CHAPTER XI 



PLANTING OR POTTING ? 



HAVING now a goodly stock of fine, young, healthy plants, we arc 

 confronted by the question of how best to winter them. Shall 

 we plant them out in the beds, trusting to their vigour to withstand 

 the winter, or shall we give them the advantage of a partial shelter 

 till spring ? The old method and it was a good, old, safe method 

 was to winter them in pots (two plants in a 54) and stand them in 

 cold frames or in a cold house until the end of March. This plan 

 is still followed by growers in districts where the rigours of winter 

 are something to reckon with, and this extends over a very large 

 area, almost everywhere north of the Thames, except a few favoured 

 localities. 



The other method that of planting straight away into the open 

 is generally adopted with impunity throughout the Southern 

 Counties. So long as safety is not in the balance, it is not only 

 the more economical, but is also the better plan, because the plants, 

 put out in October, immediately establish themselves and are ready 

 to respond to spring conditions and begin their year's work before 

 it is considered safe to transfer to the open ground those wintered 

 under glass. But " safety " is a great consideration, and though 

 it is our practice to plant out in October, we do not commit ourselves 

 entirely to it. Nor could we, for two reasons. The first is that if 

 the winter is mild and damp we lose a certain number of plants 

 through " damping," and if the winter is sharp and dry we lose a 

 few by frosts, and we like to have enough plants in a safe place to 

 fill up the gaps. But our second reason is the greater. When we 

 plant out we make it as early as we can. Throughout October and 

 November orders for plants are coming in, and again in February, 

 March, and April. We do not care to deplete our beds or have 

 great gaps made in them, so we put a large proportion of the rooted 

 layers into pots/executing all orders from them, and filling up any 

 vacancies in the beds in the spring. What few plants are left over 

 at the end of April we then plant out. That is an adaptation of 

 both methods and is very well suited to our particular circumstances. 



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