First Week

GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY. The plants permanently planted out in the borders of the conservatory should have a thorough soaking of weak liquid manure. Give all the air possible at this season, both night and day, and keep the house as neat and clean as



possible. If it contains many tender stove plants, shut it up for an hour while the sun is on it in the evening, so as to produce a more genial atmosphere for them. Achimenes.--Encourage them, as also Clerodendrons, &c., to grow and to prolong their beauty in the conservatory by supplying them with liquid manure, taking particular care not to give it too strong, especially at first. Cinerarias.--Sow seed immediately. Plants for early blooming should also be potted and started at once, choosing the strongest suckers for the purpose, and placing them in a cool, shady frame until they have made fresh growth. Chrysanthemums.--Propagate some for blooming in small pots. Heaths.--Pluck off the flowers and seed-pods as soon as they become unsightly, and prune straggling growth. The softwooded kinds--such as the ventricosa, &c.--do best in a sheltered situation in the open air, with means to protect them during heavy rains; while the woolly-leaved--such as Masonii, &c.--and hardwooded varieties delight in cold pits where the glass can be shaded or used for protection as necessary. Examine the plants which were not shifted in the spring, and, if necessary, pot them without delay; but if they require to be cut in, to make them bushy, it will be best to let them break afresh before they are repotted. Leschenaultias.--If they have done blooming, and are pot-bound, to be repotted and placed in a shady place to make their growth. STOVE AND ORCHID-HOUSE. Give abundance of air to the stove plants at all favourable times, and abundance of moisture by all means. Examine young specimens that were potted early in the season, and shift at once such as require more pot room. Ixoras.--Encourage the young plants by giving them plenty of air both night and day, to make short, sturdy growth; and discontinue stopping them for the season. FORCING-HOUSES. Cherries.--When the fruit has been gathered from the trees grown in tubs, or pots, it is advisable to place them in some open, airy quarter, to make their wood for next season's bearing. Figs.--Give liberal supplies of water to the trees now throwing up their second crop. A top dressing of old cowdung would now be useful. Pinch out the top buds, if the shoots are growing very long. It should be a practice to manage the trees during the summer that nothing more than a slight thinning out should be wanted at the winter pruning. Melons.--Give attention to the crops now growing, in thinning out the shoots, stopping, &c. Peaches and Nectarines.--When all the fruit is gathered, and the wood seems well ripened, it will be best to take the lights quite off, and place them under cover until wanted again. Plenty of air to be given to the trees that are swelling off their fruit. Also, stop in succession many of the strong shoots about the period the last swelling commences. Use the syringe freely over the leaves early in the morning and again in the evening. Pines.--Give abundance of air to the fruiting and succession plants, and during dry, hot weather, saturate the paths and every open space with moisture, to prevent the leaves of the plants becoming brown. If such a practice be regularly adopted during hot, bright sunny weather, shading will seldom or never be necessary. Be at the same time particular in maintaining a mild, genial bottom heat. Vines.--The houses containing ripe fruit will require to be kept dry and well ventilated; those swelling will still require attention to keep a regular steady temperature with regular supplies of air. Muscats very frequently require fires during the night and on wet, cold days.

Previous: Fourth Week
Next: Second Week

SHARE

ADD TO EBOOK