The Children's Book of GardeningSidgwick, Alfred, Mrs.
General
The Children's Book of Gardening
Sidgwick, Alfred, Mrs.
Children's gardens; Gardening -- Juvenile literature
All delicate plants will need protection now. A piece of rough matting
supported by sticks at the comers is enough for many things. It is
not a bad plan first to stretch a piece of wire-netting across the
sticks and fasten it securely. By day it lets in light and air, and
at night the mat or sacking is easily thrown over it. If ever you are
on the Riviera you will see the gardeners put their plants to bed
every evening as carefully as if they were children, while in this
country, where much cold is expected, you see numbers of plants in
any well-tended garden protected the whole winter with coverings of
bracken or matting. When the plant you want to protect is below ground
(a delicate bulb or tuber, for instance, or one that quite dies down
in winter), you need only pile on manure or ashes or dead leaves to
act as a blanket. We know someone who grew tuberoses successfully out
of doors in a Cornish garden, and in the winter he protected them with
little heaps of ashes, which he did not remove till the May frosts were
over. In most parts of England manure is used as a protection for Roses
and slightly delicate climbers; but a skilful gardener will shelter
many of his delicate plants with little tents that he makes of twigs
and bracken. We have seen them all shapes and sizes in a North Country
garden where many rare things are grown. Some enclosed the plant
altogether, and some gave it shelter, but let in sun and air on the
south side.
This is the month when seed lists arrive, and remind you that spring
is coming. Remember that it is easier to buy seeds than to grow them
well, and do not order more than you have room for, or any requiring
conditions you cannot give them.
FEBRUARY.
All weeds should be destroyed this month, both in the path and the
edging, as well as in the border. If you have Dandelions or Hemlock,
cut their heads off, and cover the remains with common salt. Plantains
and most other weeds may be killed in time in this way.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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