GARDEN CALENDAR FOR FEBRUARY, 1874.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume II, Issue 130, 3 February 1874, Page 2

GARDEN CALENDAR FOR FEBRUARY, 1874.

(reed and beett’s almanac.) Flower Garden. —In showery weather continue to transplant annuals, removing them if possible with a ball of soil attached to their roots. Fill up gaps in the borders ; water newlyplanted things in the evening or early morning in bright weather; remove all decaying leaves and straggling branches; keep the borders loose and open with the hoe, where they are not covered with the plants; take up anemones and ranunculuses that are past flowering and well ripened off; propagate herbaceous plants by cuttings and division; hard-wooded plants by layers, where practicable. Bud roses; collect seeds as they ripen, allowing only pods from the finest blooms to reach maturity. Eradicate weeds, and attend to walks and edgings.

Kitchen and Fruit Garden. — Kumeras should now he moulded up : also leeks, celery, and any potatoes that may still require it. Plant brocoli for spring crops. Lettuce, onion, cabbage, turnip, and early peas should be sown, also cauliflowers. Burn off rubbish, and trench the ground from which the crops have been gathered. Destroy weeds before seeding, and keep the soil open and loose on the surface. Gather herbs

for drying. Cut and drain hedges ; support heavy-laden fruit trees ; thin out all young shoots crossing each other; pinch back strong shoots. Remove strawberry runners and superfluous raspberry shoots. Examine plants budded last month, and continue budding when required. AV here fine fruit is required it will be necessary to thin heavy crops, removing the least and worst shaped. Farm. —lf the weather is favorable small patches of land may be sown ■with Cape barley, oats, or Italian ryegrass, to cut for feed, or eaten off during the winter months. The main crop of potatoes will be fairly begun upon about the middle of this month. Crass is generally scarce, and dairy stock and horses will require green maize or other food to be supplied to them. The state of the different drinking places on the farm, and the supply of water, should be looked to if neglected before. The drawing of stones and scoria for roads, stockyards, and gateways ought to be finished this month. Thatch, in the shape of rushes, or whatever is suitable and convenient, should be in readiness to cover the potatoes, which if intended to be kept, may be put between two rows of posts five or six feet apart, ti-tree being laced against the rails. Make inquiries, now the grass-seed is being dressed, for what you will want in the autumn, and bear in mind that incalculable damage is often done by introducing bad weeds, into lands previously clean, by means of dirty seed. Ewes may be put to the ram if early fat lambs are wanted.