Forcing.—Prepare manure for making up hotbeds for early cucumbers and melons, where pits heated with hot water are not in use; also for Ashleaf potatoes. Sow also in heat mustard and cress for salads, onions for salads; tomatoes, celery to be pricked out for an early crop; and Early Horn carrot and kidney-beans on slight hotbeds. Force asparagus, sea-kale and rhubarb, in hotbeds, in pits, in the mushroom-house or in the open garden by the use of covers surrounded with warm litter; for cucumbers a top heat of 70°; for vines in leaf and flower a temperature ranging from 65° to 70°. Keep forced strawberries with swelling fruit well watered. Plant vine eyes for propagation in a brisk heat.
Plant Houses.—Give abundance of air to the greenhouse, conservatory and alpine frame in mild weather, but use little water. A supply of roses, kalmias, rhododendrons, &c., and of hardy flowers and bulbs, as lily of the valley, hyacinths, tulips, daffodils, &c., should be kept up by forcing.
Flower Garden.—Plant out tubers and bulbs of border flowers, where neglected in autumn, deferring the finer florists’ flowers till next month. Transplant herbaceous plants in light soils, if not done in autumn; also deciduous trees, shrubs and hedges. Lay edgings in fine weather. Sow mignonette, stocks, &c., in pots; sow sweet peas and a few hardy annuals on a warm border. Give auriculas and carnations abundance of air, but keep the roots rather dry to prevent damping off.
February
Kitchen Garden.—Sow successional crops of Early Seville beans, and William I., American Wonder or other peas in the beginning and end of the month; early cabbages to follow the last sowing in August; red cabbages and savoys towards the end. Sow also Early Horn carrot; Early Purple-top Munich turnip; onions for a full crop in light soils, with a few leeks and some parsley. Sow lettuce for succession, with radishes and Round-leaved spinach, twice in the course of the month; and small salads every fortnight. Plant Jerusalem artichokes, shallots, garlic, horse-radish and early potatoes. Transplant to the bottom of a south wall a portion of the peas sown in pots in frames in November and January for the first crop. Sow Brussels sprouts in gentle heat for an early crop.
Fruit Garden.—Prune apricots, peaches, nectarines and plums, before the buds are much swelled; finish pruning apples, pears, cherries, gooseberries, currants and raspberries, before the end of the month; also the dressing of vines. Keep the fruit-room free from spoiled fruit, and shut it close. Cut down the double-bearing raspberries to secure strong autumn-fruiting shoots. Head back stocks preparatory to grafting.
Forcing.—Sow melons and cucumbers on hotbeds and in pits. Sow carrots, turnips, early celery, also aubergines or egg-plants, capsicums, tomatoes and successional crops of kidney-beans; cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, in gentle heat, to be afterwards planted out. Plant early potatoes on slight hotbeds. Continue the forcing of asparagus, rhubarb and sea-kale. Commence or continue the forcing of the various choice fruits, as vines, peaches, figs, cherries, strawberries, &c. Pot roots of mint and place in heat to produce sprigs for mint sauce. Be careful to protect the stems of vines that are outside the forcing-houses.
Plant Houses.—Let the greenhouse and conservatory have plenty of air in mild weather. Pot and start tuberous-rooted begonias and gloxinias. Pot young plants of Hippeastrum, and start the established ones. Propagate chrysanthemums in cool-house or vinery under hand lights or frames. Put plants of fuchsias, petunias, verbenas, heliotropes, salvias and other soft-wooded subjects, into a propagating house to obtain cuttings, &c., for the flower garden. Sow stocks, dahlias and a few tender and half-hardy annuals, on a slight hotbed, or in pots. Propagate old roots of dahlias by cuttings of the young shoots in a hotbed. Sow petunias in heat, and prick out and harden for bedding out; also gloxinias to be grown on in heat till the flowering season.
Flower Garden.—In dry open weather plant dried roots, including most of the finer florists’ flowers; continue the transplanting of hardy biennial flowers and herbaceous plants. Sow in the last week mignonette, and hardy annuals, in a warm border, for subsequent transplanting.
March