76 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



September, 1905 



SOWING IN SEPTEMBER FOR WINTER 



Extend the lettuce season by using cold- 

 frames and hotbeds. About September 15th 

 a sowing can be made and the plantlets trans- 

 planted for wintering in coldframes. In Feb- 

 ruary a planting can be made in a coldframe 

 that has good protection, and in March seeds 

 sown in a hotbed will make good plants for 

 setting out in April. Every garden needs a 

 frame or two. Without these adjuncts seed 

 sowing must be deferred until early in the 

 spring. If hot-weather plantings are to be 

 risked seed can be put in every two weeks 

 from the second week in April to the second 

 week in August, but it will be necessary to 

 shade the later plantings during the heat of 

 the day. 



SALADS IN THE WINDOW GARDEN 



Even if you have no coldframe, a still 

 earlier crop from the home garden can be 

 started in a sunny window March 1st. A 

 temperature of 70 by day and 50 by night 

 will agree with it. These plants, transplanted 

 to boxes and hardened gradually to outside 

 conditions before being set in the garden, will 

 give good results. 



The August planting will be yielding heads 

 in October or November, and a loose covering 

 of hay will give protection from the frost 

 that will naturally threaten at that season. 

 I find broadcast sowing is better than in drills, 

 using a strip about a half yard wide. The 

 method is economical of space, and the plants 

 can be easily thinned and worked, and it is 

 less trouble to cover them from heat by day 

 or frost by night. 



Another good plan is to grow the lettuce 

 between bush limas, or other spreading plants 

 that are planted some distance apart, and the 

 shade will help protect the lettuce. My cus- 

 tom has been to sow lettuce in the seed bed 

 nine days before bush limas, and then, when 

 the lettuce is of transplantable size (about 

 three or four weeks after sowing), set out both 

 together in their permanent bed. The limas 

 should stand a half yard or two feet apart, 

 which leaves room for lettuce to grow be- 



tween. Or else sow lettuce four weeks before 

 time for planting bush limas and transplant 

 to the same bed at the same time. Lettuce 

 seedlings can be set between other crops in 

 any place where they can be left undisturbed 

 for two months; by that time they will have 

 headed and so will be out of the way. A very 

 short row of seeds gives a big return. Ten 

 feet yielded one hundred for transplanting, 

 besides those left for earlier heading, six 

 inches apart in the original row. The young 

 plants are very sensitive to hot, dry air. 

 Some newly set out were kept perfectly fresh 

 and crisp with the protection of a strawberry 

 basket for a few days, while those left uncov- 

 ered were limp and wilted by the hot, dry 

 weather. We generally allow three months 

 from sowing to heading, but one year we had 

 heads on June gth from seed planted April 

 7th. Lettuce sown on October 26th gave 

 good heads on June 14th, and we picked a 

 head on June 3d from self-sown seed. 

 New York. I. M. A. 



How to Get Pansies Blooming 

 in March 



Photograph by the author 



SOW pansy seed in August and winter 

 the young plants. Climate regulates 

 the exact date of seed sowing. In a place 

 where one may expect a killing frost any 

 time after the middle of September it is 

 necessary to get the seed in the ground early 

 enough so the young plants can get a 

 sturdy growth before the frost comes. They 



110. The secret of having plenty of pansies very early in spring is sowing in August. Transplanted into the 

 garden border they flower in May. Transplant into a coldframe for March flowers 



withstand the winter best when they are at 

 least four weeks old before the cold weather 

 comes; and, on the other hand, they should 

 not be so large as to require cutting back 

 before the spring growth begins. 



Our pansy seed was sown August 7th, but 

 there is good success for most people by 

 planting during the middle of the month. 

 Provide deep fine soil by working the bed 

 over and over before sowing the seed. If 

 the garden is rich and loamy no fertilizer 

 need be applied. After sowing keep;ihe soil 

 from getting baked on top by a inpch of 

 fine grass cuttings from the lawn sppnkled 

 over the bed. 



We had five packages of seed costing fifty 

 cents. Each package of seed was scattered 

 in a drill by itself, for we wanted to keep 

 the colors separate. The seed was covered 

 very lightly with earth and walked into the 

 ground. There is no better way to press 

 the seed down than to use the foot. 



On the 27th of the month the seed was 

 up, and it seemed as if every one had sprouted. 

 We were surprised, for in the house in the 

 spring we could never count on half the 

 seeds sprouting when we grew them in the 

 window in pans. 



By September 21st the plants were three 

 inches high. They had received no atten- 

 tion whatever up to this time, except water 

 from the hose when the weather was very 

 dry, in common with all the growing things 

 of the garden. 



That night came our killing frost, and 

 all the glory of the garden was laid low. 

 The pansies were not covered. 



TRANSPLANTING TO THE OPEN GROUND 



Next day we transplanted nine dozen of 

 the plants to an open bed running east and 

 west in the centre of the garden in the full 

 sunshine. The soil had been carefully dug 

 up and left open some weeks previous. A 

 sprinkling of bone dust was added just 

 before the final raking of the bed. The 

 plants were set in rows north and south, 

 the short way of the bed, about ten inches 

 apart. We planted according to colors. 

 The west end of the bed was given up to 

 black pansies; next came a band of deep 

 purple; beyond these were the yellows, 

 and pure white flowers took up the other 

 end. The graded color effect was good. 



THE EARLINESS OF THE COLDFRAME 



The fifth package of seed (mixed vari- 

 eties) was transplanted to a coldframe for 

 early blooming. It faced south, and was 

 sheltered from the north and east winds by 

 a lattice screen. The earth had been dug 

 and turned while the plants were growing. 

 As the plants were to have a hurried growth 

 in the spring and would need quick nourish- 

 ment, well-rotted manure was added to the 

 soil instead of bone dust. These plants 

 were set as close as six inches to one another. 

 The coldframe accommodated a dozen and 

 a half. 



None of the young plants died by trans- 

 planting, though they did not grow any more 

 that fall. The seedling bed hardly showed 

 where we had removed the young plants. 



