92 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



March, 1911 



Vertical Flower Beds 



LAST summer the stony face of my all but 

 vertical flower bed fairly cracked into 

 smiles of color and fragrance. A hundred foot 

 wall bounds part of the eastern side of my place, 

 but toward the front where the hill is lower, the 

 mortar-laid wall gives place to one merely piled 

 up, sloping back into the bank of earth and planted 

 up and down its face, and over its top, with low- 

 growing, rock-loving plants. The very stones 

 have a sentimental value, having been the founda- 

 tions of an old family residence, and I laid most 

 of this dry wall with my own hands, placing in 

 the rooted plants as I built up the strata. The 

 main requirements are to have the strata slope 

 backward into the bank to conserve the rainfall 

 about the roots; and to have the filling earth 

 packed so tightly that there will be no slipping 

 of the wall nor any empty pockets where roots 

 might penetrate only to die from lack of 

 nourishment. 



For successful planting one must cram, jam, 

 tread, and then put a stone over part of the roots! 

 Use plenty of gravel, strewing it over the surface 

 and crowding it into the cracks. It keeps the 

 surface soil cool, and allows the dew and rain to 

 percolate to the roots. Bits of old mortar are 

 capital food for the rock garden. 



Half shade is the ideal, but seldom attained. 

 The part of my dry wall next the steps is heavily 

 shaded by a big spruce, and there grow half a 

 dozen varieties of ferns, Kenilworth ivy, aubretia, 

 arabis and primulas, forget-me-nots and colum- 

 bines. Next comes the half-shaded portion where 

 early iris, dwarf campanulas, gypsophilas, hardy 

 pinks, silenes, thrift and yellow alyssum revel; 

 and next the sunny part where erodiums, thyme 

 and helianthemums luxuriate, as well as stachys, 

 sedums, cerastium, white Phlox subulata, and 

 gray-leaved lavender-cotton which glorifies some 

 magenta ragged-robins blooming up into them. 



On top of the dryest and hottest bit of the wall 

 where Iris reticulata, scilla and puschkinias grow 

 in April, I sow portulaca seed in June, only the 

 double rose and white varieties; and they make 

 a continual glory till cut off by frost. 



Captain John Smith, in 1614, made a "garden 

 upon the top of a rocky ile." I hope it gave him 

 half the pleasure my vertical rock garden affords 

 me and my friends; 



Ohio. 



Five 

 the 



Lucy Elliot Keeler. 



Crops of Vegetables From 

 Same Plot in One Season 



THE average amateur gardener is apt to be 

 quite content if he succeeds in growing two 

 crops of vegetables on the same ground in one 

 season, but we got five crops last year. Unusually 

 favorable weather had something to do with this 

 particular case, but with a little care in the way 

 of protection from frost the same results might 

 be attained in a normal season. 



A strip of ground five feet wide by a hundred 

 and fifty feet long was chosen for our "extra 

 intensive" experiment. It lay along one side of 

 the vegetable garden where stable manure had 

 been used liberally for a number of years, conse- 



together in rows eighteen inches apart. Three 

 rows on the 5-foot strip gave a total length of 450 

 feet of row. Ample space was left on either side 

 of the strip for cultivation with the wheel hoe. 

 The radish seed germinated quickly and in a few 

 days the plants were up sufficiently to mark the 

 rows. With a weeder attached to the wheel hoe 

 the soil was stirred frequently to discourage young 

 weeds and to keep the surface soil loose. The 

 beet was slower to germinate and appear. They 

 grew well for a while; then came a cold snap and 

 we were forced to protect the plants by setting 

 up 12-inch boards along each side of the strip, 

 stretching muslin over the rows. 



The first radishes were pulled April 10th. The sur- 

 plus was tiedin to bunches and sc Id to the grocer. The 

 crop at the end of two weeks was 3 2 dozen bunches, 

 worth, at the grocer's price, over three dollars. 



The cabbage plants of Early Louisville Drum- 

 head which had been started indoors in the kitchen 

 window, were put out-of-doors April 16th, in 

 the two outside rows of beets, two feet apart in 

 the row, the beets being pulled up to make room 

 for them. The muslin curtain was used every 

 night to guard against sudden cold. A freeze on 

 April 23rd, and cool weather following, retarded 

 the beets, so that it was May 25th before the first 

 roots were pulled. We found ready sale for our 







QUANTITY 



DATE 



EIRST 



LAST 







VEGETABLE 



VARIETY 











YIELD 



VALUE 







PLANTED 



PLANTED 



USED 



USED 







f Radish 



Cincinnati 



3 rows 



March 4 



April 10 



April 26 



32 doz. 





I 



Market 



(450 feet) 









bunches 



$ 3- 20 



I Beet 



Crimson 



3 rows 



March 4 



May 25 



June 26 



24 doz. 







Globe 



(450 feet) 









bunches 



4.80 



2 Cabbage 



Early 



150 



April 16 



July 7 



Aug. 12 



122 







Drumhead 



plants 









heads 



5-25 



3 Cucumber 



White 

 Spine 



24 hills 



June 20 



Aug. 16 



Aug. 20 



250 

 pickles 



■75 



4 Bush Beans 



Speckled 



2 rows 



Aug. 20 



Oct. 22 



Oct. 28 



3V2 







Valentine 



(300 feet) 









pecks 



1 -05 



Total value, $15.05 



Table showing the succession, yield, etc.. of the five-cropped plot. The vegetables are numbered in the 



order in which they were grown 



quently the soil was well supplied with humus 

 and readily available plant food. But, believing 

 that it is scarcely possible to make the ground too 

 rich, another coat of manure was given late in 

 February and plowed under as soon as the ground 

 was in workable condition. A spike-toothed 

 harrow followed the plow, mellowing and fining 

 the soil until it was an ideal seed bed. 



Planting began March 4th with Cincinnati 

 Market radish and Crimson Globe beet sowed 



An ideal place for a rock garden is a rocky, sloping bank like 



all summer 



this. Here a succession of flowers is had 



surplus among the neighbors and at the grocery 

 store. As we wanted the ground cleared as 

 quickly as possible the beets were all pulled while 

 small. As those next the cabbages were pulled, 

 poultry manure was worked into the soil about 

 each cabbage plant. In the middle row enough 

 beets had been removed by June 20th to make 

 room for 24 hills of White Spine cucumber, spaced 

 six feet apart. Twelve seeds were planted in each 

 hill, but only four strong plants allowed to grow. 



Just about this time the striped beetle made its 

 appearance on the plants. We sprayed with 

 arsenate of lead at once, also sprayed the cab- 

 bages, which were heading up nicely but suffering 

 from the green cabbage worm. The spraying 

 kept the worms well in check but was less successful 

 against the beetle. July 7th, a few fine solid heads 

 of cabbage were cut. Some plants failed to head 

 up and these we fed to the poultry; but from the 

 150 plants we obtained 122 marketable heads. 



The ravages of blight, added to attacks of the 

 striped beetle, damaged the cucumber vines so 

 badly that we pulled them up and burned them 

 after they had been bearing a few days, the net 

 result from the 24 hills being about 250 pickles, 

 worth thirty cents a hundred. Having the ground 

 clear- earlier than we had anticipated it was de- 

 cided to try a late planting of bush beans instead 

 of lettuce as we had at first intended. After 

 stirring the ground with the wheel hoe Round 

 Podded Speckled Valentine beans were planted 

 August 20th. They were frequently cultivated 

 and grew rapidly until the cool weather of October 

 checked them somewhat. Preparations had been 

 made to protect them from frost, but favorable 

 weather continued and we picked a few string 

 beans October 22nd. We protected them at 

 night, but a heavy frost and freeze killed them on 

 the 20th. We had gathered three and one-half 

 pecks in the week. 



Ohio. Nat. S. Greene. 



