October: First Week 



HOT-BED AND COLD-FRAME GARDENING: 

 EQUIPMENT; SOIL; HEATING; VARIETIES 

 OF VEGETABLES FOR FORCING 



The "frames" — the cold-frame and its artificially heated 

 counterpart, the hot-bed — are ordinarily looked upon as a 

 garden adjunct the main purpose of which is to get plants 

 started a month or two earlier in the spring, so that certain 

 crops in the garden may be forwarded to that extent. In 

 this case the sash are used only for about three months in 

 the year and he idle for the rest of the time. But where one 

 wishes to get the maximimi results from his garden space 

 and garden equipment, such half-efficient management 

 should be changed, as the frames may be used to advantage 

 for seven or eight months in the year instead of three. This 

 is especially desirable where the garden space is limited, as 

 it is in the great majority of suburban places; and, further- 

 more, it is not only a matter of having more garden produce 

 than could otherwise be grown, but of having it at a season 

 when it is especially valuable — such things as lettuce, 

 radishes, green onions, and spinach, which you have usually 

 not had before May and June, during the winter months; 

 and such things as beans, cucumbers, muskmelons, etc., 

 which ordinarily you do not have until well along toward 

 the end of the season, during early summer. 



In planning to make your frames a really important part 

 of your garden operations, two things must be provided 

 first of all — soil which is naturally thoroughly drained and 

 will not become wet and soggy through the winter and early 

 spring months, and an abundance of water to use in dry 

 weather when it is needed. You must realize at the outset 

 that cold-frame gardening is a highly intensified form of 

 gardening, and that therefore to be successful with it you 



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