The Children's Book of GardeningSidgwick, Alfred, Mrs.
General
The Children's Book of Gardening
Sidgwick, Alfred, Mrs.
Children's gardens; Gardening -- Juvenile literature
Violets will make no show in your garden, but if you have room you
will wish to have some of your own to gather. You must put out of
your head some of the things the poets say about them, and remember
that they like a rich soil, the sun in early spring, some shelter,
and plenty of light and fresh air. We have seen them belying all the
pretty traditions about their modest and retiring ways. They were
scrambling in sheets over the granite walls of a Cornish garden, and,
so far from hiding, they were showing their pretty faces to the sun,
and saying as plain as plain, ‘This is what we like. _Don’t_ stuff us
into shady dells and enclosed, sunless places.’ So now we put them
where they will have rich soil, sun and air, and the moisture they
require. A south border would be too dry for them in summer, but they
will stand a good deal of sunshine if their roots are in rich soil.
You must watch for their runners, and cut them off all through the
summer, but later in the year you should leave some for stock. In
May or June you can increase your Violets—either by taking up your
plants and pulling them carefully to pieces, when every bit with roots
will grow; or you can put some runners under a hand-light in a shady
border. If you cut off their tips, you will be able to see when they
have struck and begin to grow, and then you must tilt your hand-light
a little, so as to give ventilation. After a short time you can take
it away altogether, and by September your cuttings should be ready to
plant out. The rows should be one foot apart. The plants will soon
spread, and should be kept well weeded. All gardeners advise you to
make a fresh bed every two years. There are many beautiful varieties.
In a Cornish garden we have known the fine double kind, Marie Louise,
bloom incessantly from August, through the winter and spring, till the
hot weather came again; but this variety would need a frame in a cold
climate.
MICHAELMAS DAISIES, OR STARWORTS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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