536 



Gardening for Amateurs 



time for warm districts, and about the 

 middle of April for northern gardens. 



A dozen good plants are sufficient to plant 

 in a circle or clump, the circumference of 

 which is 9 feet. When dividing plants, 

 several of which are in one pot, endeavour 



Simplicitas netting a substitute for 

 Pea Sticks. 



to preserve as much soil as possible 

 round the roots of each one. Having 

 seen that the plants have been well 

 hardened off by full exposure to the air 

 night and day for some little time pre- 

 viously, the first stage is to prepare a 

 good quantity of planting compost. 

 This is made up of loam, a little leaf- 

 mould, a dash of bone-meal, and just 

 sufficient Alphol (or other soil disinfec- 

 tant) to make the mixture smell. This 

 is well mixed the day previous to being 

 required, and the pots to be turned out 

 given a good soaking of water. The 

 object gained by this soaking is, of 

 course, very apparent next day, when the 

 rootlets come away easily from the pots, 

 and thus are not damaged. A hole is 

 made for each plant by means of a long 

 trowel, sufficiently deep to take the whole 

 length of root, which latter is then let 

 down the desired depth and held in 

 position with one hand, while with the 



other the prepared soil is firmed around 

 the rootlets. The placing of short twigs to 

 the plants, with a tie to give them a start, 

 and the stringing of black cotton over the 

 clump or row completes the operation. 

 It is important to make the soil about the 

 roots quite firm, as plants in a loose soil 

 take longer to get established. 



In some seasons a period of very cold 

 weather follows planting, which often causes 

 the timid grower much anxiety, but this 

 need not arise, for, providing the plants have 

 been well hardened, they may be depended 

 upon to withstand all frosts we are likely 

 to get after the end of March. We may 

 mention a rather interesting incident which 

 happened during the April of 1908, when 

 snow fell to the depth of 5 or 6 feet. At 

 that time we had considerably over a hun- 

 dred clumps of Peas planted, the haulm of 



An excellent clump of Sweet Peas 



