Planting seeds may be performed for very early spring use. Lettuce,
spinage, and radishes, may be sown in a sheltered spot, and they will
come forward ten days or a fortnight earlier than those which shall
have been sown, in spring.
_Clearing up_ the garden should be thoroughly performed. Let pea-brush
be removed, bean poles and flower stakes be collected and put under
shelter. Collect all refuse vines, haulm, stems and stalks and wheel
them to a corner to rot, or to be ready for use in covering
flower-beds. Let the alleys be hoed out for the last time, and it will
be as good as one hoeing in the spring, when they will probably be too
wet to hoe. Gravel may now be laid in the walks; if ashes are to be
spread, it may be done in autumn, and save time in the spring.
All tender plants are to be removed or secured by covering.
The best covering to secure the earth from frost, that we know of, is
a layer of leaves, say three inches thick when well packed down, and
_upon them_ two or three inches of chip dirt, with the coarsest part
on top. We have had the soil unfrozen in severe winters when so
covered. In this manner, tuberoses, gladiolus, dahlias, tiger flowers,
etc., may be kept out through the winter. The gladiolus thus treated
makes splendid tufts of blossoms. It may be prudent to try only a few
at first, and adventure more as experience gives confidence.
CELERY which is to be left in the trenches should first be well
covered with straw, and then boards should be placed upon the top in
such a manner as to shed the rain. Great quantities of wet rot it when
it is not growing; and freezing and thawing _in the light_ destroys
it.
If portions of the garden have been infested with cutworms, etc., let
it be spaded and thrown up loosely just before freezing weather. A
clay soil will be ameliorated by frosts, if treated in the same way. A
light, loose soil, should not be worked in the fall.