N 



r 0W for the results from earlier 



efforts! If you made the most 



of the days and weeks that are 



past, you can feel reasonably 

 sure of generous recompense: if, on the 

 other hand, you dallied and put off" 

 things you will now get just what is 

 due you. All this month keep in mind 

 the suggestions in the box on this page. 

 Don't forget to apply the thrift habit 

 to the building ot the compost heap 

 from which you will obtain next year 

 extra good soil for potting, etc., and a 

 tine, rich mulch for all sorts of plants. 

 Whenever you have any old sods, 

 weeds, odds and ends, manure, or leaf 

 mold that isn't needed elsewhere, add it to the pile — and 

 if nothing comes to hand, go out and get something. 



Vegetables for Now and the Future 



You can start from seed this month 

 (with more than a good chance of 

 successfully harvesting a crop before a 

 severe frost) : corn, peas, beans, beets, 

 carrots, turnips, rutabagas, chard, 

 kohlrabi, spinach, mustard, lettuce, and 

 radish. Plants of cabbage, Brussels sprouts, tomatoes, 

 and kale set out now will give returns this season, while 

 the first three as well as corn salad, and witloof chicory 

 can also be started from seed, the plants to be protected 

 over winter and used early next season. 



The best radishes to sow now are the large winter 

 sorts. Contrary' to expectations, if well grown, they 

 are milder and crisper than the earliest forcing sorts. 



You can start parsley now, either in a seed bed or in 

 pots, with the idea of shifting it to a coldframe in 

 September and leaving it there as a source of supply 

 for all winter. 



For fall peas, select quick maturing sorts and plant 

 not earlier than the 15th of the month. They will need 

 plenty of water to offset hot weather. 



Start cucumbers and tomatoes from seed in pots for 

 greenhouse culture and winter fruiting. 



KEEPING UP WITH GROWING CROPS 



Keep the soil loose around the eggplants. 

 They need lots of water — if they are not 

 getting it from the soil, see that they 

 get it from the hose. 



Keep the soil loose, not only to make 

 the crops grow faster, but also because it is easier to 

 pull weeds from loose earth — especially if you don't 

 leave many. 



Keep the limas well hoed — not to mention the other 

 beans — and tied or trained to their poles or other sup- 

 ports. 



Lay some brush around the melon, squash and cu- 

 cumber hills if these are on soil that is at all wet or 

 muddy. The vines will clamber over it and keep the 

 fruits out of the mud where they will ripen more evenly. 

 Cauliflower needs special attention at this time in 

 order that its growth shall be rapid and continuous. 

 Loosen the soil often, give plenty of water at least once 

 a week and fertilize with a readily available, stimu- 

 lating mixture or with manure water. 



Hand-weed the onion rows until the bulbs begin to 

 swell and crowd out the weeds; then keep up the soil- 

 stirring process alongside with wheel hoe. 



Begin to hill up the earliest crops, and keep the soil 

 stirred around the intermediate plantings. A light 

 metal band is sometimes used to slip around cauliflower, 

 celery, etc. so as to keep the dirt out of the heart. 



oh! the bugs and the rusts! 



Spray the asparagus again if it shows 

 signs of being badly infested with the 

 beetle, and keep down the weeds, in- 

 cluding seedling plants of course, as 

 always. Another dressing of bone dust 

 or manure worked in will build up strength for a good 

 crop next year. 



Tomatoes must be protected against rust and mil- 

 dew by consistent spraying this month. Keep them 

 tied up, if you are practising that method, and the side- 

 shoots pruned off. If the foliage is excessively dense 

 thin it a bit to let the light and air on the fruits. 



Spray the potatoes at least twice this month, oftener 

 if rains come close together. Keep the cultivator going 

 between the rows as long as there is room. Perhaps 

 some of the earliest hills are ready for digging. If so 

 take only what you need for any one day, as this is not 

 good keeping weather. 



Look for borers in the main stems of the squash, 

 and if you find them, make slits in the stems and kill 

 the invaders before they cause the vine to wilt. Then 

 mound the soil over the plants to stimulate the growth 



^q £Montfvs ^.QmindQr 



JULY— J MONTH OF JUST REWARDS 



The Reminder is to "suggest" what may be done during the next few weeks. Details of hozv to do 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 any 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 fifty 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. 



1. Keep every plant growing full 

 speed; this means plenty of water, 

 plenty of food, and plenty of atten- 

 tion, training. Also, the least possi- 

 ble competition with weeds. 



2. The dryer you keep the average 

 soil on the surface, the more moisture 

 are you storing up underneath for 

 the use of the plants. This is the 

 reason for constant, shallow cultiva- 

 tion. 



3. Sow all seed deeper than you 

 did earlier in the season, especially 

 in light soils, and be sure that the 

 earth is thoroughly firmed down 

 around and upon it. 



4. If you have been prevented 

 from doing any gardening until now, 

 don't be discouraged. There is 

 plenty that can still be planted both 

 for this season's results and those 

 of next summer. 



of new roots above the point of injury, and scatter 

 tobacco dust on the foliage as a possible preventive. 

 While you have it handy put some on and around the 

 melons too. 



WISDOM FROM OLD TIME EXPERIENCE 



Harvest promptly as soon as a crop is 

 fit to use. 



Potato onions and any grown from 

 sets should be ready for use now. No 

 use letting them occupy the ground 

 longer than necessary. 

 Set out the late celery, being sure to keep the rootr 

 moist during and after the operation. 



Turnips make a good crop to follow early potatoes. 

 Why not start a garden exchange or clearing house 

 in your community to which any one can take surplus 

 crops or seedlings to be sold or exchanged for other 

 things that they want but did not raise. Only a small 

 number of sales would provide funds for its maintain- 

 ance, and any actual profits could be turned over to the 

 Red Cross. 



TO HILL UP, OR NOT? 



Stick to level cultivation except in a 

 few cases in which hilling is desirable. 

 Some of these are (1) when vines are 

 attacked by borers mounding up the 

 soil over the joints stimulates the for- 

 mation of new roots; (2) when the potatoes begin to 

 form, hilling lessens the danger of their becoming sun- 

 burnt: (3) after tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, etc., have 

 developed a good set of roots under level cultivation, 

 hilling places these roots even deeper, increases their 

 available moisture supply, and adds support to the 

 stems. This is also important in the case of corn. 



Getting the Best Fruits from the Garden 



As the fruits begin to reach edible 

 size and take on color, stop using bor- 

 deaux or any other spray mixture that 

 tends to stain or discolor. If fungous 

 diseases continue troublesome, ammon- 

 iacal copper carbonate is a good substi- 

 tute and one that is in no way injurious or disfiguring 

 even to ripening apples, pears, etc. 



A cover of burlap or light cloth of any sort will 

 hasten the ripening of the currants and protect them 

 from birds. 



240 



Increase your stock of gooseberries 

 by layering — that is, mound the soil 

 up around a bush and when new shoots 

 or suckers start, cut them off with their 

 new root systems and plant elsewhere. 

 Potassium sulphide is the standard 

 spray for 'mildew which is the com- 

 monest disease on these plants. 



Just because the bush fruits have 

 borne their season's crop, don't think 

 for a minute that they can be neg- 

 lected. Keep them cultivated, and 

 don't let grass grow in around the base 

 of the plants and choke them. 



If you are aiming for real quality 

 fruits, keep on thinning whenever you 

 note a crowded branch or a specimen that is deformed 

 or not up to standard. 



As soon as the strawberry runners, under the joints 

 of which you sunk pots last month, have developed 

 roots therein, they can be cut apart and away from the 

 parent plant and treated as individuals. The thriftiest 

 can be set out in the new bed the latter part of this 

 month. Others can be repotted and carried along in 

 frames so that later they can be taken into the green- 

 house and forced for winter fruit. 



Continue caring for the grapes as directed in June — 

 namely, cultivate, tie up, prune back and thin the 

 foliage as necessary. 



Grapes under glass need plenty of air as the fruits 

 color up. Check their lateral growth, and thin out 

 imperfect or surplus berries. 



Keep the orchard well sprayed, especially young 

 trees that can least of all afford to be checked. The 

 latter should also have a good mulch maintained about 

 them all summer. 



Pick up all early windfalls which might otherwise 

 furnish retreats for insects. Some of them may be 

 big enough for cooking, jelly making, etc. 



The Flower Garden and the Grounds 



(f i! ^f K Use the hoes and play the hose, is a 

 good slogan for July. An important 

 distinction between the two, however, 

 is that cultivation should be shallow 

 so as not to hurt the roots, while the 

 watering should be copious and deep. 

 Make out your order for bulbs and hardy perennial 

 stock for fall planting, and send it off. When planting 

 time comes there will be no time to send for what you 

 need, and the dealers, as like as not, will by then be 

 out of everything you want most. 



As soon as the flowers have begun to fade, trim up 

 any shrubs that have ceased blooming. By cutting 

 out the "old wood" you give space for the new growth 

 which will carry next year's flowers. 



Treat the flower garden just like the vegetable plot 

 as far as cultivation, spraying, and the mulching of the 

 larger, coarser plants are concerned. Of course, the 

 aim is to have all the soil hidden from sight by foliage 

 and blossom, but underneath it ought to be just as free 

 from weeds and just as loose and friable where the 

 Poppies and Peonies grow, as where there are potatoes. 

 Gather seed of Pansies, and all perennials as fast as 

 they become fully ripe. They can be sown at once in 

 flats or hotbeds to give plants for fall setting out or 

 winter forcing indoors. 



Except where you want to save seed, keep the flower 

 stalks of perennials cut off, removing them as soon as 

 the blossoms wither. As a plant, especially an annual, 

 begins to mature seed, it ceases to produce flowers. 



Give water frequently to Callas, 



7^" Caladiums, and Chrysanthemums out- 



■* jZ doors and mulch them with thoroughly 



rotted manure, or the spent material 



from an old hotbed. The time when 



any plant responds generously to a dose 



of manure water is just as it is coming into bloom. 



Repot Chrysanthemums growing indoors, plunge 

 the pots in a frame, dust tobacco stem waste over and 

 around them, and spray to kill off the red spider 



If you cannot conveniently dig up and replant bulbs 

 at least mark or label them in some way so that they 

 can be found later in the season. 



Prune moderately the Rambler and other climbing 

 Roses, and start training and tying up the canes that will 

 form the framework for next season's bearing wood. 

 Keep Ferns and Palms watered and shaded. 

 Dry off slowly Gloxinias that have flowered. 

 This is a good time to transplant from fields and 

 waysides wild flowers with which to dress the distant 

 corners of the garden. Handle them like other peren- 

 nials, but with care so as not to let the roots dry. 

 Mow the lawn less often during hot weather. 

 Are any of your trees decaying inside, or splitting, 

 •or otherwise failing faster than they need? Tree surg- 

 ery accomplishes wonders these days. 



