BACK-YARD GARDENS 



Fill it with the best soil you can get. If this 

 is lacking in nutritive quality, add some bone- 

 meal to it. Mix at least a teacupful of it into 

 enough soil to fill a box of the dimension men- 

 tioned, to begin with, and along about midsum- 

 mer apply as much more. This will keep your 

 plants growing well throughout the season. 



Most persons who attempt window-gardens 

 in boxes fail with them, therefore the impres- 

 sion prevails that it is not an easy phase of 

 gardening. But the reason of failure, nine 

 times out of ten, is that not enough water is 

 given to supply the needs of the plants. A 

 little is applied in the morning and more later 

 in the day, and because the surface of the soil 

 looks moist, the owner takes it for granted that 

 it must be damp all through. An examination 

 would convince her that a few inches below 

 the surface the soil is almost, if not quite, dust- 

 dry. The fact is, evaporation takes place so 

 rapidly from a box exposed to the action of air 

 and wind and sunshine, as most window-boxes 

 are, that small amounts of water do but little 

 towards supplying the plants with the moisture 

 needed at their roots. To keep it in proper 

 condition at least a pailful of water should be 

 applied every day, and in very hot weather 



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