164 



JULY WORK IN THE GARDEN AND GREENHOUSE. 



The garden is now in its full glory, 

 and will continue gay till October. 

 July is generally a wet month, and 

 the trying task of watering is sus- 

 pended for awhile. The past month 

 was a trying one to bedding stock, for 

 a long drought followed the time of 

 putting out, and compelled the use of 

 the hose and water-can. This matter 

 of watering is one much less under- 

 stood than it should be; but the more 

 it is understood the lighter becomes 

 the labour. As a rule, water should 

 never be given, until the further with- 

 holding of it would be detrimental to 

 the plants. Habitual watering does, in 

 the majority of cases, more harm than 

 good. Plants left to battle with 

 drought, send their roots down deep 

 in search of moisture, and when rain 

 does come, they benefit more by it 

 than those that have regular waterings 

 all along. If the ground is dug deeply, 

 and kept in good heart, plants that 

 have once got established, will bear 

 drought for almost any length of time, 

 but things lately planted, and that 

 have not had time to " get hold," 

 must be kept supplied, or their beauty 

 may vanish for half the season. Suc- 

 culent vegetables, too, which ought to 

 be kept growing quick, must have 

 abundance, and of course, plants in 

 pots must, of necessity, have sufficient. 

 There are two important points to be 

 attended to in giving water, one is to 

 expose the water to the sun before 

 using it, to render it soft and warm, 

 and the other is to give a thorough 

 soaking at once, sufficient to keep the 

 ground moist a week. Supposing the 

 supply to be limited, but regular, the 

 best way of economising both water 

 and time, is to take the garden, piece 

 by piece, watering each piece tho- 

 roughly every evening, and then be- 

 ginning again as at first. Surface 

 sprinklings bring the roots to the sur- 

 face in search of the moisture, which, 

 when they reach it, is insufficient to 

 nourish them, but, on the contrary, 

 causes exhaustion, by inducing the 



growth of fibres within reach of the 

 burning rays of the sun. Plants in 

 pots, in windows, and on gravel paths, 

 are very much tried by the heating 

 action of the sun, and to keep their 

 roots cool, it is advisable to drop the 

 pots into larger ones, and fill between 

 the two with moss. This is the proper 

 way to use ornamental pots, and the 

 dressing of moss may be made to hide 

 the inside pot, which contains the 

 plant, by arranging it neatly over the 

 surface of the soil. 



Kitchen Gardex. — Where early crops 

 are coming off, clear the ground and dig it 

 over at once ; it is a folly to wait for the 

 last handful of peas or beans. As soon as the 

 rows cease to be profitable, destroy them, 

 and clear the ground. Dig deep, that the 

 heavy rains now to be expected, may sink 

 deep, and plant out Brussels sprouts, green 

 collards, kail, savoys, cabbages, broccolis, 

 &c. If the plants are crowded in the seed- 

 bed, it is best to get them out at once. Have 

 all ready, and in the evening put out as 

 many rows as possible, and give a little 

 water to every plant. Next morning lay a 

 few boughs or mats over them, to shade off 

 the sun, and the next evening get out more, 

 till the planting is finished. This is better 

 than waiting for rain, which may be so 

 heavy as to render the ground unfit to be 

 trodden on, and, if succeeded immediately by 

 heat, the plants will flag as much as if put 

 out in dry weather, whereas, being already 

 in the ground, the smallest shower benefits 

 them. Seed-beds for winter spinach should now 

 be made up and well manured, and the seed 

 got in without delay. Strawberry-beds now 

 want special attention. Strong-rooted runners 

 should be taken off, to form new plantations, 

 and be pricked out into well-manured beds, 

 pretty close together, to strengthen, prepara- 

 ratory to making new beds in September. 

 After three years, strawberry-beds cease to 

 pay, and should be broken up, and the 

 ground trenched for winter crops. Peas and 

 kidney beans may be sown this month, for 

 late supplies, and at this season it is as well 

 to sow early as well as late sorts. Bedman's 

 Imperial, and Knight's Dwarf Marrow, are 

 good peas to sow the first week this month, 

 for a supply very late in the season ; but Em- 

 peror, Sangster's Number One, Daniel 

 O'Rourke, and other of the earliest sorts, often 

 prove useful, and are soon cleared off the 



