GARDENING.
We read in the sacred records, that when man was created, he was placed
in a "Garden,"--the Garden of Eden, to dress it and to keep it; and we
may infer therefrom, first, that, the occupation of gardening was one
pre-eminently fitted for the happiness of man, and secondly, that
industry, and even labour, was also a part of man's duty, even in a
state of innocence.
There is not a more innocent amusement than gardening. Nothing can be
more lovely than to be among buds and fruits and flowers; nothing is
more conducive to health and peace of mind, and few things are better
calculated to inspire religious feelings than gardening.
Every little boy or girl should have a garden, and should be shown how
to manage it. There is a great deal in _management_ and in _method_ at
all times, but especially in gardening. Much _attention_ is also
necessary,--great _care_ and much _forethought_; all of which qualities
of the mind it is in the highest degree proper to train and exercise.
Whoever, therefore, begins gardening, must not look upon it as an idle
sport, to be taken up and thrown aside with the whim of the moment, but
as an occupation for leisure hours, that the mind must be brought to
bear upon, and which must engage him from day to day, from month to
month, from spring to summer, from autumn to winter, and so through all
the changes of the varied year.
[Illustration]
LAYING OUT THE GROUND.
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To begin gardening, a little boy must have some _ground_, which is quite
indispensable; and a boy of from ten to fourteen years old ought to
have, at least, a piece large enough for him to divide and subdivide,
and arrange with neatness and order. A piece of about forty yards long
by thirty wide will be large enough to commence with, and this should be
set out in the subjoined manner. This will allow of a path three feet
wide in the centre, and of one two feet six inches round the sides,
leaving the beds twenty-two and a half feet wide. The paths should be
gravelled with a good red binding gravel, and to look nice, the borders
should be edged with box or edging tiles. At each corner of the two
parallelograms, might be planted a tree, say, one apple, one pear, one
plum, and one cherry, that is, eight in all; and at distances of about a
yard, might be planted, all round, a foot from the paths, alternately,
gooseberry-bushes, currant-trees, and raspberry-trees, and between them,
various kinds of flowers, to come into blossom at different seasons. At
one end, the south end if possible, should be erected a small arbour,
with a couple of seats in it, and at the two opposite corners should be
two small manure pits,--one for the reception of well-rotted manure, to
be quickly used, and the other for the reception of all weeds, leaves,
and rubbish, which will make manure, and which should be mixed up from
time to time with the spade. These pits should be used alternately. As
soon as one has its contents well rotted, it should be emptied from time
to time on the land, while the other pit should be used to hold the
fresh matter newly collected. By the time this is full, the other will
be empty, and then that may be used as a _collector_ and the other as a
_decomposer_, and so on, alternately.
MANURE.
It is of no use whatever to think of getting things to grow without
manure. This is the life and soul of all garden operations. Almost
everything can be converted into manure. The grass from lawns, fallen
leaves, weeds, and all vegetable matter, afford good light manure.
Strong manures are prepared from horse, cow, sheep, and goat dung. The
dung of fowls and rabbits is also most excellent; and where fowls or
rabbits are kept, their dung should be preserved with great care, and
put by itself into a rotting-pit, or into a tank, and kept wet. The
juicy part can then be used as a liquid manure, and will be found of a
highly fertilizing property, and the more solid may be spread over the
land. The best time for putting manure on the land is in dry or frosty
weather, and it should be dug in as soon as spread. It is a very unwise
plan to spread manure on the land and let it lie, as in such cases, much
of the strength of the manure is lost. Young gardeners should be very
careful in preparing and collecting manure, and also when they are
moving it from the pits to the ground, they should take care and not
soil their paths.
GARDENING TOOLS.
It is quite necessary that a young gardener should have proper tools. He
should have a small but strong _spade_, a small but strong _rake_, a
digging _fork_, a _hoe_, a _trowel_, a good _pruning-knife_, a _box_ for
seeds, a little _wheelbarrow_, a _line_, and above all, a little
gardener's _apron_, and a _straw hat_ with a _broad brim_. Thus
equipped, he may commence his gardening operations with great comfort to
himself and some chance of success.
DIGGING.
The young gardener should practise digging, with a view to digging well.
In beginning to dig a piece of ground, he should first clear it of all
sticks, stalks, or stones, that might impede his labor. He should then
commence at one end of the ground, with his back to the sun, if
possible, and, beginning from the left-hand corner, dig one line all the
way to the right-hand corner, either one or two spades deep, as may be
required. The ground should be turned over, evenly laid up at the top,
nice and level, and the weeds completely buried. The operator should dig
carefully when near the roots of gooseberry, currant, raspberry, or
fruit trees, and more carefully still, among flowers. If digging early
in the season, he must mind he does not dig into his _bulbs_; such as
lilies, tulips, snow-drops, crocuses, or daffodils, and cut them to
pieces.
In the latter part of the year, in November and December, it is a good
plan to dig up any unoccupied ground into ridges, and leave it in that
state during the winter, that the frost may act upon it. The effect of
frost upon the ground so prepared is very beneficial, as it breaks the
clods and pulverizes the more cloggy portions, which fall down in a thaw
as a fine soft mould. When manure is dug into the ground, it should not
be dug in too deeply, about four or five inches being quite sufficient
in most cases.
WEEDING.
Gardens will always produce a great deal more than is wished for, in the
shape of various herbs, shrubs, and plants, called weeds; such as
dandelions, couch-grass, cow-parsley, chick-weed, and many other plants,
which go by the general name of _weeds_. These, if left to their own
natural growth, would soon cover the ground, and take away from the
garden plants the nutriment in the soil designed for them, besides
entangling their roots, stems, and leaves; therefore, weeding is as
indispensable as digging. The young gardener should make up his mind
before he sets foot in his garden to have _no weeds in it_; for however
assiduous he may have been in other respects, however he may have
planted, watered, dug, or attended to his garden, if it show a crop of
weeds, he is a bad gardener, and will be sure to get laughed at. Weeds
may either be pulled up by the hand or cut up by the hoe. In both cases,
the roots must be eradicated. They must not be plucked from the stem, or
cut from the level ground by the edge of the hoe, but hoed or plucked
up, root and all; and after they are got up, they are not be left about
in the ridges to take root and grow again, but must be cleared away and
safely put into the pit, never again to rise, but in the chemistry of
good manure.
PLANTING AND SOWING.
Everything in a garden must be planted in some way or other, and there
are many ways of planting and sowing. Sowing relates more particularly
to seeds, and planting to the setting of plants that have been raised
from seed in the first instance. The sowing of seeds is a very important
work, and before seeds can be sown with a prospect of their springing up
properly, the preparation of the soil, the time of the year, and even
the time of day, must be taken into consideration. Some seeds perish in
particular kinds of soil, while others thrive luxuriantly in them.
Onions like a rich soil, as do cauliflowers and asparagus. Carrots and
parsnips like a loose or sandy soil, as do sea-kale and many other
plants. Some plants will only grow in bog earth; and some thrive, such
as strawberries, best in a clayey loam. Attention to such matters must
be given by the young gardener, if he wish to have his garden what it
ought to be.
HOT-BEDS AND FRAMES.
[Illustration]
Before we can sow many kinds of seeds in this country in the open
ground, it is necessary to raise them first in a hot-bed, and for this
reason,--many flowers common in our gardens are not natives of our cold
and variable climate, but of one much warmer; and if we delay to sow the
seed of such plants and flowers till the warm days of summer are fully
set in, the plant has scarcely time to grow into perfection before the
chills of autumn come on, and they perish before their blossoms, fruit,
or seeds come to perfection. But this may be obviated by means of a
frame and hot-bed, which every young gardener ought to have, however
small it may be. One of the simplest is the common garden or cucumber
frame, which may be bought for a few shillings. This, if about a yard
square, should be set upon a low framework of bricks, within which a pit
is dug, and filled with good manure over which some fine mould is
placed, to the depth of about six inches. Upon this mould the more
delicate kinds of flower-seeds may be sown at an early period of the
year,--varieties of all those found in the gardening books under the
head of tender annuals,--balsams, French marigolds, tobacco, stocks,
marigolds, gourds, and sun-flowers. The seed must be sown
carefully,--not too thick, and occasionally looked at. In mild, open
weather, the glass should be raised a little, but in cold weather kept
down. The giving of water should be managed with care, and the plants as
they appear should not be suffered to grow too rapidly, but be kept
under, or they will not bear to be transplanted when the time comes for
doing so.
In transplanting, care should always be taken not to transplant too
early, or in improper weather; for if the weather happens to be cold or
wet, the tender plants will suffer very much, and probably fail. This
would be the case, not only with flowers, but with all the tender kinds
of plants, such as cauliflowers, and, therefore, the young gardener must
keep his "weather eye" open, as the sailors say, and not be too much in
a hurry, as young gardeners generally are.
OPEN CROPS.
In the sowing of open crops, care should also be taken to sow at the
proper time. Very early sowing is generally hazardous, but yet, if you
would have your crops come in soon, a little risk must be run. When seed
is sown in the open ground, it requires watching, and this particularly
applies to such crops as early potatoes or beans. Sometimes potatoes are
sown in February, with the view to an early crop; and in April the young
tender sprouts appear above the ground. One night's frost, however,
settles them,--down they go, black and jelly-like to the earth; but if
the weather be doubtful, the thoughtful young gardener takes care to
cover up the tender shoots with dry leaves or straw, to break the icy
tooth of the frost, and save his crop. The same care should be also
bestowed upon any other vegetable of a tender kind, and without this
care, gardening would come to nothing.
After seeds are sown, they have many natural enemies. The slug, the
snail, the wire-worm, the impudent sparrow, and the most impudent and
insolent chaffinch, who all seem to have an idea that the seed is put
into the ground entirely for their benefit. As soon as the pea-shoot
comes above the earth, the slug has a mouthful in its tenderest moments;
after the shoot has in part recovered from the gentle nibble, Master
Sparrow swoops down and picks off, as quick as he can, all the delicate
little sprouts by mouthfuls: to make a fit ending to what is so well
begun, the chaffinch descends in the most impudent manner, close to your
face, and pulls up stalk and pea both together, and flies away as
unconcerned as can be. Now it is of no use to stand with a gun or a pair
of clappers in your hand all the day after these intruders, and the only
protection is by a net, or rows of twine strung with feathers, stretched
over the bed in rows, and a few other pieces of white twine crosswise in
their immediate vicinity. Birds do not like the look of any threads
drawn across the ground, and they will rarely fly where there appears
danger of entanglement; and this method is the best that can be adopted
for seed-beds. A _Guy_ is also good; and there are few boys who do not
know how to construct one. A _Guy_ is also particularly appropriate for
the _early Warwick peas_. As to slugs and caterpillars, they must be
hunted for and picked off; and if they abound in a garden, the line of
shooting peas, beans, or other seed, must be dredged with a little
slacked lime, which is an infalliable mode of protection. But mind the
lime does not blow into your eyes; for, if it does, you will be worse
off than the caterpillars.
RAKING.
When seeds are sown, the beds should be nicely raked. Some seeds, such
as carrot and parsnip seeds, should be beaten down with the flat part of
the spade, and laid very evenly and nicely. The edges of the little
cross-paths should be sharp and straight, and the whole put into a
ship-shape order. The stones should be raked off into the cross-paths,
and may remain there until the land is dug up in the autumn or winter,
when they may be removed. There is a good deal to be done with the rake
in many ways, besides the raking of beds. It is a very useful tool to
job over a bed when some kinds of seeds are sown: it also makes a very
good drill, and is especially useful in getting leaves from the paths
and borders; but it should be used with a light hand, and care taken not
to scratch the ground into holes with it, as many young gardeners do.
HOEING.
The hoe is of very great use, both to hoe up weeds and to form drills.
We have spoken about its former use, and shall now say a word or two
about the latter. In forming a drill for peas, beans, or other seed, one
thing is above all things requisite, namely, that it should be
_straight_. A drill resembling a dog's hinder leg, never looks well in a
garden, and therefore the little gardener must have recourse to his
_line_. This ought to be long enough to stretch quite across his ground,
and when he wants to strike a drill, he should stretch it across from
path to path, and, taking his hoe in his hand, cut or scrape a little
furrow, about three or four inches deep, by the side of his line. In
sowing peas and beans, the drills are generally a yard apart, and
between them other crops are sometimes sown. Very often a crop of
spring-spinach or of radishes is sown between lines of peas, and so on
of other intermediate crops.
[Illustration]
The line is very useful in all kinds of planting. In planting
broad-beans, they are put into the ground by a _dibber_, which is a
piece of wood with a pointed end and a handle. The holes are to be
dibbed along the side of the line. The same tool is used in a similar
way in planting potatoes, strawberries, cabbage-plants, and a variety of
other roots, which require to be planted in straight and equidistant
lines.
TRANSPLANTING.
There are a great many vegetables which require to be
transplanted,--some from the hot-bed, and some from the open ground,
where they have sprung from seeds, to their destination in the garden.
All transplanting should be done with care. Some plants, such as cabbage
plants, do not require so much care as others, but every plant to do
well should be well planted. Young gardeners are liable to many mistakes
in transplanting; one is, that they often put the root of the plant into
the ground bundled together; another is, that they make the hole too
large with the dibber, and are not careful in pressing the mould to the
root at the bottom of the hole, so that the root of the plant has
nothing to feed upon. All this the thoughtful little gardener will
avoid; and when he puts a plant into the ground, he will reflect that if
it be not well _planted_ it will _not grow_. The young plants of the
more delicate flowers should be moved with the greatest care into spots
congenial with their natures. Some plants require a warm, some a cool
situation, some a moist, some a dry one, and these will be ascertained
by studying the nature of the plant.
WATERING.
Boys generally fancy there is nothing like watering, and they are very
pleased when they get the watering-pot in their hands. They always like
to be watering,--no doubt thinking that the more the seeds and plants
are watered the better they thrive; but this is a mistake, moderation in
all things should be the motto. When a plant wants watering
artificially, it in general shows its wants by very unequivocal signs,
namely, by a drooping of its pretty head and leaves; and then, if too
much water be given to it, it soon springs up with great luxuriance; and
the first burning day of sunshine is likely to kill it, or to do it
great injury. The rule should be, to water as little as possible, and to
wait as long as possible for nature's heavenly rain, which is better
than any artificial watering. Plants should never be watered during the
middle of the day, but early in the morning, or when the sun is
descending in the evening. Pump-water should never be used if rain or
pond-water can be obtained. Much good often results to plants and
seed-beds from the use of _liquid_ manure. This can be easily prepared
by getting an old beer-cask and knocking out the head. The bottom should
then be fixed in a hole dug to receive it, and the earth allowed to
reach to the brim. Some of the best manure to be had should then be put
into this, with a pound or two of guano, and pour upon it three pails of
water. It should then be allowed to stand for a week or two, and used as
required. The effects will soon show themselves in the increased growth
and vigour of the plants.
ON THE PROPAGATION OF VARIOUS KINDS OF SHRUBS AND PLANTS.
Besides sowing seed and rearing plants from them by transplanting, there
are many other ways of propagating plants, namely, by _off-sets_,
_suckers_, _layers_, _divided-roots_, _cuttings_, and _pipings_. If
tulips and hyacinths be examined, it will be found, that besides
shedding seed, the bulb of the plant very often makes a smaller bulb on
the larger one, and this, if taken off and planted by itself, becomes a
new plant: many plants may be propagated in this way. The strawberry
also, will be found to send off a long shoot, and, at about a foot
distant from the parent root, a little knob appears, having a bud to
spring into the air and a root to work into the ground: this is called a
_runner_. These may be cut away from the parent and planted separately,
and will become a new plant. Many other plants, such as roses,
raspberries, and lilacs, send from their roots little thin stems: these
are called _suckers_, and may be removed from the parent shrub and
planted by themselves, when they will become separate plants. Many
plants can be propagated by what are termed _layers_. To do this,
nothing more is necessary than to select a shoot, as near the root as
possible, and having partially divided it with a knife, make an upward
slit in it, and then placing a bit of twig between the divided parts,
press it down to the ground, burying the joint beneath the surface of
the soil. To plant from _cuttings_, some care is necessary as regards
green-house plants, but nothing is easier than to rear fresh stocks of
roses, currants and gooseberries from cuttings, as it is only necessary
to cut the shoots cleanly off, and, after reducing them to about six
inches in length, to place them in the ground with the shooting end
upwards. They should be planted about six inches apart, and after the
first year be removed to their proper situation; and they will bear
fruit in the following year. To plant from _pipings_, such as pinks and
carnations, it is only necessary to pull off one of the tubular stems,
and dividing it at or near the joint, pull off the surrounding leaves,
and insert the end or jointed part in some fine sand-mould, placing a
glass over them till they have "struck," that is, formed roots, when
they can afterwards be transplanted.
PRUNING.
[Illustration]
Little gardeners ought to know something of pruning trees. To cut or
prune gooseberry and currant-trees is very simple. Gooseberry-trees
should be cut differently from currant-trees. In gooseberry-trees, much
of the fruit grows on wood of the last year's growth, but on
currant-trees, the fruit is, for the most part, found near the knob or
joint between the old wood and the new. To prune gooseberry trees, all
the old dead wood should be cut out, and every branch that trails on the
ground should be cut away, all branches in the centre of the tree that
intersect each other, and all ugly branches, should be removed,--all
suckers should be taken from the root, and the stem of the tree left
straight and free to about ten or twelve inches from the ground, and the
tree trained to throw its branches into the kind of form in the margin.
The branches should then be cut, i. e., about half of the white or new
wood should be cut _cleanly_ off with a sharp knife, and the cuttings
carefully gathered up.
[Illustration]
In cutting currant-trees, nearly all the white wood should be cut away,
leaving only head shoots to some one single or middle shoot of a main
branch. The under-wood, old wood, and irregular and ugly wood, should
also be cut away, as recommended at the cutting of gooseberries. In
pruning or cutting raspberries, the old wood should be cut quite away,
and the stems of the last year shortened about one third.
GRAFTING AND BUDDING.
Grafting is the transferring of a shoot of one tree into the stem of
another, called the _stock_. Into this a slit is made; and then the
scion or shoot is cut into the form of a tongue and inserted into it.
The head of the stock is then cut off in a slanting direction, and the
two are then tied together, or closely wrapped together, in moss,
covered with grafting clay. No book can give directions so clear for
grafting, as to enable the young gardener to perform it successfully. He
must see it done, try it afterwards, and then ask if he has done it
correctly; and to learn grafting and budding well, it is only necessary
to get on the right side of the gardener. The same may be said as
regards the pruning of vines, fruit and wall trees. Ten minutes'
experience with the gardener will teach more than twenty volumes on the
subject.
SHIFTING OF CROPS.
Crops must not be grown twice in rotation on the same ground. Peas and
beans should be the crop after any of the roots, such as potatoes,
carrots, and parsnips. Cabbages, and plants of that kind, may be sown
and grown intermediately. The best rotation of crops will be found in
any gardening book on the subject, and this the young gardener should
make a subject of some study.
HOW TO MANAGE A LITTLE GARDEN ALL THE YEAR ROUND.
JANUARY.
The chief wish of the little gardener this month is to take advantage of
the hard frosts, and during their prevalence, to wheel upon his ground
such manure as may be necessary. It should be wheeled in at this time,
because, while the frost is hard, the wheelbarrow can pass over the
paths and beds without doing much injury, nor will the dung and rubbish
in its moving make more dirt than can be easily swept up. The manure
should be left in heaps, and not spread till the time comes for digging
it in.
In the middle or latter end of the month, should the weather be fine and
open, attention should be given to the cutting of the gooseberry,
currant, and raspberry-trees, and to the planting of off-sets from each,
or of cuttings, as directed. A crop of peas might be sown, as well as
mustard and cress, and a few broad-beans for coming in early. The peas
and beans should be sown in rows, about a yard apart, and a little
spinach might be sown in a broad drill, made by the hoe between them.
The gravel-walks should be turned up in the first thaw and left in a
ridge, ready for turning down and rolling when the weather becomes fine
and dry.
Radishes may also now be sown in beds prepared by digging and freshly
turned up. The seed should be thrown in, not too thickly, and raked
over. Straw should then be placed upon it to keep off the birds, or a
Guy and feathers. The straw must be kept over the beds in the frosty
weather and during the night, and taken off in the morning.
Now is the time to plant bulbous roots, such as snow-drops, crocuses,
tulips, hyacinths, jonquils, daffodils, and flags; and off-sets of
bulbous roots may be planted in beds. Anemones and ranunculuses may also
be planted in dry weather, and some of the most hardy of the perennial
and biennial shrubs, as asters, Canterbury-bells, and campanulas, may be
planted.
FEBRUARY.
In February, the young gardener will find much to do. In the
flower-garden, he may finish planting the remainder of the bulbous
roots, such as the star of Bethlehem, fritillarias, narcissuses, and
gladioluses, in beds or borders, all for flowering the same year. Some
may be planted in pots to flower in the house, or they may be placed in
the hot-bed for early flowering. Some of the hardy annual flower-seeds
may now be sown.
In the kitchen-garden, if we may so call it, a little crop of turnips
may be sown to come in early. Cabbage-plants may be set in rows; and a
little lettuce-seed may be sown under the frame in the hot-bed. This
frame should be well covered at night, and slightly raised in the day
time, when the weather is mild, to give the plants within it light and
air.
MARCH.
In the flower-garden, the gardener may begin to sow in beds, borders and
pots, larkspurs, candy-tuft, lupines, sweet-peas, Venus's looking-glass,
pansies, stocks, sweet-scabius, and many others.
In the culinary department, now is the time to sow a little bed of
onions in a well-manured bed. A bed for carrots may also be prepared,
and the seed sown and well trodden down. A bed of parsnips should also
be prepared in the same way; and another crop of peas of the marrow-fat
kind may be planted in drills in the same manner as the former. And
now, perhaps, the cabbages will require the earth to be drawn to their
stems; and, if the little gardener has room, he may plant three or four
rows of early potatoes. They should be the cuttings of large ones, with
not more than two eyes in each piece, and should be planted with manure
in rows, about two feet and a half apart and about a foot distant from
each other.
APRIL.
Now is the time to begin sowing the more tender annual flower seeds.
Some should be sown in the hot-bed; such as African and French
marigolds, Indian pinks, China-asters, yellow-sultanas; and many others
of the hardy kind, wall-flowers, Canterbury-bells, French honey-suckles,
mignonette, pinks, and daises may be planted.
In the kitchen department, kidney-beans may be sown, and at the latter
end of the month scarlet-runners and French-beans may be planted. It is
not a bad plan to raise a few scarlet-runners in the hot-bed, and to
plant them out when they have formed roots, and two or three leaves at
the head. But as these kinds of beans are very tender, they should be
carefully watched, and covered with straw on the sudden appearance of
frost, which often takes place in this month.
MAY.
Now may be sown the tenderest of the annuals in the hot-beds, as
cock's-combs, tricolors, balsams, egg-plants, ice-plants, and others of
that kind. Dahlias may also be placed in the bed in this or the former
month, and suffered to sprout, previous to planting in the open ground.
Bulbous roots of every flower now out of bloom, and the leaves decayed,
may be taken up and the off-sets separated dry, and housed for future
planting.
Now is the time to plant melons, gourds, and pumpkins. The seeds of
these should be sown in April in the hot-bed, and the plants should be
transplanted into good ground in a warm spot, about the latter end of
the month. They will grow freely and produce ripe fruit in August.
Common pumpkins may be sown on one of the dunghills. The gourds, such as
the orange-gourd, may be planted near an arbour, and be trained up the
principal parts. French-beans and scarlet-runners may also be planted,
if not done before; and should the young gardener have raised any
tomatoes or capsicums in his hot-bed, now is the time to plant them out,
as well as the slips of geraniums and tobacco-plants.
The young gardener will now find employment in sticking peas and beans,
weeding and transplanting. And such broad-beans as are now in blossom,
should have their tops nipped off, to promote the setting of the pods.
But let him be very careful to look after the weeds, which now grow in
great abundance; and let him rake nicely all his borders and keep
everything clean and neat, as this is the most brilliant time of a
garden's beauty.
JUNE.
Look well to the strawberries, and see that they are well watered, which
operation should be performed in dry weather every other day. These
plants will by this time have made their runners, and these should be
cleared away, except those that may be required for making fresh beds,
which may now be planted. Trim the roots a little, and cut off the
strays or runners from each plant.
Look well at this period, morning and evening, for snails and other
insects, and after showers of rain in particular. If there should be any
small cherry trees or other fruit trees, they ought be netted or well
watched, or the birds will eat them.
All sorts of flowers may now be planted out into the borders. Some may
also be put in pots, such as balsams. Take care, however, that they are
removed in damp or showery weather. In dry weather, take up tulips,
crown-imperials, and jonquils, such as are past flowering, and pluck
away the off-sets: let them be well cleaned and dried in the shade from
the mid-day sun; then put each sort into separate bags or boxes, and
keep them in some dry apartment till September, October or November, at
which time they will have to be planted again. Most other bulbs may also
be now taken up and put away for future planting. June is also the
proper time to propagate pinks and carnations by pipings.
JULY.
This is the time to plant out savoys and cabbages for winter use.
Brocoli may also be planted, and some seed sown for a late spring crop.
The plants raised from this seed will be ready to put out, finally, in
the middle and towards the latter end of August and the beginning of
September, and will produce small heads in April and in the beginning of
May. Lettuces may be now planted out, and other seed sown for future
use. Spinach for winter may also be now sown; for this, that part of the
garden should be chosen that has the most of the winter's sun upon it.
Now is the very best time in the whole year to sow the large black
turnip-rooted radish for autumn and winter. The young gardener must at
this period be on the watch for such seeds, both of flowers and garden
vegetables, as are ripe. This should always be done in dry
weather,--cutting or pulling up the stems with the seeds in. They should
then be spread in an airy place where the sun and wind will dry them
thoroughly.
The various herbs, such as balm, penny-royal, sweet-marjorum, sage,
lavender, marigolds, should also be gathered up for winter use. Slips
may now be planted from any of these. Take the side shoots of the
branches four or five inches in length, and plant them in a shady
border, and do not forget to give them water.
The ground should be kept clear at this period from refuse leaves,
stumps of cabbages, haulm of peas and beans, and from all decaying
rubbish and litter. Cut box-edgings also; and if the operation of
budding is to be performed, now is the time to do it.
AUGUST.
Look over the flowers in borders from day to day, to see what they
require. When the shoots of rambling flowers interpose with each other,
they should be shortened, so that every plant may stand singly, as they
always appear to best advantage when they stand clear of each other.
In this month, we must still continue to look out for ripe flower-seeds;
also, there are several kinds of autumnal flower-bulbs, which may be
planted, such as the autumnal crocus and Guernsey-lily.
Now weed and water seedlings, and shift such pot-flowers as require it
into larger pots. In doing this, rub off the moulds and matted fibres
from the roots, and throw away part of the outward, loose old earth.
Then, having put a little fresh earth into the old pots, with a piece of
broken tile over the hole in the bottom, put in your plant, and fill all
the sides round with nice soft mould.
SEPTEMBER.
In the third or fourth week of this month, it will be proper to begin to
plant the choice hyacinth and tulip roots for an early spring blossom.
The bed should be dug at least one full spade deep, breaking the earth
fine and laying the bed even by raking, and then plant the bulbs about
six inches apart. Ranunculus beds or borders may be prepared in the same
way, and the plants planted similarly, about two inches deep. Take care
of the new carnation and pink pipings or layers, and let them be
transplanted as soon as convenient. Perennial plants, such as
carnations, pinks, and sweet-williams, may now be transplanted. Now may
be sown the seeds of bulbous flower roots, as tulips, crown-imperials,
hyacinths, and most other bulbs. Evergreens may now be transplanted,
and much work be done in the preparation of manure, and gathering in
crops of various kinds.
OCTOBER.
This month again ushers in planting in various ways. In the kitchen
department, beans may be planted for an early crop in the succeeding
spring; that is, if the frost does not nip them. A warm border, under a
south wall is the best place for them. A few peas may be sown also, to
try the chance of the winter. Sow lettuce and small salad and radishes;
also transplant lettuces to situations to stand till the spring. A few
rows of cabbages for the winter and spring should now be planted, and
winter spinach sown. Now is a good time to begin to dig up parsnips and
carrots to store away for winter; and now all ground not in use should
be well dug up and trenched, to lie ready for the winter's frost to act
upon it. Now gather various fruits as they are fully ripe, and choose
dry days for so doing.
NOVEMBER.
The season is now closing, yet a good deal is to be done by those who
love a garden,--a vast deal of planting and transplanting of every
variety of flowers. Roots of many may be separated, and fresh sorts
planted. Nearly every kind of bulbous roots, if not previously planted,
may now be put in the earth. The cuttings of gooseberry and currant
trees may also be planted, and young trees raised in the spring be
transplanted to their proper situation. It is also a good time to plant
filberts, hazel-nuts, and barberries. Strawberry plants should have a
dressing of good manure.
DECEMBER.
Make neat the borders, dig all loose ground, turn the manure, plant
suckers from old roots, roll green and gravel walks, gather seeds on
fine days, cut away old wood, nail fruit trees, prepare hot-beds, get
matting to put over tender plants during the frost, look over seeds, and
see that they are dry and properly put away and make all clean, nice,
and neat for the coming spring.
* * * * *
Such is an outline of what a boy may be expected to do with his little
garden. A great deal more is to be learned than can be learned from a
book; but if the young gardener will keep his eyes open, reflect on the
reasons for doing things, and pay attention to the voice of experience,
he will probably reap more real delight from his few yards of ground
than from all the toys and playthings he ever possessed.