io6 AROUND THE YEAR IN THE GARDEN 



Start Tender Things in Paper Pots 



If you have a cold-frame or a hot-bed by far the surest 

 and in the end the easiest way to start all the vine crops 

 cucumbers, melons, squashes and also pole beans and lima 

 beans, and even extra early sweet corn, is to make use of 

 paper pots or dirt bands, which are very cheap. Fill these 

 with a rich compost containing plenty of humus one-third 

 old crumbly manure and two-thirds garden loan, with a 

 little sand if the loam is heavy. Plant about twice as many 

 seeds as you want plants, and thin them as soon as they are 

 well started. It is best to water thoroughly some hours be- 

 fore planting. The pots used for lima beans should be 

 watered at least a day in advance and the beans should be 

 pushed in eye down. No more water should be applied until 

 they are well up, or they will be almost sure to rot. All 

 these things will sprout and grow with great rapidity in the 

 frame. Two to four weeks is ample time to give them, as 

 they do not transplant well if allowed to get too big. Thin 

 out the plants in each pot to the number you want before 

 they get too large, or the roots and tops will begin to crowd 

 each other. 



Here are a few suggestions for individual crops: 



BEANS. For the first planting use the lightest, best- 

 drained soil. If the weather is still a little wet and cold 

 plant rather shallow only an inch or so deep. In dry 

 weather plant about two inches deep. Always plant 

 lima beans, either pole or bush, eye down, and when there 

 is no immediate prospect of rain. Plant the pole sorts in 

 hills. 



CORN. In the home garden there is little advantage in 

 planting in hills, unless the ground is weedy or heavy. As 

 good results may be had by planting thinly in a continuous 

 drill, thinning the plants to about a foot apart in the row. 

 This gives the individual plants a better chance for develop- 

 ment than they get when they are bunched three or four in a 

 hill. 



EGGPLANTS. Do not set out until all danger of frost is 



