for July, 1920 



2-15 



^tllllllllllllliliitiiiil.ll 



lliltilllllllltllllllllllllllllliltllllllNUIIIIIIIIII 



iiiiiimilliitiiiiiiliimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiimmiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitii iiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniimmiiiitiHimnmiiiiHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiK 



The Month's Work in Garden and Greenhouse 



HENRY GIBSON 



-iiiiiiiiiiiimi iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiminiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii^ 



iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuniiiiiaic 



AT this period of the Summer there is not anything 

 so important to be done in the garden as thorough 

 and constant cultivation, to conserve the water in 

 the soil for the growing plants. Proper and abundant 

 cultivation reduces the necessity of watering to a mini- 

 mum, yet oftentimes it becomes a necessity to resort to 

 artificial watering. Then the advantages of a good ir- 

 rigation system are more than patent to every gardener, 

 and any one of the many systems now on the market is a 

 good investment, and a real money saver in the long run. 

 When watering, do it thoroughly, so that it seeps down 

 deep, and avoid the fatal mistake so often made of wet- 

 ting an inch or so at the top, thus attracting the roots to 

 the surface, to be damaged or destroyed by subsequent 

 drouth. 



Aphis of all kinds make their presence felt in the gar- 

 den at this time, and on the fruit trees too where they 

 will soon do untold damage if left to themselves. Nearly 

 all garden crops are more or less subject to attack, but 

 a timely spraying with some approved insecticide, which 

 is offered ready made by dealers in horticultural sup- 

 plies, will keep them in check. Asparagus should be 

 sprayed with arsenate of lead, or dusted with hellebore 

 powder earl)^ in the morning before the dew is off, to 

 keep the larvae of the asparagus beetle tmder control. 



A couple or more sowings of beans may be made this 

 month. Beans are subject to rust and an occasional 

 spraying with Bordeaux Mixture will pay for itself. 

 Beets and carrots may still be sown for succession, and 

 the last sowing for the Winter supply should be made 

 towards the latter part of the month. Put in several 

 rows of each for a good Winter supply for vegetables are 

 not likely to be cheap or plentiful the coming Winter. 



Ruta-bagas, for winter use should be sown now, and 

 late in the month one may well sow peas again, since they 

 do very well if one has any means of watering them at all. 

 Late crops of cabbage, cauliflower and celery should be 

 set out, and in doing so be sure and puddle the roots in 

 water. Frequent spraying will keep the plants from 

 wilting, and assist them becoming established. Look out 

 for rust on the celery, and give a spraying with Bordeau.x 

 Mixture. Spray the potatoes regularly with Bordeaux 

 and arsenate of lead for bugs, and blight. Early vari- 

 eties will be ready to use this month. But don't dig them 

 save as needed for daily use as they increase rapidly in 

 size at this time. Feed your leeks and onions with 

 liquid manures at this time and use nitrate of soda if 

 you really want quality. 



In the flower garden all continuous flowering plants 

 such as coreopsis, gallardias, pyrethrums, etc., should be 

 kept free from seed pods by keeping the flowers jjicked 

 clean, or they will soon stop flowering. In dry seasons 

 a good mulch of well rotted manure is preferable to 

 watering especially on the continuous flowering varieties, 

 and those that flower in the I-'all. Xasturtiums and other 

 soft succulent plants soon suffer from attacks of a])his, 

 and should be sprayed frequently, with either tobacco 

 extract, or kerosene preparations. Remove the terminal 

 growths of geraniums with the forefinger and thumb if 

 really bushy plants are needed. The biennial types of 

 Campanula and foxglove as well as similar ])lants should 

 be torn up and thrown away after they are through flow- 



ering. Prepare a supply of seedlings of these plants for 

 next year by sowing seeds now. There are a number 

 of annuals which will furnish a supply of cut flowers in 

 the Fall if sown now ; among which may be mentioned 

 Mignonette, candytuft, annula Gypsophila, Plox drum- 

 inondii, Calliopsis and cornflowers. To keep sweet peas 

 flowering right along they must never be allowed to suf- 

 fer for want of water at the roots. Give them a thor- 

 ough soaking, then apply a thick mulch. Sweet peas are 

 gross feeders and must have plenty of plant food avail- 

 able. Long stems and high quality flowers are the re- 

 sult of disbudding, and regular feeding with highly con- 

 centrated fertilizers. 



In walking round the orchard, if you find the leaves of 

 the apple trees all curled up you may depend upon it that 

 aphis are having a gay time, and spraying should be 

 done to keep them under control. The month's big job 

 in the orchard is summer pruning and all trees that have 

 attained fruiting size lend themselves to this treatment. 

 It is simply a restriction of the growth bv pinching off 

 the ends of the shoots, which has a tendencv to make 

 the trees fruit. It is a matter for regret that summer 

 pruning is not practised more freely than it is, but there 

 are many people who will prune anything while it is 

 dormant, yet cannot bring themselves to cut anything in 

 active growth as though it would bleed to death. Btit 

 those who harden their hearts and sharpen the pruning 

 knife, and prune intelligently, will find the time thus 

 spent a profitable investment. Summer pruning is prac- 

 tised for three specific purposes ; to train plants to shape, 

 as in the case of dwarf and trained fruits ; to prevent 

 undesirable growth, as in removing buds or sprouts 

 from fruit trees, grape vines, etc., and to keep in condi- 

 tion all flowering shrubs, and trained ornamentals, which 

 form buds this season for flowering another year. 



In training plants to shape the pruning to be done is 

 chiefly of the type known as "heading in," that is, cutting 

 Ijack the lateral or upright growths in order to produce 

 the general plant form most desirable. In doing this it 

 must be remembered that the bud or eye nearest the cut 

 will be the one most likely to throw out the strongest 

 growth or leader to take the place of that removed. At 

 the same time all the growth below the cut is stimulated 

 as the new leader is not able for some time to take care 

 of all the sap that has been going to the growths which 

 have been pruned away. For this reason it is well to 

 consider the position of the bud immediately below the 

 cut, and the direction the new shoot will be likely to take. 

 Where an open centre is the objective this bud should be 

 left on the outside. If there be a hole in the head of 

 the tree to be filled it may be necessary to branch into it 

 from one or more points. Another point to keep in mind 

 is to prune the wood while it is still young rather than 

 cut it out after it has grown to maturity. Pruning to 

 remove surplus growth is more a process of disbudding 

 than one of pruning. Go over the grape vines and re- 

 move any .shoots that may have started below the head 

 or where you do not want them. ITeavily pruned apple 

 trees are likely to throw out numerous water sprouts, 

 and these should be removed while they are yet small. 

 Of course should a growth develop in a position where 

 it will be likely to form a useful limb it should be al- 

 lowed to remain. 



