The Garden Magazine 



Vol. IX— No. 1 



Published Monthly 



FEBRUARY, 1909 



One Dollar a Year 

 Fifteen Cents a Copy 



[For the purpose of reckoning dates, New York is 

 generally taken as a standard. Allow six days' diffeience 

 for every hundred miles of latitude.] 



Make Your Seed Lists Now 



THE most important thing to do this 

 month is to make out your seed list. 

 Figure out the quantities of each kind wanted, 

 particularly vegetables, make your plans 

 well in advance, and err rather on the side 

 of buying too much seed than too little. In 

 very few cases will it be lost; any large sur- 

 plus can be held unti lnext year. 



Send for the catalogues, they are ready by 

 this time, and make a judicious selection of 

 the season's novelties. Don't rely upon the 

 novelties for your main supplies of flowers 

 or vegetables, but you should always try 

 out a few each year, and once in a while you 

 will find something particularly adapted to 

 your special requirements, although it may 

 not please your next-door neighbor. 



TESTING THE VITALITY 



If you have any old seed as to the vitality 

 of which you are doubtful, it is very easy to 

 test it. Count out a number of seeds so that the 

 percentage of germination can be told. Place 

 these test seeds in a shallow basin or flower- 

 pot saucer, spreading them out and keeping 

 them moist. Or they may be placed on a 

 sheet of blotting paper on an ordinary plate. 



Kept moist, and in an ordinary living- 

 room, the seeds will germinate in a few days. 

 Quicker results will be had by putting the 

 test saucer in the greenhouse. If the seeds 

 start irregularly and take an unduly long 

 time, better discard the whole lot and buy 

 fresh. And remember that seeds are, after 

 all, the least expensive item in making the 

 garden. Always buy the best seeds that the 

 trade offers. Low-priced seed will give low- 

 quality crops. 



WORK FOR THE HOTBED 



This month is the time when one appreci- 

 ates the possession of a hotbed. While 



everybody can't have a greenhouse, there is 

 nobody who has a garden of any sort who can 

 honestly excuse himself for not having a 

 hotbed. The only thing that is necessary 

 is a few glazed sash to cover the beds. The 

 frames or sides may be made of any sort of 

 old lumber. Full directions for making 

 hotbeds have been given in The Garden 

 Magazine for March, 1905. Earlier and 

 more tender vegetables can be raised in a 

 hotbed. 



By the middle of March all of these crops 

 should be under way: Spinach, dwarf peas, 

 beans, radishes, lettuces, beets. No matter 

 if you devote all the available space to the 

 slower-growing, larger crops, catch crops 

 of radishes, mustard, cress, and other 

 salads can be had by intercropping. By 

 the end of the month seeds of tomatoes 

 and peppers should be started for trans- 

 planting later. 



You can gain a month on nearly all the 

 vegetable crops by starting seeds in the hot- 

 beds during Februray. 



THE GARDEN SITE 



Did you ever notice that some parts of 

 the garden are colder than others — that the 

 snow and ice hang there longer? This is of 

 some importance in making the plans for 

 your vegetable garden. No matter how 

 small the garden, there will be some 

 differences to note. By selecting the part 

 best sheltered from cold winds, but well 

 exposed to the sun, especially on the south 

 side, you can gain a week in outdoor sowings. 

 Lightening a heavy soil by adding ashes or 

 sand will also help wonderfully. Reserve 

 the heavier and wetter portions for planting 

 to celery. 



STARTING THE FLOWER GARDEN 



All hardy annuals can be sown indoors 

 now or in the hotbed, and seedlings will be 

 ready for transplanting as soon as the ground 

 is warmed up. Half-hardy annuals, such 

 as China aster, gaillardia, cobea, dahlia, 

 pansy, caster-oil weed, should all be sown 

 in head during this month. Start up canna 

 roots; otherwise you will not get flowers 

 until quite late in the summer. 



If you want more bedding stock — gerani- 

 ums, coleus, and such like — propagate 

 rapidly now. 



Hyacinths and other bulbs that were potted 

 in the fall should now be coming along, and 

 can be brought into a cool place and full 

 light, either in the window garden or in the 

 greenhouse. 



If you want the most effective and surest 

 plant for a flower-bed in a shaded corner, 

 get tuberous begonias. You can buy dor- 

 mant roots during February, placing them in 



flats in gentle heat, and have them ready with 

 growth started for planting out when the 

 weather becomes warmer. 



Look over the fruit trees and shrubs with a 

 view to pruning any that really need it. 

 Always do this work before the buds start. 



Newly transplanted stock should have 

 been cut back at least one-third. If this 

 was omitted, do it now. Remember that 

 flowering shrubs must be pruned after they 

 have flowered; therefore, it is only safe now 

 to prune those kinds which flower on the new 

 wood. 



FEED THE SOIL 



Of course, you cannot get maximum crops 

 in poor soil. This month is the best 

 possible time for spreading stable manure, 

 especially in the vegetable garden. Spread 

 it evenly over the surface at any time, and the 

 digging in may be left until later. 



Look over stored root crops in the cellar. 

 With the approach of spring they are liable 

 to rot rapidly. Open the cellar doors on 

 all fine days and admit as much air as 

 possible. Pick out and destroy diseased 

 specimens. 



If the parsley in the garden was killed 

 during the winter — or, as sometimes happens, 

 eaten by mice — sow seed in heat toward 

 the end of February, so as to have vigorous 

 plants ready for planting out as soon as the 

 weather is favorable. Soak the seed for 

 twenty-four hours in warm water — 90 

 degrees or so. 



GROW SOME NASTURTIUMS 



If you want an annual that is the easiest 

 to grow, adapted to all kinds of situations, 

 and suitable for both foliage and flower 

 effects, the nasturtiums will surely satisfy 

 you. The recent improvements are remark- 

 able. (See page 15.) 



Both the seeds and the young plants of 

 the nasturtium are sufficiently hardy, so that 

 the plantings may be made early in the 

 spring, when the maple trees are starting out 

 in leaf, or as soon as the soil can be properly 

 prepared. This early planting gives a long 

 season of bloom, starting early in the 

 summer and continuing until the plants 

 are killed by heavy frosts late in the fall. 

 After cool weather comes in the fall the 

 flowers become larger and the and the hues 

 of the mottled or parti-colored varieties are 

 much more brilliant. 



A well-rotted compost or manure dug into 

 the beds the previous fall will give the best 

 results with this flower, as a too generous 

 supply of fresh manure put in the ground in 

 the spring will cause a rank growth of vine 

 and foliage and will greatly delay the period 

 of bloom. 



