118 



House & Garden's 



THE LAST RITES for THIS YEAR'S GARDEN 



Putting on the If 'inter Mulch, Cleaning Up the Odds and Ends, and 

 Generally Preparing the Grounds and Planting Plots for Freezing Weather 



Jackets of dean, long 

 rye straw tied about 

 tender roses will protect 

 them from winter injury 



WHEN ever)- frost)' morn- 

 ing finds fewer leaves 

 clinging to the alreudy barren 

 looking trees, and fewer of the 

 garden's last lingering flowers, 

 it may seem to the uninitiated 

 that Nature has about com- 

 pleted her year's work; that 

 things are drawing to a close 

 and that there is little or noth- 

 ing more doing. 



But "things are not what 

 they seem." For every leaf that 

 drops, you will find, if you 

 look closely, a new bud dwell- 

 ing under the little brown over- 

 coat that will protect it through 

 the winter. And down under 

 the fallen leaves that have 

 blown about and caught in 

 masses among the dead stalks 

 of the l)iennials and pereimials, 

 and in every nook and hollow 

 in wo(kIs and swamp, you will 

 find old roots or little seedlings 

 a few weeks old, or bulbous 

 plants such as Jack-in-the-pul- 

 pit or Solomon's Seal and the 

 tropical looking ".skunk cab- 

 bage.'' tucked away safely for 

 the winter. Ever)' hedgerow 

 and field is full at this season 

 not only of interest but also of 

 information; of lessons which 

 the wideawake gardener can 

 hardly help taking to heart, 



The winter ground 

 mulch is a necessity for 

 many shrubs to prevent 

 alternate freezing and 

 thawing 



and whicli will give him many good [winters 

 for the more artificial work to l)e done at home. 

 Hardly a move that Xature makes in swanij), 

 field, woods or by the roadside that does not 

 hold a kernel of information for the open e\e. 

 .\nd that, of course, is the only kind of an e)e 

 for a good gardener to carry aljout with him I 

 There is, however, one thing in which the 

 gardener can make a decided im|)rovement on 

 Nature's methods: that is, in the matter of 

 garden sanitation. For the old Dame herself 

 does not worry much about insects and diseases, 

 trusting rather to the survival of the fittest to 

 keep things going. What the gardener may 

 think the fittest from his point of view, how- 

 ever, is often the vegetable or flower which 

 iiroves especially susceptible to injury from 

 these sources. Therefore, if he would succeed 

 with them, artificial assistance is necessary — 

 and cleanliness has proved as desirable in the 

 garden as it is in the home. The great ma- 

 jority of insect and disease troubles are carried 



Evergreen bough as a winter protection tor peiriiiiial 



beds or even shrubbery plantings can often be used. 



They should be placed on the south as well as the 



north sides, to prevent premature thawing 



With slender ever- 

 greens, much of the 

 breakage caused by snow 

 can be avoided by lying 



over from year to year in the 

 form of dormant or hibernat- 

 ing life or in eggs or disease 

 spores that find a lodging in 

 the fallen leaves or the old 

 stalks, flowers or fruits in the 

 garden and scattered around 

 the grounds. 



One of the most important 

 things to be attended to, there- 

 fore, in the final garden clean- 

 up is to make a careful search 

 for any traces of disease and 

 for every possiijle hiding place 

 for hil>ernating insects. All 

 susjsicious material should l)e 

 carefully gathered up and 

 burned. One of the greatest 

 mistakes that can be made is 

 to use all the late garden refuse 

 indiscriminately for the com- 

 post heap, as is often done. A 

 general fall pruning, with such 

 sanitation in view, will often 

 prove a great help in controll- 

 ing diseases of all kinds. It 

 will not take long to go over 

 the fruit and ornamental trees, 

 shrubs and other woody 

 growths, and cut out and burn 

 all suspicious looking branches. 



.\fter the ground freezes the 

 winter mulch of dead leaves, 

 straw or well rotted barnyard 

 manure should be applied to 

 the perennial plantings. 



Do not apply the mulch 

 until the ground is 

 frozen. Its purpose is 

 to protect from sun, 

 not cold 



