In-Door Gardening for Every Week in the Year Part 10

Lilium lancifolium.--Give attention to them; as also to tree Carnations, _Salvia splendens_, Scarlet Geraniums, &c., for autumn and early winter flowering.

Oranges.--The same as advised for _Camellias_.

STOVE AND ORCHID-HOUSE.

Achimenes.--Repot, as also _Begonias_ and _Gesneras_, for succession of late bloom.

Luculia gratissima.--Propagate by cuttings.

Some of the Orchids will now require to be topped up a little with fresh soil. The _Barkeria spectabilis_, _Epidendrum Skinneri_, the Lycastes, _Odontoglossum grande_, &c., will now enjoy the temperature of the conservatory.

FORCING-HOUSE.

Figs.--Continue to stop all shoots when five or six joints long.

Never allow the trees in tubs, or pots, to want water; they now require daily attention.

Melons.--Shade them during bright suns.h.i.+ne for a few hours in the middle of the day. If the red spider appears, rub sulphur vivum, mixed with water, on slates or tiles, and place them in the pit, or frame, where the sun's rays may fall upon them.

Peaches.--Admit plenty of air when the fruit is ripe, or nearly so.

When the crop is gathered, give them a good was.h.i.+ng with the syringe. Those changing for ripening, if the trees are young and vigorous, to have a general stopping of the strong shoots all over the higher parts of the tree. To keep down red spider, it is advisable to wash the walls, pipes, or flues, with sulphur vivum reduced to the consistency of paint; or to paint some slates, tiles, or common saucers, with the mixture, and to place them in different parts of the house, where the sun can s.h.i.+ne upon them.

Pines.--If the pot plants in fruit are in a healthy condition, well furnished with roots, an occasional supply of clear manure water, in a warm state, may be given with advantage to them.

Strawberries.--As it is necessary, by early attention, to ensure a healthy, vigorous growth, therefore, as soon as the runners have emitted the least portion of root, take them off, and p.r.i.c.k them out on a rich piece of ground, or on an old hotbed where Radishes or early Potatoes have been grown under hoops, where, when the weather is hot, they are more convenient to shade, and require less water.

Vines.--When the fruit is cut in the early houses, ripen the wood by exposing it night and day, except during heavy rains. Water to be gradually withheld as the growth of the plants declines, and somewhat in the proportion in which you would have vegetation stop, not all at once, but gradually. The Vines with fruit now stoning may be allowed to produce a few redundant shoots if there is sufficient room to lay them in without crowding, or overlapping the old wood, or shading the old leaves. The late Grapes to be finally thinned, their shoulders to be tied out, and every useless shoot to be removed. Keep the Vines in pots trained, and exposed to light, and apply weak liquid manure frequently.

FOURTH WEEK.

GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY.

Many of the finer kinds of hard-wooded plants--such as Boronias, Epacrises, &c.--will now be out of bloom, and will require cutting in rather closely, to form neat bushy plants. Some of the greenhouse plants will most probably require s.h.i.+fting, and should receive that attention now, or, at latest, by the middle of next month. Keep a sharp look out for insects of all kinds, and also for mildew; and give the plants, if the weather is dry, a sprinkling once or twice a-week from the syringe or garden engine.

New Holland Plants.--If any are retained in the house, let them be placed where they can have a sufficiency of light and fresh air, and at the same time in a place where the sun has no power on the pots; but if such cannot be avoided, place the pot containing the plant in another two sizes larger, and fill the intervening s.p.a.ce with moss.

Pelargoniums.--When out of bloom, they should be placed in the open ground for a fortnight or three weeks to ripen the wood before they are cut down.

Scarlet Geraniums.--To prepare them for winter blooming it is advisable to place the pots during the summer on a hard bottom out of doors and in the full sun, and to pinch out the flower-stems as they appear. To be carefully attended with water.

STOVE AND ORCHID-HOUSE.

Keep up a kindly humidity by frequent syringings, and keeping the floors, paths, &c., damp. Many of the stove plants--viz., Clerodendrons, Erythrinas, Gardenias, Ixoras, Jasmines, Liliums, Pergularias, Stephanotises, &c.--may be removed to the conservatory, where the flowers will attain a deeper colour and retain it for a longer period than if they had remained in the stove.

Euphorbias.--Propagate _jacquiniaeflora_ and _fulgens_, and grow them on a successional system of culture for furnis.h.i.+ng the conservatory and stove throughout the autumn, winter, and spring.

Gesnera zebrina.--Keep up a succession in various stages of growth, and place another batch of tubers in a pan.

FORCING-HOUSES.

Give particular attention to the preservation of the foliage in houses where the fruit has been gathered, keeping the atmosphere cool and moist; and give the trees an occasional was.h.i.+ng with the engine, to keep down red spider and the leaves clean and healthy.

Cherries.--When the trees are planted in the house, and the fruit has been gathered, give all the air possible by throwing it entirely open. Give them a good was.h.i.+ng occasionally with the garden engine.

When the plants are in pots, it is advisable to place them on a hard bottom on the north side of a wall or fence.

Melons.--Bottom heat is necessary for their healthy growth; without it a check would be given that would be sure to produce a most injurious effect on the swelling fruit. Water to be given to the plants overhead occasionally.

Peaches.--Continue to maintain a moist, healthy atmosphere while the fruit is swelling. Give air sufficiently early in the morning, to prevent the sun scorching the foliage. Syringe and shut up early in the afternoon.

Pines.--Continue to provide proper bottom and surface heat, and give attention to airing, watering, syringing, and s.h.i.+fting in due time. By such means a large amount of healthy growth may now be secured for the fruit-swelling and succession plants. The plants swelling their fruit to be also favoured with a high temperature, a moist atmosphere, and plenty of water, and occasionally manure water at the root. If worm-casts appear in any of the pots, water with lime-water in a clear state.

Vines.--As the dry atmosphere necessary for the preservation of the ripe bunches is conducive to the increase of red spider, the sulphur must be immediately applied as advised last week. Discontinue the use of the syringe as soon as the succession crops begin to ripen.

Check the growth of laterals by timely pinching. Give the final thinnings to the latest Grapes; and as they are frequently required for winter use, a good thinning should be given, as crowded bunches and berries will not keep late in the season.

JULY.

FIRST WEEK.

GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY.

The plants permanently planted out in the borders of the conservatory should have a thorough soaking of weak liquid manure.

Give all the air possible at this season, both night and day, and keep the house as neat and clean as possible. If it contains many tender stove plants, shut it up for an hour while the sun is on it in the evening, so as to produce a more genial atmosphere for them.

Achimenes.--Encourage them, as also _Clerodendrons_, &c., to grow and to prolong their beauty in the conservatory by supplying them with liquid manure, taking particular care not to give it too strong, especially at first.

Cinerarias.--Sow seed immediately. Plants for early blooming should also be potted and started at once, choosing the strongest suckers for the purpose, and placing them in a cool, shady frame until they have made fresh growth.

Chrysanthemums.--Propagate some for blooming in small pots.

Heaths.--Pluck off the flowers and seed-pods as soon as they become unsightly, and prune straggling growth. The softwooded kinds--such as the _ventricosa_, &c.--do best in a sheltered situation in the open air, with means to protect them during heavy rains; while the woolly-leaved--such as _Masonii_, &c.--and hardwooded varieties delight in cold pits where the gla.s.s can be shaded or used for protection as necessary. Examine the plants which were not s.h.i.+fted in the spring, and, if necessary, pot them without delay; but if they require to be cut in, to make them bushy, it will be best to let them break afresh before they are repotted.

Leschenaultias.--If they have done blooming, and are pot-bound, to be repotted and placed in a shady place to make their growth.

STOVE AND ORCHID-HOUSE.

Give abundance of air to the stove plants at all favourable times, and abundance of moisture by all means. Examine young specimens that were potted early in the season, and s.h.i.+ft at once such as require more pot room.

Ixoras.--Encourage the young plants by giving them plenty of air both night and day, to make short, st.u.r.dy growth; and discontinue stopping them for the season.