THE GARDEN.

Marlborough Daily Times, Volume II, Issue 141, 27 July 1880, Page 4

THE GARDEN.

VEGETABLE GARDEN. A second sowing of peas may be made in a sheltered situation, and if the soil is thrown into waves or low rides running East and West, and the peas sown on the North side, so that they face full up to the s> i, they will make quick growth, and p-obably be in yield as soon as those sown in May. The varieties are very numerous, but many of the old sorts still hold their own for earliness against later novelties. Carter’s First Crop and its aliases are all suitable, as are Laxton’s William the First, Kentish, Evccta, etc. It is too early for the Little Gem, except in warm situations. A good sowing of radishes should be made, and the beds covered with straw and a few light branches thrown over the whole to prevent the wind scattering the straw. It would be well to coat the seed with red lead before sowing, to prevent destruction by insects. Mustard and cress should be sown in shallow boxes or trays, and placed in a warm corner under glass. A good breadth of cabbage from the autumn sown beds should be planted out, using ilio stoutest plants, when, if failures occur, they are easily replaced.

THE GREENHOUSE. Old plants of fuchsias should be turned out of their old pots and trimmed in the tops, the soil and rootsjreduccd and the plants repotted into suitably sized clean pots—smaller sizes often suit them better. Many of the Begonias require potting on to bring them into Spring growth and flower. Geraniums from Summer cuttings, intended for the flower-bed next Spring, but which are now- starving thickly together in boxes, must be potted singly into 3-inch or 4-inch pots, and their tops snipped off to cause them to make nice bushy plants by bedding out time. This is a suitable to overhaul and repot greenhouse ferns, where natives or exotics. The pots should be well drained, and the soil he of a good friable nature, with a dash of rough sand through it, and where charcoal is at command it may be mixed with it to the advantage of the plans. As the sun gets stronger with longer days, the house requires more ventilation, hut frosty nights must still be watched for.