THE GARDEN CALENDAR 101 



continuous beauty and year-around freshness of vegetables, justified. But 

 May work in the garden should proceed with different motive and method 

 from those of the many rainfall months preceding. The secrets of success 

 are : Conserving the moisture from the winter and spring rainfall and 

 the judicious addition of moisture by irrigation. Seed should be placed 

 deeper in the earth because the immediate surface must be kept loose and 

 fine, and will, therefore, become dry and inert, while the roots extend in a 

 moist lower layer. The finely-pulverized dry surface protects this moist 

 layer from the thirsty air; therefore, plant low and keep the upper earth 

 free from roots by the constant action of the hoe and rake. The newcomer 

 from the land of summer rains must learn a new handling of old tools 

 during his first May in the California garden stirring the soil deeply and 

 preventing crusting at or near the surface. It is not enough to cut or 

 scrape away the weeds with a flat motion of the hoe ; the blade should be 

 sent down three or four inches with a strong stroke and the surface deeply 

 loosened and pulverized. 



May is the planting month for tender plants and for summer blooming 

 bulbs in places where April is too wet or frosty. It is also a planting- 

 month of considerable importance near the coast, because a summer of less 

 heat and greater aerial moisture favors planting later than in the interior 

 valleys. It is not that there is less advantage in early work near the coast, 

 but that late planting is less apt to be disappointing. Therefore, as one 

 takes up winter and spring flowering bulbs when their foliage dies, the 

 vacant places can be covered with late sown annuals or better still, by 

 planting out seedlings already stockily grown in the cold frame or open-air 

 seed bed. The beginner usually has much to learn of the advantage in 

 transplanting such seedlings compared with the growth from seed in place. 

 The garden continuously well filled with varied summer and autumn bloom 

 is the reward of the one who always has seedlings in reserve for trans- 

 planting. 



May is the month to learn the value of the mulch, and then one will 

 practice it all the year. The clippings from the lawn furnish a con- 

 tinuous supply of mulch; make a thick carpet of it around all newly 

 transplanted seedlings. It protects the soil from the thirsty air and 

 it lowers the temperature a little reducing to a minimum the shock 

 of transplanting. It also promotes the growth from late sown seeds 

 which might perish from lack of moisture just after germination. The 

 more frequently the lawn is cut the better are the clippings for a mulch. 

 Not only do they have the summer use described, but in the rainy 

 season they cushion the stroke of the heavy rain drops and protect 

 the surface from crusting. 



May is the starting time for the gorgeous autumn display of 

 chrysanthemums. Start the plants from cuttings of the vigorous 

 spring shoots from the old stock. Cut loose entirely from the old roots 



