G 



IVE a thought to keeping the 

 whole garden neat. Cut out 

 dead wood whenever you find 

 any in shrubs or hedges; keep 

 the corners raked up; dig out young 

 weeds from paths and drives (or sprin- 

 kle with weed destroyers) then rake 

 and roll thoroughly; clean and store 

 away flats, pots, hotbed mats and sash 

 — anything that is not in constant use. 

 Don't let things lie around. 



Look out for frosts that missed the 

 early train and are just arriving. A 

 May frost may not be a severe one 

 nor last long, but it is likely to do 

 far more damage to the garden than the worst of 

 January blizzards. 



Plant a windbreak — preferably of evergreens, such as 

 Hemlock — if your garden is unprotected on the side 

 from which the prevailing storm w inds come. 



Be neighborly. There will be hundreds of seedlings 

 that you will not be able to use. Pass them along to 

 someone who can use them — it may be the next door 

 neighbor, or the local garden club, or the school garden 

 farmers, or even the first boy or girl you come across, 

 whether or not he or she ever raised plants before. In 

 any case you will be doing something for somebody 

 and at the cost of practically no effort and only a few 

 minutes of your time. 



Look into the subject of the relative food values of 

 different vegetables and plan ways of using all of them, 

 and each with maximum benefits. We are learning 

 more about this every year, and the information is of 

 very great practical value if properly applied to our 

 daily kitchen activities. At the same time keep in 

 mind the individual food requirements of different 

 groups of plants, and make such use of fertilizers as 

 will recognize and meet them. 



On to the Orchard 



In other words, this is the time — psycho- 

 logical, pathological, entomological, and 

 practical — to do the most effective spray- 

 ing of the year. Potentially the subject 

 is a big one, but actually it simmers down 

 to these three fundamentals: I. Know what y,ou are 

 fighting, whether insect or disease, and what its habits 

 and vulnerable features are. 2. Use just the right 

 mixture, at just the right time, in just the right strength, 

 as directed by any of the reliable general spray pro- 

 grammes available. 3. In spraying do a thorough, 

 conscientious, allover job every time. 



Borrowing an idea from our beekeeping friends, sing 

 this to yourself: 



The Poison sprays of May 

 The greatest profits pay. 

 Another one in June 

 Helps still the insect's tune. 

 One more as starts July — 

 Then lay your spray tools by. 

 Get these materials in hand, then, for use this month — 

 summer strength lime-sulphur, bordeaux mixture, and 

 arsenate of lead or some other form of arsenical poison. 

 Order for use a little later as the foliage thickens, 

 Black Leaf-40, or some other reliable form of nicotine; 

 also hellebore and pyrethrum powders for use on deli- 

 cate material and ripening crops. Keep these latter 

 materials in air tight containers so they will not lose 

 strength. 



Look into the wilting tips of raspberry canes for small, 

 white, boring grubs. If found, go over the bushes and 

 clip off and burn all tips so affected so as to destroy 

 the pests. Cut far enough below the wilting point 

 so the borer will not be left in the main stem. 



hxamine the tender new shoots of all trees and fruit 

 bushes for clusters of aphids — plant lice. Spray 

 promptly with kerosene emulsion, some other oil, a to- 

 bacco preparation, or even a strong stream of plain 

 water if nothing else is available, for these insects mul- 

 tiply with astounding rapidity. 



Keep after the currant worms with arsenic sprays. 



Keeping Up With Progress 



Cut out surplus shoots at the base of the brambles, 

 especially if small and weak. 



Mulch the gooseberries lightly so as to conserve 

 moisture without heating or smothering the roots. 

 This fruit delights in coolness and moisture. 



Tie up the grape vines whether on arbors or simple 

 trellis, as fast as they grow. Otherwise the job of 

 straightening out the growth without dam;r 

 later on will be exceedingly difficult. 



Pinch the blossoms off any precocious, newly planted 

 strawberries. Keep all the beds supplied with water, 

 by soaking the ground thoroughly whenever necessary, 

 not by spraying the plants. Spread a clean mulch be- 

 tween the rows or plants to keep the berries off the 

 ground as they begin to form. 



ClixQ £MoiitiTS ^QmindQr 



MAY 



The Reminder is to " suggest" what mav be done during the next few weeks. Details of how to d c i each item 

 are given in the current or the back issues of The Garden Magazine— it is manifestly impossible to give 

 all the details of all the work in any one issue of a magazine. References to back numbers may be looked 

 up in the index to each completed volume (sent gratis on request), and the Service Department will also cite 

 references to anv special topic if asked. 



When referring to the time for out door work of any sort New York City at sea level is taken as standard. 

 Roughly the season advances fifteen miles a day. Thus Albany, which is one hundred and fafty miles from 

 New York, would be about ten days later, and Philadelphia, which is ninety miles southwest about a week 

 earlier. Dr. Hopkins (page 20 Feb. issue) also estimates an allowance of four days for each one degree of 

 latitude or five degrees of longitude, or four hundred feet of altitude. 



Mark these Maxims for May: 



1 . Spare the plan ts and spoil the crops 

 — this means thin relentlessly. 



2. Plant in haste, re-plant in desper- 

 ation. — Wait till conditions are really favor- 

 able — then give the greatest possible care and 

 attention to every detail of the task. 



3. Great plagues from unsprayed in- 

 sects grow. — Start the spray warfare while 

 the enemy is small and weak and the plant 

 surface small and easy to cover. 



4. A Cactus can go for months without 

 a drink — but who wants a garden of noth- 

 ing but Cactus? The moral is do everything 

 you can to maintain the supply of moisture 

 in the soil. 



5. Wilful weeds make woeful waste. — 

 Cultivate them to death while small and be- 

 fore they become wilful. 



Keep the compost heap growing. Every 

 crop of lawn clippings not needed for mulch- 

 ing, every weed you dig up, all unused thin- 

 nings, all the old mulches from beds and 

 borders (so long as they are free from sticks) 

 should go on the pile to be mixed with an 

 occasional barrowful of manure, a layer of 

 loam or old sods, and a sprinkling now and 

 again of lime. 



weeding, 

 without 



Look on the twigs of young fruit trees for wounds 

 made by egg laying locusts (cicadas). Prune off and 

 burn injured twigs and reduce the numbers of insects 

 that will be due in 1936. 



In the Vegetable Garden 



Don't begin to "let up" just because 

 you see the rows beginning to grow 

 green and attractive. Most of the 

 material that is making the best show 

 now will play no part in the late sum- 

 mer and fall results, so keep busy 

 thinning, sowing, planting, and watering 

 cessation. Besides, a well-deserved rest in 

 July or August will be far more enjoyable than a vaca- 

 tion now when you would constantly be haunted by 

 thoughts of jobs waiting to be done. 



Keep every crop growing at top speed. Those that 

 mature quickly improve in quality in proportion to the 

 rapidity with which they grow, and as to the others, the 

 first few weeks of growth are the most important of all 

 because they determine the extent of the root system 

 on which the plant is going to rely for moisture and 

 nourishment all season long. 



Cultivate, cultivate, cultivate ! Except in the far 

 South it cannot possibly do any harm (and there it 

 only hastens the using up of the humus), and every- 

 where it is beneficial in at least three ways: It kills 

 weeds; it prevents evaporation of moisture from the 

 soil; and it improves the aeration and physical condi- 

 tion of the ground. 



One careful hand weeding of every row just as soon as 

 the plants are big enough to distinguish from the weeds, 

 will loosen the soil as nothing else can and make later 

 cultivation with wheel or scuffle hoe easier, quicker, 

 and, sometimes, less necessary. Thin plants, too, as 

 soon as possible so that the seedlings left in place will 

 be disturbed as little as possible. 



Sow early in the month succession crops of beets, 

 carrots, cress, kohlrabi, lettuce, peas, potatoes, mus- 

 tard, radish, spinach, and turnips. 



After the frost warning signals have been taken down 

 for the season, plant beans — all kinds — corn, cucum- 

 bers, melons, martinya, okra, pumpkin, squash, and 

 tomatoes. Of course when it is warm enough to plant 

 these seeds it may still be a little risky to bring outdoors 

 plants of the same sorts of crops that have been growing 

 under glass and are consequently even more tender 

 than the new crops of seedlings will be; 



Therefore prepare hills, for all the melons, cucumbers, 

 and squash that are growing in frames and hotbeds; 



174 



About a large shovelful of well-rotted 

 manure and a handful of bone meal 

 well mixed with the soil makes a good 

 hill site. If you can set a glass-covered 

 frame or forcer over each hill until 

 planting out time, the soil will warm 

 up quicker and the plants will surely 

 "jump." 



Don't forget to sow lima beans, eye 

 down. Of course the advice is good for 

 all sorts of beans, but limas are the 

 only ones that really demand such care 

 because of the size of their cotyledons 

 or seed leaves which have to be lifted 

 up into the air by the stem as it grows. 

 Get after the cut worms that may have escaped your 

 poison bait advance guard. Whenever you discover 

 a wilted plant of a morning, dig promptly around it 

 with your fingers and crush the gray, soft, smooth cater- 

 pillar that you will most likely find there. You may 

 find others hiding under leaves, bits of wood, stones, 

 etc. 



Wrapping a paper collar around every tomato, egg- 

 plant, cabbage, cauliflower, and pepper you set out 

 pays. If you doubt it, leave half unprotected and 

 compare notes, at the end of the month. But don't 

 say we didn't warn you when you see how much re- 

 planting you will have to do — provided you have plants 

 to replant with. Don't try to put collars on melons, 

 cucumbers, etc. You will probably lose a few, but 

 they object to being handled. 



The poisoned mash is of course as effective after plants 

 are set out as before, so don't stop using it as long as 

 cutworms appear numerous. 



The small striped cucumber beetle is the "pest" of 

 all these cucurbits. It moves so quickly and flies so 

 readily! To keep him away sprinkle the leaves with 

 slaked lime, or even fine ash d ust — anything to make the 

 surface repugnant to the egg-laying females. 



Late this month begin to look for locusts. A brood 

 of the seventeen-year species that has been under- 

 ground since 1902 is due this summer. Fortunately 

 this is not a serious pest in the garden. 



Get the brush or wire in place for the peas, the poles 

 for the beans, and the stakes or other supports for the 

 tomatoes before the plants actually have need of them. 

 It sounds foolish, but it is a fact that the absence of any 

 support actually discourages and retards the growth of 

 tall varieties of peas. 



Last call for sowing all-season root crops such as par- 

 snip, salsify, and witloof chicory. 



Sow New Zealand spinach about bean planting time. 

 It is more tender and takes longer to become edible 

 than the small one-crop kinds, so it will not be ready 

 for use until the April and early May plantings of the 

 latter are exhausted. It will, however, go on growing 

 all summer, giving picking after picking. 



Choose varieties of the cool-loving beets, lettuce, etc., 

 with a realization that everything planted now will 

 probably run into a hot dry spell before it matures. 

 Some varieties stand such conditions better than others. 

 Cut asparagus carefully so as not to slash the crowns 

 and the shoots that have not yet appeared above 

 ground. Go easy with the young beds — that planted 

 last year should not be touched, and a two-year-old 

 plantation should be expected to yield for only three 

 or four weeks at the outside. 



Keep the seedbed where the late celery is growing 

 or is going to grow clean of weeds, loose, moist and 

 slightly shady. Keep the plants growing rapidly and 

 transplant seedlings as fast as they come on. 



Eggplant and peppers can be sown in a protected 

 spot with faint chances of a crop before frost, but it is 

 far wiser to start plants indoors, or even to buy what 

 you need from someone with a greenhouse. A few 

 of each go a long way. 



This is the last chance to plant onions. Transplant 

 those started in frames while they are less than the 

 thickness of a corncob pipe stem. 



Globe artichokes need lots of water; soak them every 

 few days during this month. 



Late cabbage may now be sown in the hotbed or the 

 outdoor seedbed. 



Begin to spray the early potatoes with bordeaux mix- 

 ture and arsenate of lead or lime as soon as they are five 

 inches high. And, while you are at it, do the same to 

 the eggplant — the potato bug dotes on them no less 

 than on the potatoes. 



A pinch of mustard or radish sown alongside every 

 three or four cabbage plants is likely to provide an 

 attractive lure for harlequin cabbage bugs. When the 

 latter appear in force, spray the lures with kerosene 

 (oil not emulsion) and set fire to them, or pull them out 

 and souse them in a pan of the oil. 



Don't be afraid to spray cabbage and even lettuce 

 if necessary with poisons, so long as the plants are real 

 young. Most of the poison washes off before the crop 

 is used, and the outer leaves on which it is thickest are 

 usually thrown away anyhow. 



