing the plants being burned by the sun, which strikes upon the plants in a manner that is not very acceptable to them. Very often, too, the the manager of the balcony garden has to contend against the discomfort occasioned by the surplus water dripping upon the occupants of the rooms below. None of these drawbacks can be said to be avoidable, therefore the best must be made of what can not be avoided ; and I have often been surprised at the success that has attended the efforts of some in securing a display of flowers where the work has been commenced and carried through in an earnest manner. Many attempts are made that result in failure more or less complete, owing either to a wrong start being made, or the after management being unsatisfactory. Seeing how many difficulties there are to contend against in balcony gardening, no one should enter upon it who is not prepared to make a good beginning, and ready to profit by experience. To begin well some amount of skill must be brought to bear upon the work, so that a suitable selection of materials may be made. The choosing of the pots or boxes and making a selection of suitable plants, ate the most important points. Looking at the position they are to occupy, wood boxes offer the most advantages from a cultural point of view, because wood is a good non-conductor of heat, and consequently plants occupying them do not suffer so much from heat and drought as those made of terracotta, metal, or slate. Wood does conduct heat, but it does not allow the warmth to pass through it so readily as slate or terracotta. Eor this reason wooden boxes should be used in preference to those made of other materials, but they are not so durable, as the constant damp arising from the soil penetrates, and in time rots the wood. In positions where the boxes stand in the shade, or where they are shaded during the hottest part of the day, slate boxes are to be preferred, as they can be painted any colour that may be desired to make them correspond with the surroundings. Care should be taken that, whether pots or boxes are decided upon, they must be large enough to hold a reasonable amount of soil, for a mere handful is no use. Boxes for geraniums, petunias, tropseolums, and similar subjects should, when possible, be eight inches deep and ten inches wide in the clear, the length to be in proportion to the space they are to occupy. It is not advisable to have the boxes more than three feet long, on account of the strength required to move them about. When the plants are grown singly in pots, and stand about on the floor of the balcony, it is a capital plan to place the pots in others two sizes larger, and fill up the spaces with fine soil. Geraniums and fuchsias do uncommonly well this way, because they suffer less from drought, as the soil is kept in a more uniform state of moisture.