January.—Wheel out manure, trench and make ground for crops, mend fences, clean the stems of fruit-trees, do rough pruning and felling, and complete all arrears in winter work, as weather may permit. Every effort should be made to lay up as much land in the rough as possible; the more it is frozen through, the greater will be its fertility. In hard frost, wheel out manure; in rain, clear up all rubbish and let it smoulder in a heap, using the ashes as manure. Make ready for sowing peas, beans, cabbages, lettuce, silver-skin onions, radishes, carrots, and spinach in warm borders or frames. Protect artichokes. Manure asparagus beds without digging. Sow beans in rich deeply-dug ground in the open in the last week. Plant out cabbages. Sow cauliflower in frames for putting out in March-April. Plant crowns of horseradish 15 in. deep in dunged trenches. Sow peas in wooden or old zinc troughs in frames, and put out in the last week. Sow mustard and cress (separate) in pans or boxes in frames. Cover seakale with pots or plenty of litter.

Lawns should be well rolled after wet weather, and kept clear of rubbish. Walks should be re-gravelled and rolled, and the edgings kept level and regular. In favourable weather all empty borders may be manured and deeply dug, leaving them as rough as possible on the surface, so that the soil may be acted on by frost. Rose-beds should receive a heavy dressing of a mixture of pig-dung and horse-dung, lightly forked in during dry open weather; and see that the plants have the necessary protection. Planting may still be done when the soil is dry, but November is the best time for planting roses. Standard roses must be well secured to stakes. After severe frost, carnations, pinks, wallflowers, alyssum, arabis, pansies, and other spring flowering-plants should be examined; if heaved or loosened, the soil when dry should be made firm round them. Hyacinths, tulips, and kindred flowers will be benefited by a mulching of old mushroom-dung or leaf-soil, and must be protected from heavy rain. If slugs are troublesome, occasional dustings with soot and dry wood-ashes will keep them in check; but hand-picking, resorted to early on mild mornings, is the best remedy. Examine crocuses frequently to see if they are discovered by mice. Keep conifers and evergreen shrubs free from snow, to prevent them from being broken or disfigured by its weight; and prune any deciduous trees and shrubs that may require it. Choice trees, shrubs, and any herbaceous plants that were set out in autumn or early winter should have their roots protected from frost by a mulching of fern or litter. Keep shrubberies free from fallen leaves and weeds; but digging amongst shrubs cannot be too severely condemned, for many of the fibrous feeders must be destroyed, and the plants injured in consequence. About the middle or end of the month place stock bedding plants (ageratums, alyssa, heliotropes, lobelias, verbenas) in moist heat, when they will readily furnish cuttings, which can be propagated in a hotbed of leaves and dung if no house is available. Calceolarias and pelargoniums must be kept cool and dry by ventilation, and decayed leaves should be picked off. Dahlia roots should have rotten portions removed with a sharp knife. Sow lobelias early in heat, and prepare to sow all subtropical plants. Get ready for potting pelargoniums.

February.—All empty ground must be dug deep and thrown up rough to admit the frost. On cropped ground, prick over lightly between the plants. Sow several sorts of cabbage for filling up blanks; also broccoli, in pans and on warm slopes. Sow early beans in warm dry situations, and late ones on strong land. Sow frame plants (capsicums, cucumbers, melons, tomatoes) in moderate heat, and avoid over-watering while frosts endure. When capsicums are large enough, prick out in good light soil, in greenhouse or a hot corner, for pickling pods. Early carrots may be sown in frames or warmest borders; and parsnips in very deep-dug ground. Cauliflower, sown in mild heat, on richest soil, well watered, should be pricked out in good mould when quite small, and finally transplanted at 2½-3 ft. apart. Plant early potatoes in warm, sheltered, dry ground, in open weather. Alternate 2 or 3 rows of potatoes with a row of early peas, at the same time; they help each other. Sow long radishes for early crops and round ones for stock, in old frames with plenty of manure. Let celery for September use be sown in gentle heat, and pricked out 3 in. apart on an old hotbed, watering well. Plant garlic and shallots on dry, strong, deep land. Make new rhubarb plantations, and cover old plants to induce early growth. Sow lettuce in frames and warm borders; plant out when hardened. Make very small sowings of mustard in frames at successive intervals. Sow parsley, and sow or divide most other herbs. Round-seeded spinach and small white turnips can be sown in warm borders.

Have the lawn rough-broomed or bush-harrowed to remove worm-casts, then rolled, and turfed where needed. New grass may be sown, having the land previously well-drained, deep-dug, and levelled, sow in dry weather, rake and roll the seeds in, and repeat the rolling at intervals. Finish planting shrubs and climbers, and do pruning to these and summer-flowering roses in mild weather. Cleanse ferneries from dead fronds and weeds, and replace the surface soil with a dressing of peat and loam pressed well round the plants. Dig and manure beds filled with herbaceous plants. Plant choice kinds of ranunculus, and set out calceolarias and violas that have been confined in cold frames during the winter, pinching off the tops when they begin to grow. Pelargoniums may be boxed or potted off in leaf-soil, loam, and a little sand, keeping them in mild heat till well rooted. Take cuttings from plants put in heat last month, e.g. heliotropes, lobelias, and verbenas. Seeds of subtropical plants may be sown in heat, for putting out in large beds. Hardy annuals to succeed those sown in autumn may now be sown in pots.

March.—Hotbeds are now all-important for sowing capsicums, celery, egg-plants, lettuce, melons, New Zealand spinach, tomatoes, and vegetable marrow. Suckers of globe artichokes should be set out 2 ft. apart in rows 4 ft. asunder; whole sets of Jerusalem artichokes may be planted in strong soil, and are especially useful for hiding ugly fences. Weed and manure asparagus beds, and prepare for sowing new beds. Earth up early beans, set out seedlings raised in frames, and sow for main crop. Sow early beet. Several kinds of broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and kale, should be sown now, the more delicate sorts in frames, and planted out in mild weather when forward enough. A second sowing of capsicums may be wanted. Early carrots may be sown at once, but main crops somewhat later in the spring. Set out early-sown cauliflower, and sow later kinds. Renew sowing and pricking out of celery. Divide and re-plant chives, and lose no time in planting garlic and horseradish. Sow leeks for planting out. Plant out and re-sow lettuce of several kinds. Onions for salading and pickling may be sown in quantity. Do not forget parsley. The main crop of parsnips must be sown in good time. The later kinds of pea must now be sown for the main supply. Plant late potatoes in quantity and follow with early kinds (to avoid May frost). Make successive sowings of radishes out of doors. Sow or plant seakale. Sow plenty of spinach and turnips. Try watercress in pans standing in water.

Fork over the ground between spring-flowering plants and in shrubberies when the weather is dry and favourable. Remove protection from roses, and finish pruning. Start dahlias in a hotbed, and divide and pot when they show shoots 1-2 in. long; treat cannas and Salvia patens in a similar manner. Finish potting ageratums, coleus, cupheas, heliotropes and pelargoniums. Box variegated alyssum, lobelias and verbenas, or, when hardened, plant them in frames. Prick off subtropical plants into pans, or place them singly in small pots, when large enough to handle; remove into larger pots as they require it. Plant gladiolus bulbs either in warm sheltered beds, or first in pots in a cold frame. Canary creeper and sweet pea should be sown in pots for early flowers; the latter also in the open. Harden all annuals sown last month in pots, ready for planting out in April. Sow asters and stocks in a frame in mild heat. Watering needs much care this month, on account of drying winds and frosts.

April.—Pay the utmost attention to weeding and hoeing, and keep the soil opened to sunshine and rain. Again weed and dress asparagus beds and sow or plant new ones. Sow a few beans towards the end of the month. Make a sowing of beet early in the month and a heavier one towards the end. Renew the sowing of broccoli at intervals, and keep up a constant succession of cabbage. Sow cardoons on level, heavily-dunged land, and main crops of carrots. Plant out cauliflower in mild weather, and protect with old flower-pots in keen winds and frost. Sow successive lots of celery in a warm open bed, and some in pans under frames for pricking out. Sow egg-plants in heat and pot when ready. Herbs such as chervil, chicory, clary, fennel, and hyssop, should be sown now in a dry sunny spot. Sow a little kohlrabi towards the close of the month; re-sow leeks. Keep up a succession of lettuce, sowing in frames and planting out. Sow maize in boxes in pits; harden off for transplanting at the end of May. Sow winter onions, and parsley for roots. Keep sowing peas for succession. Sow salsify and scorzonera early in the month in deep rich soil. Renew sowing of seakale in any good deep soil. Sow spinach (prickly seeded), and have a succession of turnips, freely hoeing and thinning as they come on. Sow vegetable marrow in gentle heat.

Let lawns be regularly rolled and mowed, and weeds rooted out. On thin places scratch up the surface with an iron rake, sow some seed, dress with fine soil and wood-ashes, and finish by bush harrowing and rolling. Mulch newly planted roses, shrubs, and trees, and well water in dry weather. Set out golden lilies from their winter frames among shrubs. Keep up potting and boxing cuttings. Plant hardy edging flowers, and those for carpet-bedding. Divide and re-plant violets, which, if massed in a border, can be taken up in October, put in a frame, and will then continue flowering through the winter. Make two sowings of hardy annuals, one early the other late in the month; cover the seeds very lightly. Beware of slugs as soon as the plants show up. Sow half-hardy annuals in the frame prepared for them, in shallow drills, and shade with mats till the plants appear; apply tepid water through a very fine rose, air when the weather permits, and prick out in frames to harden gradually when large enough. Sow perennials and give them the same care as the last-named group.

May.—Every vegetable may be sown in this month, and it will often happen that seeds sown out of doors now will afford better plants than those sown previously in heat and gradually hardened. This said hardening process demands the most constant wariness. Thin asparagus seed-beds, scatter dry litter as a protection on the bearing beds, and cut shoots for table in a regular manner. Beans will hardly pay for sowing now; top the plants when in flower if black fly is present. Sow dwarf and runner kidney beans for summer supply. Make an early sowing of winter beet. Sow broccoli for succession and put out as convenient. Plant out the most forward Brussels sprouts for an early crop in a sunny spot; it is rather late for further sowing. Cabbage may be continually sown and planted out. Sow capsicums in the open in the second half of the month, and plant out from hotbeds in warmest localities. Thin carrots, and sow a little seed to afford a crop of miniature ones in late summer. Plant out cauliflower as weather and ground admit, providing shelter on cold nights and abundant water. In forward situations, celery may be planted out in well-damped trenches and kept well watered. Sow and plant cucumbers in large frames and out of doors, selecting the sorts. Sow dandelion for next spring’s salads, and endive for autumn and winter use. Keep on sowing and planting out lettuce, not neglecting water and shade. Sow melons in frames, which need a high temperature; never shade after first planting. Sow and plant out New Zealand spinach on poor but sunny ground. Sow pickling onions in poor soil and allow to grow as thickly as possible. Renew sowings of peas, if needed. Sow Savoy cabbages for small hearts for early winter consumption. Plant out tomatoes in warm weather, choosing sunny spots. Sow turnips for succession. Plant out vegetable marrows and their allies (gourds, pumpkins, &c.) in warm weather, and cultivate like common “ridge” cucumbers, covering during cold nights.

Attend to lawn and footpaths, and plentifully water flowering shrubs in dry weather. Apply liquid manure to roses, search for insects and syringe often; disbud, and remove the weakest shoots and all suckers from the stocks. Lift plants which have done flowering; divide and replant them for autumn use. Propagate cuttings from them under glass. Lift bulbs, and spread them in a warm place to mature, storing as soon as the tops are dead. Dig and dress the borders ready for summer bedding-plants, which must now be hardened. Use soft tepid water only. Bed out the hardiest plants in good weather at the close of the month, beginning with calceolarias, verbenas, &c. Plant hollyhocks and pentstemons around shrubberies and in mixed borders, securing them to stakes. Thin hardy annuals and perennials, and sow again for the later season. Stake and tie out plants needing it. Plant out tender annuals when forward enough.

June.—Pay attention to weeding and watering, and remember with reference to the latter that it is better to water less often and copiously than frequently and in driblets. When the supply is short, reserve it for newly planted stuff. Dress asparagus with salt and liquid manure; cease cutting about mid-June. A few beans may still be sown for late crop. Plant out broccoli, and sow a little seed for the next April cutting. Sow plenty of cabbage and greens to put out as the ground becomes empty. Plant out, water, and shade cauliflowers, and sow for the autumn crop. Plant out celery, and give plenty of water and shade. Sow pickling cucumbers (gherkins) in the open. Repeat sowing and planting lettuce. Sow mushroom spawn in cucumber frames or in heaps of horse-dung. Sow salad onions and thin out keeping sorts. A few peas (earliest kinds) may still be sown. Sow turnips abundantly in the last week, hastening the early growth, then thinning well.

Keep shrubberies well hoed, remove or shorten sprawling branches, and gather seed vessels. Trim box edging. Thin and tie shoots of climbing shrubs. Mulch rose bushes, and never cease hunting for grubs. Hasten the filling of borders with bedding plants, avoiding too fine a surface to the soil. Plant strong-growing things deep, and press the soil well about them, not omitting stakes and pegs when wind may do damage. Let subtropical plants have good deep soil and shelter from shrubberies. Plant chrysanthemums and dahlias in mixed borders and around shrubberies. Keep the hoe going everywhere, and remove all dead flower-stalks except such as are needed for seed. Propagate cuttings of pansies and wallflowers; sow mignonette and sweet peas for late returns; sow and prick out stocks, and do not cease planting tender annuals, such as asters.

July.—Watering is the most important item in this month, even though occasionally showery. Avoid nuisance from rotting refuse by digging it into trenches. Sow a few early dwarf beans. Broccoli for succession may still be planted out, not forgetting the water; also sow walcheren. Sow several kinds of cabbage in some quantity. Thin out cardoons. Water and fork among cauliflower, and shade young heads from too much sun. Plant out celery, and sow a little seed for a supply for soups if liked. Water ridge and frame cucumbers with soft sunned water abundantly at intervals of some days. Sow endive early and late in the month, and plant out in frames or sheltered beds when ready. Take up garlic, onions and shallots when fully ripe, and plant out leeks in trenches as celery. Sow parsley. A few early peas may be sown still. Lift potatoes as soon as mature, leaving the foliage to finish withering afterwards; plant a few of a quick growing sort for digging as “new” in the autumn. Sow black Spanish radishes for winter crop. Make an early and plentiful sowing of turnips, and keep them thinned and weeded. Plant out abundance of winter green-stuff, in well-dug land, and water if needful.

Do not neglect the lawn; daisy-heads are best removed by a scythe. Cut back expanding shrubs, and trim box-edging and hedges, using the knife for large-leaved growths. Supply rose bushes with liquid manure, and begin budding when the sap flows freely and the bark commences to peel; take cuttings late in the month. Weed and fork round bedding plants and regulate edging plants, leading out and pegging down specimens required to fill a certain vacancy. Freely administer liquid manure to strong subtropical plants in dry weather. Lay carnations, cloves, and picotees, and prick out stocks and other seedlings. Get a shady bed ready for cuttings of pinks, taken at the third or fourth joint on bottom shoots from old plants. Take cuttings of wallflowers and pansies, potting or planting out the former, and transplanting the latter when rooted. Hoe round, trim, water, and thoroughly syringe violets. Stake and thin out chrysanthemums, freely dosing with liquid manure.

August.—Autumn seed-sowing demands the greatest care, to ensure the ground being previously sufficiently moist, and to avoid having the plants too forward when frosts commence. Cut down artichokes as soon as the heads are taken. Plant out broccoli where they will have a low screen against the north wind. Sow Brussels sprouts for spring planting out. Renew sowings and plantings of cabbages. Sow cauliflower in shelter or frames for spring growth, and water standing heads in driest weather. Earth-up celery when well grown. Sow corn salad for spring use. Plant out endive in shelter, and sow a little more. Sow hardy lettuce in a dry poor plot for winter and spring supplies. Make a couple of sowings (early and late) of several kinds of onion to stand the winter; take up and sun-dry the ripe crop. Sow prickly spinach at both ends of the month. Cut tomatoes and hang indoors in the sun to mature. Make a final sowing of turnips for spring crop.

Continue industrious in weeding, cleaning, trimming, pegging, and staking the flower beds, and begin to propagate cuttings. With the latter, commence with those which straggle and weak-growing kinds of plant first in order. Strike flowers of the heliotrope and verbena class in pots, put in a cold frame, shaded and watered. Look after dahlias, staking, thinning, and applying liquid manure. Propagate pansies and phloxes, and stake chrysanthemums and gladioli. Bud, thin, and well water roses.

September.—Weeding now demands more energy than is often devoted to it, and the remains of gathered crops must be cleared off. Keep on planting all available ground with cabbage while plants last. Plant out winter cauliflower, and re-sow a little under cover. Earth-up celery. Plant out and blanche endive; ditto lettuce, and make occasional fresh sowings where dry and open. Thin parsley by pulling out whole plants as wanted; cut down the strongest plants to induce fresh growth. Take up potatoes before wet weather sets in. Thin spinach when well up.

Harden all rooted cuttings of flowers by thorough ventilation of the frames. Keep up watering and vermin-hunting. Remove dead leaves and blooms from pelargoniums, and pinch out the points of heliotropes, verbenas, &c. Well weed and water the reserve of daisies, forget-me-nots, &c. Stake all plants needing it. Select firm and well-matured bulbs for flowering in beds, embracing crocus, hyacinth, narcissus, ranunculus, snowdrop, tulip, &c. At the end of the month sow hardy annuals for next spring flowers. Plant out seedling perennials where they are to remain, so that they may get well rooted before frosts come. Sever layers of carnations, clove-pinks, and picotees when rooted, and pot them in cold frames, protected from sun and rain. Plant out pinks that have been rooted under frames. Continue budding roses, and loosen tiers which are injuring the bark. Trim and secure all climbers. Prepare for planting pansies.

October.—Keep every part of the garden freed from fallen leaves and decaying rubbish, which should be dug into trenches as manure. Let the hoe be kept going where it cannot injure roots or stems. Dig all vacant ground and throw it up in the rough, so that the frost may penetrate. When digging, manure if the land is cold and heavy. Clear off asparagus beds and cover them with a good coat of half-rotten stable dung. Take up beet. Finish up cabbage planting at once. Earth-up and tie round cardoons. Take up carrots for storing; weed and thin the young crop. Plant out cauliflower. Earth-up celery, and prepare to cover it during frost. Blanche full-grown endive as required. Plant garlic in warm dry ground. Keep on planting lettuce. Take up parsnips for storing or as needed. Take up and store potatoes. Plant potato-onions in dry warm ground. Take up rhubarb for forcing and lay it by in a dry but cold place. Take up salsify for store. Plant winter greens on the chance of a mild winter.

This is the time for planting trees and shrubs. In advance of the frost, lift all flowers intended for keeping through the winter, not neglecting a good supply of pelargoniums. Propagate sturdy cuttings of calceolarias. Clean, dig, and manure all emptied flower-beds, and plant them with bulbs and hardy annuals for the spring show of flowers. Divide and transplant herbaceous plants.

November.—Maintain the activity in cleaning, trenching, and manuring; take in new ground where wanted; repair paths and fences; and be prepared with means of protecting things from frost. Scatter some litter among but not upon globe artichokes; lift and store Jerusalem artichokes. Complete unfinished asparagus beds. Sow beans in really warm dry land for the first crop. Cover remaining cauliflowers, or cut and store them in a dry shed. If much wet threatens, take up celery and store like cauliflower heads. Plant garlic. Take up and store horseradish, and re-plant. Plant potato-onions. Sow several sorts of early peas in a very warm, dry, sunny spot. Plant potatoes where the soil is light. Lift seakale for forcing in cellars or pits.

Lift all flowering plants which will suffer from frost. Finish planting beds of bulbs and other spring flowers. Complete the planting of trees and shrubs. Pay special attention to the watering, protection and ventilation of bedding plants, taking care to exclude frost and damp, and remove insects and decaying matter. Collect and dig in falling leaves and other garden refuse. Mulch between standing plants, especially around the stems, and secure a quantity of dry bracken or similar material for general covering and protecting purposes.

December.—Continue the efforts of last month in making preparations for the ensuing spring—clearing, digging, repairing, &c. Earth-up beans and celery, and provide a little covering for the latter. Give endive every protection. Put a hand frame over outdoor parsley or have some in a frame. Earth-up peas, and hand pick them free from drifted dead leaves. Prepare a warm border for early spring work, making it as light and rich as possible.

Carry on trenching and leaf-gathering, and roll lawns and paths. The draining of lawns and flower-beds can now be executed. Let spring flowering plants have the same attention as in January, and bedding plants the same as in November. Do not omit to help the branches of delicate trees to withstand the effects of snow and wind by tying them up with rope yarn (tarred twine).

Supplementary Literature.

Robert Thompson: ‘The Gardener’s Assistant; Practical and Scientific.’ London. Latest edition. 35s.

See also p. 1012.