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Potting and Repotting Plants 



TT IS not necessary to buy plants each 

 -'- fall for the classroom. Even though 

 the school garden affords little material 

 for the potting of plants, neighborhood 

 house-gardens are usually open to school 

 people. Then, too, use the park board 

 gardens. Every fall there is material 

 thrown aside in these gardens which might 

 better be handed over to the schools. 



First to be considered in potting is a 

 good soil. One may use garden loam 

 if it has considerable humus or vegetable 

 matter in it. If not, try making your 

 own soil mixture. For this use equal 

 parts of rotted sod, leaf mold, well decayed 

 horse manure and sand. 



If the sod is well rotted it will contain 

 no large pieces of sod matter. If it is 

 coarse, sift through one of those sieves 

 the boys have made. 



Pot according to the following directions: 

 First place a bit of curved pot or shell over 

 the drainage hole in the pot. This leaves 

 free drainage through the hole, but does 

 not clog it up as a bit of stone might do. 

 Next put in small stones or bits of pot. 

 There should be ^ in. to 2 in. of this 

 material according to the size of the pot. 



Place a layer of the coarse siftings over 

 this and then the fine soil. The coarser 

 soil keeps the finer from setthng down 

 too low in the pot. 



In taking up a plant to pot, be sure to 

 take up all the roots and some soil with 

 them. If the weather is dry, water the 

 soil about the plant before lifting it. 

 Watered about nine in the morning, plants 

 are ready to be taken up about three in 

 the afternoon. 



Hold the plant in the pot so that the 

 roots lie naturally. Throw in a little 

 soil at a time with the hand. Work the 

 plant up and down a bit, filling in soil as 

 you do this. Thus the potting will be 

 firmly done. Do not place soil clear up 

 to the top of the pot. Always leave at 

 least one-half inch space for watering. 

 For if the soil is too near the top, watering 

 becomes a dirty, messy piece of work. 



Finally put the soil firmly about the 

 stalk of the plant. One should be able 

 to lift up the plant, pot and all, by the 

 plant stem without disturbing the plant 

 at all. 



■5 GARDENS 



NOVEMBER WOULD SEEM TO BE A 

 MONTH IN WHICH TO LET THE GAR- 

 DEN REST-BUT THINK OF THE 

 HOUSE PLANTS, THE WINDOW BOX 

 AND EVEN BELATED BULB WORK! 

 SO GARDENING IS FOR ALL SEASONS 



Conducted by 



ELLEN EDDY SHAW 



New York 



Do not make the mistake of using too 

 large pots. Most people do. Go to the 

 florist's shop and notice the relation of 

 size of plant to size of pot. Almost all 

 one can say is this: do not have a top- 

 heavy effect. Arid, again, the pot should 

 not be so large that it looks as if it were 

 swallowing the small plant. 



How can one tell when a plant needs 

 repotting? One way is to tip the pot 

 upside down to see if the roots are poking 

 through and out of the bottom of the pot. 

 But this is not quite test enough, for one 

 should be certain that the roots are simply 

 filling the pot and cannot endure con- 

 ditions longer before repotting. Now, 

 roots will poke through the drainage 

 hole before this condition is reached. 

 But if the roots are poking up through the 

 top soil just doubling on themselves, 

 then repotting time is at hand. 



Always repot a plant into a jar one 

 size only larger that the pot it is in. Many 

 people put a plant into too large a pot 

 and wonder why the plant does not do 

 well. All potted plants are in restricted 

 quarters when compared with outside 

 conditions. So keep them cramped and 

 their strength goes to top growth as one 

 wishes. 



To remove a plant from its pot invert 

 it with one hand holding it. Lightly 

 hold the plant stalk between the thumb 



First put in plenty of drainage, tlien Iiold the 

 plant in position and fill in tlie soil 



180 



and index finger. This leaves the palm 

 space for the soil to rest on. Now strike 

 the bottom and sides of the pot with a 

 trowel. The plant with ball of earth. 

 and roots should slip easily out of the pot. 



If the roots hold entangled within their 

 clasp, bits of the old drainage material 

 remove these. This will leave a space 

 in the root area which should be filled in 

 with good soil before repotting. 



Do not get a mania for repotting. Do 

 this only if it is necessary. 



The Window Box 



r^RAINAGE, or lack of it, is the bug- 

 ^—^ aboo of the window box. If the 

 school window box and all others could 

 have perfect drainage, the results would 

 take care of themselves. 



In every square foot of space on the 

 bottom of the box, plan to bore six drain- 

 age holes. Does that seem too many? 

 It is not. 



Put curved pieces of old flower pot over 

 the holes. Then fill in two inches of 

 drainage material, such as stone, bits of 

 pot and shell. Pieces of charcoal dropped 

 here and there along this layer help sweeten 

 the soil mass above. Few of us have the 

 florists' sphagnum moss, which might well 

 come next. But a layer of straw or thin 

 sod might go on in place of this, and then 

 the soil. The potting soil suggested in 

 another article is an equally good one 

 for window-box work. 



It is wise to start the window box early 

 in the fall, and leave it outdoors awhile. 

 Thus the plants get quite at home in 

 their new cramped quarters before they 

 have the second shock of the classroom 

 atmosphere. 



Of course, when the matter of plants to 

 go in the window box arises, every one 

 votes first, last, and always for geraniums. 

 Why shouldn't we? The geranium stands 

 more abuse than any other plant. And 

 under the worst of conditions it cheer- 

 fully blossoms. Fuchsias, begonias, candy- 

 tuft and alyssum, flowering maple or 

 abutilon, dracaena, and the cocos palm all 

 do well in the window box. Wandering 

 Jew and vincas look well trailing over 

 the edge of the box. English ivy may be 

 trained up the side of a window, for instance. 



Perhaps the best begonias for sunless 



