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THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



October. 1910 



Getting the Better of Early Frost 



OCTOBER is clearing-up month in the garden. 

 Don't think this is a job that you can skip, 

 and expect to come out lucky in spring. Clean the 

 ground thoroughly, clearing away all refuse. Burn 

 what will burn, and don't leave any lying around 

 to decay and breed insects and pests of all kinds. It 

 is not too late to sow rye in all ground that is cleared; 

 but if you were troubled to any great extent with 

 worms of various kinds last season, I would advise 

 trenching the ground in preference. Trench deep, 

 but wait until you are likely to have a sharp freezing 

 spell shortly after doing so. The trenches should 

 be about two feet deep and the same distance apart. 



Usually about the first or second week in October 

 we have a killing frost. This lays low all tender 

 vegetables, such as beans, corn, etc. Then a few 

 weeks of good weather is likely to follow. It seems 

 a great mistake to let this first frost rob us of our 

 gardens. When you are confronted by steady 

 freezing weather you must throw up your hands, 

 but there are ways and means of preventing this 

 first frost from entirely ruining the garden. Beans, 

 lettuce, corn, bush limas, and all tender vegetables 

 can be saved from destruction by a covering of 

 burlap, and a pepper or egg plant by a barrel or an 

 old box, and they will last a long time. In some 

 gardens a smudge fire is used. The fire is always 

 placed to the windward of the garden. This 

 matter was taken up in detail in The Garden 

 Magazine for October, 1909. 



Don't house your celery now; it is apt to get 

 tough and stringy. If you place it in trenches be- 

 fore very cool weather is here, it is likely to rot. If 

 you leave it out-of-doors it gets nipped with the frost, 

 and while celery can stand considerable frost (in 

 fact, frost improves its flavor), it cannot stand heavy 

 freezing, especially if the sun hits it right after it 

 has been frozen. I have a scheme which I have 

 tried for two seasons, and it works to perfection. I 

 never store my celery before the middle of Novem- 

 ber, but during the early frosts of late October and 

 early November I cover it with salt hay. I don't 

 leave the hay on the plants. I always remove it 

 the next morning; in fact, there are few nights when 

 it is necessary to put it on, but those few nights are 

 just enough to ruin a nice batch of celery. By 

 this method I don't need to store mv celery before 



Trench, tlie garden to improve the soil, but dig 

 deeper than is shown here 



the ground gets cool and the crop is well hardened 

 up, and the cool nights have put flavor into the stalks 

 that can't be done any other way. Celery thus 

 hardened and handled will never deteriorate one 

 particle; I take celery from the trenches in March 

 that is just as solid and as fine as when placed there. 



Some of the root crops can be stored during 

 October. Beets, carrots, salsify, etc., can all be 

 lifted now, the tops removed with a knife, and 

 placed in trenches for the winter. Don't do this 

 during wet weather, as root crops should go into 

 the trenches, dry — that is, there should be no 

 outside moisture on the roots, or they would decay. 

 I always store my root vegetables in outdoor 

 trenches. Some growers put them in the cellar; 

 they keep well there, but are apt to dry out con- 

 siderably and thus lose a certain amount of their 

 flavor. By storing in trenches, although perhaps a 

 little more troublesome, the vegetables are kept 

 moist and therefore retain their good qualities. 

 In fact, after cooking I defy any one to tell me the 

 difference between a fresh grown beet and one taken 

 from an outside trench. 



To prepare a trench, dig a space the size required 

 about three feet deep and place the vegetables in 

 fixed places, so you will know later on where they 

 are. Save room for parsnips and turnips, as these 

 two vegetables should be left out until they have 

 been frosted to get their best flavor. Then cover 

 with about one foot of hay and sprinkle a little dirt 

 over this to keep it down. As cold weather advances 

 keep adding some hay and a little dirt — leaves will 

 do just as well — and always sprinkle some dirt in 

 among the vegetables before covering them up, as 

 this helps to keep them moist. 



Long Island. W. C. McCollom. 



TEditor's Note: Next month the storijig of 

 celery for the winter will be taken up. This is art im- 

 portant point that very amateur should know ahoiit.^ 



Bulbs for California Gardens 



EVERY one who has a garden in California 

 should grow bulbs — plenty of them and 

 lots of kinds — for the climate and conditions 

 particularly suit them. Planted best in October and 

 November when the ground can easily be put into 

 condition after the first rains, they grow right through 

 the winter, bothered neither by birds nor insects, 

 are easily weeded, and bloom gloriously f om Jan- 

 uary to June. As their growth is made during the 

 rains, there is required little or no care in watering, 

 and if planted in the wilder parts of the garden 

 they may be left to ripen their foliage undisturbed, 

 until their summer rest is over and they come up 

 again. Unless you are out for experience, don't 

 try planting bulbs in open beds in geometrical 

 patterns, as is so often done in parks in the East, 

 for in California the sun is so strong they succeed 

 much better in the filtered shade of deciduous trees, 

 in orchards, in borders, or banked around houses. 



Taking them in order of blooming, Narcissus 

 Tazetta comes first, as, when planted in the 

 open ground, where they are quite hardy. Paper 

 White will bloom by Christmas, and other varieties 

 like Grand Monarque, Mont Cenis, and Queen of 

 the "S'ellows follow in January and early February. 

 All these are much better than the Chinese Sacred 

 lily, which is quite an inferior narcissus. 



The campernelle jonquil (Rugulosus) comes 

 next with two or three pretty daffodil-like flowers 

 on each stem. Then follow the real daffodils, 

 which do well even in the heaviest adobe soils. 

 For a selection try Golden Spur, early yellow trum- 

 pet; Victoria, early white with yellow trumpet; 

 Emperor, later yellow trumpet; Empress, its com- 

 panion, white and yellow trumpet; Sir Watkin, fine 

 early robust, yellow medium cup; Stella Superba, 

 white and yellow cup; Barrii Conspicuus, late 

 yellow with orange cup, rimmed scarlet if it opens 

 in the shade; Mrs. Langtry, late white cup; or 

 Leedsii; and Poeticus Ornatus, the earlier variety 

 of pheasant eye. These are all cheap, tried kinds; 

 and if some of the earlier ones are given a southern 

 exposure and some of the later ones a northern, it 

 is quite easy to have daffodils for two months. 



Early-flowering tulips are the most disappoint- 

 ing bulbs you can grow in California. When a 

 warm spell comes in February they think it is 



spring, come at once to the surface, and are forced 

 into bloom on stems about an inch long. There- 

 fore leave alone early tulips and plant the Darwins 

 and the late cottage tulips which do well and make 

 long stems if grown in tempered sunlight. Try 

 the effect of a hundred crimson Gesneriana Major 

 planted in the shade of a shrubbery border, a dainty 

 planting of white and pink edged Picotee or yellow 

 Retroflexa along a path, or clumps of fine named 

 Darwins in the border. 



Hyacinths, like tulips and daffodils, should be 

 planted about four inches deep and six inches apart, 

 but it is well to remember that their stiff formality 

 is not very suitable to natural planting and that 

 they lack the permanency desirable in bulbs, in- 

 variably deteriorating after the first year, and 

 finally dying out. 



Among the undeservedly less planted bulbs are 

 the Spanish and English iris, bulbous varietie.s 

 which bridge in the gap between the German and 

 Japanese, and give over three months of iris bloom 

 between them all. Named varieties of Spanish 

 iris, like King of the Blues, Chrysolora, or British 

 Queen, can be bought at $1 or less a hundred. 

 Planted three inches deep, and six inches apart in the 

 sun if you want April bloom or on the north side of 

 the house for later flowers, they will do well either 

 in sandy soil or adobe, and increase until they 

 have to be divided. Rather than plant mixtures, 

 try clumps of one good color or broad plantings of 

 harmonizing or contrasting shades. Some one 

 who has a nice dried-up arroyo on his property 

 should plant a few thousand on the sides. The 

 English iris gives somewhat larger and broader 

 flowers in colors ranging from white through fine 

 blue to violet; but as it is less free and robust in 

 growth, needs more water and is much more ex- 

 pensive, it is more grown for the beauty of its 

 individual flowers than for garden pictures. 



All the South African bulbs seem to thrive in 

 California, are quite hardy outdoors in winter, 

 and enjoy the baking they get all summer. Indeed, 

 freesias, ixias, and tritonias often seed, and I have 

 seen large natural groups formed in that way. 

 The large summer-flowering gladioli are planted 

 either in the autumn or spring, or both if you want 

 a succession of bloom; but the early Gladiolus Col- 

 villei and the 7ianus or dwarf varieties should be 

 planted from October to December. The white 

 Colvillei, the Bride, grows tall and graceful, and is 

 as beautiful in masses in the garden as it is when 

 cut for decoration; but varieties like Blushing 

 Bride and Peach Blossom, because of their dwarf 

 growth and delicate flowers, are at their best when 

 cut, as they open more beautifully in a room than 

 in the hot sun. 



Ixias are only being discovered for outdoor use, 

 yet they are cheap, easily grown in the lighter soils, 

 and make pretty pictures with their lovely spikes 

 of starry, dark-eyed flowers on long wiry stems. 

 They can be had in yellow, white, red, and inter- 

 vening shades and take up so little room that they 

 may be planted among daffodils and in April 

 brighten up the place that had passed out of bloom 

 a month before. 



Cal. Sidney B. Mitchell. 



Cover the celery with hay to prevent freezing and 

 to retain flavor 



