December, 1905 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



213 



The bacKyard garden of 

 6x6 feet in 



a Boston doctor. It is but 

 a bricKed yard 



Thr 



the average circumference measurement is 

 15 inches. The variety is Prizetaker, which 

 we consider the best for producing large 

 specimens. We have had them larger than 

 this. The size can be considerably increased 

 by feeding with liquid manure, but this 

 renders the onions so soft that it spoils their 

 keeping qualities. The flavor of onions 

 grown this way is milder than when grown 

 by the ordinary method. 



A Garden in a 6x6 Backyard 



John Dixwell, Massachusetts 



T HAVE made a rockery in the smallest of 

 -*• city backyards at a cost of $5.00. The 

 yard has a bricked surface which cannot be 

 dug up on account of the drain pipes, and the 

 high brick walls shut out all but a little 

 western sunlight. I laid the earth for the 

 garden a foot thick on top of the bricks, and 

 kept it in place by pieces of stone. The 

 garden contains sword ferns and rubber 

 plants from other people's rubbish, genistas 

 and azaleas left over from Christmas, part- 

 ridge berries, fir trees, mountain cranberry, 

 jack-in-the-pulpit, meadow rue and ferns 

 which I have picked up from woods and 

 meadows. Two toads and a small green 

 snake keep the plants clear of insect pests. 

 I take in the house plants every winter, and 

 the rest have come up themselves every 

 spring for six years. As I never have time 

 to take a vacation, I find this little garden 

 very restful in the heat of summer. 



—j Continuous Bloom from March 



ons that weighed exactly five {q October 



PrizetaKer oni 

 pounds. Seed sown January 15th 



The 



flowers of June 

 March to Octob 



1st. This spot had bloom from 

 er. (See opposite figure) 



Flora Lewis Marble, Pennsylvania 



f\NE can cover up the lonely spots of a 

 ^-' garden with plants from the florists, 

 but a much finer way is to plan a succession 

 of blooms for each plot of ground long before 

 planting time comes. 



One part of our garden has two beds with 

 a narrow path between. The lawn comes 

 down to the front bed, the back bed extends 

 to the fence. These beds are edged with 

 hepaticas and snowdrops. By March 25th 

 we can be sure of seeing them in bloom. 



April and May are the months for wild 

 flowers and bulbs, and the hardy Iceland 

 poppies that are planted toward the centre 

 of the beds bloom from early May until 

 midsummer, and then again in the fall. 



Between the borders and centres occupied 

 by perennials is a piece of ground left for 

 annuals. About the middle of April we put 

 sweet alyssum seed in the first bed. This 

 covers the retreat of the hepaticas. The 

 first of May we set young pansy plants in the 

 other strip to spread over the snowdrops. 

 They bloomed from the middle of May to 

 frost, for we kept them closely picked. 



The month of June began with the iris. 

 It is set among the poppies, in four clumps 

 at the corners of the beds. The centre of 

 each bed is given up to a large pink peony. 

 Between the peonies and the iris clumps is 

 a wild flower, the tall meadow rue. The 

 meadow rue and peonies follow the iris. 



A hedge for ten cents. Is there a better plant 

 than the Castor bean for a quicK-growing hedge ? 



Cauliflowers planted out on April 20th in a dry, 

 exposed spot were sheltered by corn and grew the 

 best heads in the garden 



The same spot as that shown in the picture 

 but three months later. Gladiolus in full 



opposite, 

 flower 



