Annuals 



19 



as the seeds and seedlings may be watered without being carried to the sink 

 and without any drip upon the floor. A plant-table four feet long and two 

 and one-half feet wide would afford sufficient capacity for growing seedlings 

 enough to fill two hundred square feet of beds. Tables or rough boxes are 

 rather unsightly objects, and I keep them in the kitchen until the weather 

 will permit keeping them in a more out-of-the-wav place. 



I find that the time the seeds should be sown depends upon the time the 

 seedlings can be transplanted to the garden. If one's health will permit the 

 transplanting of seedlings as early as it would be warm enough for them, 

 about April 6th would be the right time for sowing in New England; 

 an earlier date would not be at all advisable. My experience has shown me 

 that five weeks from the time of sowing the seeds is as long as the seedlings 

 can be kept in the boxes without injury; the roots fill the soil, their growth 

 is stopped and they become stunted, 

 never making the fine plants they 

 would had they been transplanted 

 at the proper time. 



I use soil just as it is taken 

 from the garden, as the addition 

 of fertiliser causes an unhealthy 

 growth. I aim for a slow, sturdy 

 growth. The soil is heated very 

 hot in the oven to kill the weed 

 seeds. The first year I failed to do 

 this, and found weed-pulling made too much of an upheaval among seeds 

 and tiny plants. I sow the seeds in rows an inch and a half apart, and 

 three-fourths of an inch apart in the row to allow for some of the seeds 

 failing to germinate. When I am sure that the last seed that will grow has 

 made its appearance above ground, I thin the seedlings out to an inch and 

 a half in the row. I find it necessary to allow this space, as the plants 

 soon become crowded with less, and thinning them out then will disturb the 

 roots of those which are to remain. 



When the seeds are sown I place the table in a sunny window and give 

 the earth the treatment required as regards light and sunshine, that it 

 may be ready for them the moment they break through the earth. I keep 

 them as close to the glass as possible, and roll the shades high. The first 

 year I thought this unimportant when the seeds were coming up, and before 



A sweet pea garden near Springfield, Mas 



