December 21, 1912. 



THE 



GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



979 



CULTIVATION OF THE 



MIXED BORDER. 



It is sometimes assumed that the mixed 

 border, being planted mainly with hardy 

 pei'ennials, involves less work than was 

 necessary for the same piece of ground in 

 the old days when it wa^ completely re- 

 planted every summer with bGdcling-oiit 

 plants. HoAvever plausible this theory 

 may seem to the uninitiated, few^ who have 

 had experience of both will feel inclined to 

 support it. When -a border was planted 

 ribbon-fashion with geraniums, cak-eo- 

 laria^s, and lobelias, at the end of May, 

 there was little more to do to it until Oc- 

 tober, unless it needed watering in a dry 

 summer. But the mixed border reminds 

 one of woman's work, namely, that it is 

 never done. The plants in the border are 

 of such diverse character that when one 

 kind does not need attention another kind 

 does, while what is kno'W^n as the problem 

 of the mixed border — its maintenance in 

 a moderate degree of ordei*, with a fair 

 display of blossom from April to October- 

 is always demanding solution, and that 

 very frequently in some new and unex- 

 pected form. Of the several as 



in 



which this feature of the modern garden is 

 presented to us, the one it is proposed to 

 deal with here is, perhaps, the most im- 

 portant, as it is the foundation of all, and 

 that is, the cultivation of the soil, for it is 

 only by practising the highest cultivation 

 of which the circumstances permit that 

 successional displays can he maintained 

 throughout a lengthened season. 



In old-fashioned coiuitry gardens 



it is 



still the practice to put on a man once 

 or twice a year, usually in spring and 

 autumn, to do up the 'borders, this 

 being understood to consist in a general 

 tidying np and digging or loosening the 

 surface of the soil amdngst the clumps of 

 plants. For the purposes of general culti- 

 vation, a spade should never touch tlie 

 mixed border, for it can only be used in 

 a general way at the expense of the bulbs 

 and the smaller and more delicate plants, 

 while the rootvs of even the largest and 

 strongest clumps of perennials will sustain 

 damage, which will give them a check for 

 the season if it is dene in spring. No bor- 

 der can he wholly satisfactory unless one; 



in seven years at least every plant and 

 bulb is taken up in November, and the 

 whole iborder dug two or three spits deep, 

 some of the raw soil of the lowest spit being 

 taken np and wheeled away to keep the 

 border from getting too liigh, and as mnch 

 good rotted manure incorporated with the 

 soil as can conveniently be du<i; in, together 

 with some lasting material, like bone-meal 

 or basic slag, at the rate of ton to fifteen 

 pounds to forty square yaids. This is, of 

 course, a most laborious business, especiai-y 

 when the spaces between the plants are 

 filled witli biilibs. The latter add no small 

 part to the time taken by the work, 

 whether they are taken up in summer or 

 autumn. They suffer by being taken up in 

 November, and it damages some of tlie 

 perennials to take the bulbs np in June. 

 The best solution of the difficulty is^ per- 

 haps, taking up the bulbs at the latter part 

 of May and laj'ing them in somewhere to 

 ripen. 



Apart from this great septennial opera- 

 tion there is the cultivation of the soil 

 during the intervening months and years 

 to 1)0 considered. To be<iin with the early 

 ■"spring. Apirt from tidying up, it is not 

 advisable to do anything to the soil until 

 the spring-flowering bulbs are all showing. 

 As soon as pra<*ticable, the wdiole of the 



a trowel, or, if this was done in 

 autiunn, loosened with a small handfork, 

 at the same time working in a little super- 

 phosphate (Sib. to 40 sq. yards), and, if the 

 soil is a light one, sulphate of potash as 

 well at half this rate. This loosening of the 

 surface will serve the double purpose of 

 aerating the soil and piwenting the Cim- 

 duction of moisture from below to be eva- 

 porated. Many of the perennials are very 

 thirsty subjects, and we n€e<l to conserve 

 all the moisture we can to i-^arry them 

 through the summer. This surface working 

 should he repeated after every consider- 

 able shower— a piece of routine which can 

 be disposed of very quickly after the first 

 loosening of the surface in the early i^pring. 



But, however much we may husband the 

 water content of the soil, it wdll begin to 

 get pretty dry before May is out, in a nor- 

 mal season. As soon as the growth of most 

 of the bulbs can be cleared away the whole 

 border should receive a liberal mulch of 

 manure, preferably from a spent hotbed, 

 the surface having previously been loosened 

 and left as rough as possible. From this 

 time surface cultivation must cease, but 

 the mulch -will prevent the soil running to- 

 gether again to any extent, and if the 

 mulch is pretty thick, where it is not too 

 visible, water may be poured on it, and 



the same time bone-meal 



steamed bone- 



flour, should be applied at the rate of 5 or 

 (ilb. to- 40 sq. yards, or basic slag if the 

 soil is a heavy one or of a rich, black cha- 

 racter, the material, in any event, being 

 lightly turned in with the mulch to be 

 slowly rendered available for the plants in 

 the coming spring. 



Some plants wnll need dividing and re- 

 planting every autumn, sometimes a whole 

 group of plants, and advantage can then 

 be taken of such ciniimstances to dig up 

 the plot thus occupied, taking out some 

 of the impoverishe<l soil and working in 

 some wel I -rotte<l in a n u l e . M ichaelma s 

 daisies, most of the sunflowers, helenlums, 

 Kudbeckia Golden Glow, and some others, 

 will generally be the better for it, and in 

 this way, not only those subjects replantefl, 

 hut others in immediaJte proximity will 



have a renewed food supply. This is the 

 time, too, to redress the balance between 

 diffi'r<'nt snbj<H*ts in the horders, to pi'event 

 some of the weaker ones being crowded 

 out altogether. The summer is the time 

 to settle the details of this important 

 ojnTii tion. mid failuio to atttMid to tliis 

 means tlic rapid degeneration of the border 



intf> a pit v'/ ; f wild gardenin'^. 



In the spring, when clumps of narcissus 

 and tulips are seen to be getting crowded, 



POT CHEERY TREE PREPARED FOR REPOTTING. 



will run straight in without causing the 

 surface of the goil to cake. This treatment 

 will carry us on till the autumn, by which 

 time most of the mulch will have become 

 reduced to the condition of leaf-mould if 

 it was well-rotted stuff to start with. This 

 should now hv liiihtlv turned in with a 

 trowel, the working of the soil to the depth 

 of half an inch or so not interferinc: with 



surface should be lightly turned over with any of the bnlbs if done carefully. At the 



thev should be marked for removal, and 

 they can be replanted in the autumn 

 among the newly-planted x)erennials. Some 

 keep the positions of bulbs always marked 

 by sliort stiiks, but this is rather a laige 

 order when a border is really well filled. 

 The practice is certainly a commendable 

 one, and it facilitates the piecemeal renova- 

 tion of the border in the autumn. 



Algeb Petts. 



