Gardening Notes.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2765, 3 December 1887, Page 2

Gardening Notes.

As the season for planting celery is at hand, it may be useful to remind the inexperienced reader that celery is a shade-loving plant, and that when it is first planted it is a great saving in labor if the plants are shaded in hot weather, as, if this is done, they do not require near so much water, and they get established sooner. In very hot weather it is a good plan to lay a few branches of trees over the trenches, In a general way evergreens answer tetter than mats, as the air can reach thejplants through them, better than through mats, and thus prevent the plants getting drawn. To be thoroughly successful with celery it is necessary to have good plants to begin with. This, 1 know, is a matter of some difficulty with amateurs, and more failures occur through starting with inferior plants than from any other cause. Plants that are made up into bundles su;l exposed in shop windows for sale are not a good commodity to invest in, as the plants are divested of every particle of soil, and most of the fibrous roots as well; but when there is no choice in the mattet, the cultivator must make up his mind to treat them in a very careful manner, and then he may snccecd]with them, When the plants have been obtained in this way, the trenches should be ready to receive them at o.ice. Before planting, untie the bundle and throw the plants into a bucket of water, and allow them to remain there for two or three hours—at any rate such plants should always be put out in the evening, and be well watered directly after, and be kept constantly shaded for the first week, Every evening the leaves and surface of the (ireneh should be well sprinkled with \yater, If trie cnltivafor will but remeniber that the natural liqineof the celery is by shady streams, he will then better understand that itHkgs moisture as well as shade, Therefore he must keep the roots wellsupplied with water but the frequent use of stimulating liquid muse not be indulged in, A dose of liquid manure given at the end oi a fortnight will help to start them into growth, and a dose or two, one at the beginning arid the other at the end of February will be as much as it is safe to give. Too much of any exciting stimulant will end in producing soft and pithy celery, which no one likes, It is useless to expect to grow a good celery, without some well-prepared trenches, and a good quantity of rotten manure, There should be at least a thickness of four inches, of manure in the bottom of the trench, and three iuches of good fine sojl on top of the manure. In stiff, heavy Jape), which inclines tp clay, jt is a goptj plan, tp l)avp muph shallower trenches. Indeed, there should be only just a channel to hold the water that may be given them, In such places the best plan is to spread the manure oyer a space two feet wide, and dig it in, simply drawing out a drill with a hoe to receive the plants, I have found this to answer well on clay land. The plants have a larger root run, as they travel on each side in search ot the manure: but I never knew [celery roots to get far outside of the trench, when bounded by a wall of clayey soil,