Summer Work In The Garden
from Amateur Gardencraft
If weeds are kept down through the early part of the season, there will
not be a great deal of weeding to do in midsummer. Still, we cannot
afford to take it for granted that they require no attention, for they
are most aggressive things, and so persistent are they that they will
take advantage of every opportunity for perpetuating themselves.
Therefore be on the lookout for them, and as soon as you discover one
that has thought to escape your notice by hiding behind some flowering
plant, uproot it. One weed will furnish seed enough to fill the entire
garden with plants next year if let alone.
If the season happens to be very dry, some of your plants--Dahlias, for
instance,--will have to be watered if you want them to amount to
anything. These must have moisture at their roots in order to flower
well.
Other plants may be able to get along with a mulch of grass-clippings
from the lawn. Most of our annuals will stand quite a drouth.
If one is connected with a system of waterworks it is an easy matter
to tide a garden over a drouth. But where there is nothing but the pump
to depend on for a supply of water, I would not advise beginning
artificial watering except in rare cases, like that of the Dahlia. We
always find that so much work is required in supplying our plants from
the pump that after a little we abandon the undertaking, and the result
is that the plants we set out to be kind to are left in a worse
condition, when we give up our spasmodic attention, than they would have
been in if we had not begun it.
It is well to use the hoe constantly if the season is a dry one. Keep
the surface of the soil open that it may take in all the moisture
possible. On no account allow it to become crusted over.
Seed of perennials can be sown now to furnish plants for flowering next
season.
Look to the Dahlias, and make sure they are properly staked.
Be on the lookout for black beetle on Aster and Chrysanthemum. As soon
as one is discovered apply Nicoticide, and apply it thoroughly, all over
the plant. Promptness is demanded in fighting this voracious pest.
During the latter part of summer, when the extreme hot weather that we
have at the north sets in, cut away nearly all the top of the
Pansy-plants. This will give the plants a chance to rest during the
season when they are not equal to the task of flowering, because of the
hot, dry weather which is so trying to them. Along in September, when
the weather becomes cooler, they will take a fresh start and give us
fine flowers all through the fall.
Look over the perennials and satisfy yourself that there is
color-harmony everywhere. If you find a discord anywhere, mark the plant
that makes it for removal later on.
Be sure to keep all seed from developing on the Sweet Peas. This you
_must_ do if you would have a good crop of flowers during the fall
months.
If any plants seem too thick, sacrifice some of them promptly. No plant
can develop itself satisfactorily if it is crowded.
Poor plants will find their way into all collections. If you find one in
yours, remove it at once. There are so many good ones at our disposal
that we cannot afford to give place, even for a season, to an inferior
kind.
Let neatness prevail everywhere. Gather up dead leaves and fallen
flowers, cut away the stalks of plants upon which no more flowers can be
expected, and keep the walks looking as if you expected visitors at any
time, and were determined not to be caught in untidy garments.
While the good gardener can always find something to do in the garden,
he will not have as much work on his hands at this season as at any
other, therefore it is the time in which he can get the greatest amount
of pleasure from his flowers, and in proportion to his care of them
earlier in the season will be the pleasure they afford now.
Next: Fall Work In The Garden
Previous: Spring Work In The Garden
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