COLD-FRAMES AND HOW TO MAKE THEM 



spray. But when sowing seeds in a cold-frame do not com- 

 pletely fill your frames with the sowing; some space must 

 be saved for the young plants which some weeks afterward 

 will be ready for transplanting. When the seedlings are three 

 inches high transplant to four inches apart; then they will 

 make sturdy little plants for summer-blooming. 



No one sends a baby out into all weathers just because at 

 a certain calendar date spring is supposed to have come, and 

 gardeners treat infant plants with the same care. First, it 

 must be the warm middle of the day when the sash is removed; 

 then, on mild days, it is kept off altogether; a little later and 

 the plants are simply covered on very cold nights. When 

 grown in boxes in the house the little plants are hardened off 

 in the same fashion: the open window on mild days, then the 

 boxes are set out on the porch or some other convenient place, 

 and brought in only when the weather is threatening. This 

 hardening off may seem a slight detail, but to the plants it is 

 very necessary. Professional gardeners sometimes keep tender or 

 uncertain plants in the frames for a year or more, so that they 

 can watch them more conveniently until they are acclimated. 



If cold-frames or hotbeds are not possible, then one of the 

 best places for starting seeds is a sunny kitchen-window. 

 Shallow wooden boxes, such as florists call "flats," are the 

 most convenient for sowing seeds; two excellent "flats" can 

 be made from an old soap-box, sawed lengthwise through the 

 sides, and the cover nailed on to serve as a bottom for the 

 second box. Bore a few holes in the bottom, put bits of crock 

 over them, then an inch of screenings in the bottom for drain- 

 age, then fill the box with finely sifted soil. If possible, get 

 this from a florist. In these boxes you can sow seeds usually 

 sown in hotbeds or cold-frames. Celia Thaxter used even to 

 start poppies in the house flowers which always appear in 



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