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.