Page:EB1911 - Volume 13.djvu/778

GARDEN OPERATIONS] edge of the heap of potting soil are spread over the crocks. The same end, that of keeping the finer particles of the soil from mixing with the drainage crocks, may be attained by shaking in a little clean moss. A handful or two of the soil is then put in, and on this the plant with its roots spread out is to be set, a trifle higher than the plant should stand in the pot when finished off; more soil is to be added, and the whole pressed firmly with the fingers, the base of the stem being just below the pot-rim, and the surface being smoothed off so as to slope a little outwards. When finished off, the pots should be watered well, to settle the soil; but they should stand till the water has well drained away, since, if they are moved about while the fresh soil is very wet, there will be a risk of its becoming puddled or too much consolidated. Larger plants do not need quite such delicate treatment, but care should be taken not to handle the roots roughly. The soil for these may be somewhat coarser, and the amount of drainage material more ample. Larger bodies of soil also require to be more thoroughly consolidated before watering; otherwise they would settle down so as to leave an unsightly void at the pot-rim.

Some plants, especially when potted temporarily, may be dealt with in a simpler way. A single crock may be used in some cases, and in others no crock at all, but a handful of half-decayed leaves or half-decayed dung thrown into the bottom of the pot. This mode of potting does well for bulbs, such as hyacinths, which are either thrown away or planted out when the bloom is over. The bedding plants generally may be potted in this way, the advantage being that at planting-out time there is less risk of disturbing the roots than if there were potsherds to remove. Plants of this character should be potted a little less firmly than specimens which are likely to stand long in the pot, and indeed the soil should be made comparatively light by the intermixture of leaf-mould or some equivalent, in order that the roots may run freely and quickly into it.

For epiphytal plants like orchids the most thorough drainage must be secured by the abundant use of potsherds, small pots being sometimes inserted inside the larger ones, or by planting in shallow pots or pans, so that there shall be no large mass of soil to get consolidated. For most of these the lightest spongy but sweet turfy peat must be used, this being packed lightly about the roots, and built up above the pot-rim, or in some cases freely mixed before use with chopped sphagnum moss and small pieces of broken pots or nodules of charcoal. The plants under these conditions often require to be supported by wooden pegs or sticks. Some of the species grow better when altogether taken out of the soil and fixed to blocks of wood, but in this case they require a little coaxing with moss about the roots until they get established. In other cases they are planted in open baskets of wood or wire, using the porous peat and sphagnum compost. Both blocks and baskets are usually suspended from the roof of the house, hanging free, so that no accumulation of water is possible. These conditions of orchid-growing have undergone great changes of late years, and the plants are grown much as other stove and greenhouse plants in ordinary pots with composts not only of peat but of leaf-mould, and fibres from osmunda and polypodium ferns.

When repotting is adopted as a temporary expedient, as in the case of bedding-out plants which it is required to push forward as much as possible, it will suffice if provision is made to prevent the drainage hole from getting blocked, and a rich light compost is provided for the encouragement of the roots. When, however, a hard-wooded plant has to be repotted, the case is different; it may stand without further potting for one year or two years or more, and therefore much more care is necessary. The old ball of earth must be freed from all or most of the old crocks without doing injury to the roots, and the sharp edge of the upper surface gently rubbed off. If there be any sour or sodden or effete soil into which the roots have not run, this should be carefully picked out with a pointed stick. The ball is to be set on the new soil just high enough that when finished the base of the stem may be somewhat below the pot-rim, and the space between the old ball and the sides of the pot is to be filled in gradually with the prepared compost, which is from time to time to be pressed down with a blunt-ended flat piece of wood called a potting-stick, so as to render the new soil as solid as the old. The object of this is to prevent the plant from starving by the water applied all running off by way of the new soil, and not penetrating the original ball of earth. When this amount of pressure is necessary, especially in the case of loamy composts, the soil itself should be rather inclined to dryness, and should in no case be sufficiently moist to knead together into a pasty mass. In ordinary cases the potting soil should be just so far removed from dryness that when a handful is gently pressed it may hang together, but may lose its cohesion when dropped.

When plants are required to stand in ornamental china pots or vases, it is better, both for the plants and for avoiding risk of breakage, to grow them in ordinary garden pots of a size that will drop into the more valuable vessels. Slate pots or tubs, usually square, are sometimes adopted, and are durable and otherwise unobjectionable, only, their sides being less porous, the earth does not dry so rapidly, and some modification of treatment as to watering is necessary. For large conservatory specimens wooden tubs, round or square, are frequently used; these should be coated with pitch inside to render them more durable.

Various other contrivances take the place of garden pots for special purposes. Thus shallow square or oblong wooden boxes, made of light, inexpensive wood, are very useful for seed-sowing, for pricking out seedlings, or for planting cuttings. When the disturbance of the roots incidental to all transplanting is sought to be avoided, the seed or plant is started in some cases in squares of turf (used grassy-side downwards), which can when ready be transferred to the place the plant is to occupy. Cucumber and melon plants and vines reared from eyes are sometimes started in this way, both for the reason above mentioned and because it prevents the curling of the roots apt to take place in plants raised in pots. Strips of turf are sometimes used for the rearing of early peas, which are sown in a warmish house or frame, and gradually hardened so as to bear exposure before removal to the open air.

Watering.—The guiding principle in watering plants is to do it thoroughly when it is required, and to abstain from giving a second supply till the first has been taken up.

When watering becomes necessary for kitchen-garden crops, the hose should be laid on and the lines of esculents allowed to drink their fill, if fresh succulent vegetables are desired. So also, if well-swelled and luscious fruits, such as strawberries, are required, there must be no parching at the roots. This applies even more strongly to conservatory borders and to forcing-houses than to the outside fruit-tree borders, because from these the natural rain supply is in most cases more distinctly cut off. In the case of forcing-houses, the water should be heated before being applied to the borders containing the roots of the trees.

In the watering of pot plants the utmost care is requisite if the plant be a shy-growing or valuable one, and yet it is almost impossible to give any intelligible instruction for performing the operation. The roots should never be suffered either to get thoroughly dry or to get sodden with excess of water. An adept will know by the ring of the pot on striking it with his knuckles whether water is wanted or not, according as it rings loud and clear or dull and heavy. With very choice subjects watering may be necessary two or three times a day in drying summer weather. It is a wrong though common practice to press the surface of the soil in the pot in order to feel if it is moist enough, as this soon consolidates it, and prevents it from getting the full benefit of aeration.

In all heated houses the water used should be warmed at least up to the temperature of the atmosphere, so as to avoid chilling the roots. This is also necessary in the case of water used for syringing the plants, which should be done two or three times a day in all stoves and forcing-houses, especially during the period when the young growth is being developed. The damping of all absorbent surfaces, such as the floors or bare walls, &c., is frequently necessary several times a day in the growing season, so as to keep up a humid atmosphere; hence