May, 1910 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



241 



A Vacant Lot Made to Blossom 



LAST spring the boys of the Wallach School 

 started a garden. A real estate agent gave 

 them the use of a lot 18 x 125 feet, a lot not 

 altogether desirable. As it is located between two 

 houses, the southern side is in shadow almost the 

 entire day. Then, as it is the only unimproved 

 lot in the neighborhood it had been used as a dump- 

 ing ground. The weeds and trash were removed 

 at much expense. 



There are two sixth grades in the Wallach School, 

 and in order to benefit as many as possible both 

 classes were assigned gardens here. Two boys 

 were put to each plot, thus giving each individual 

 about forty square feet, entirely too small a space 

 for a twelve-year-old boy. A path four feet wide 

 divided the two schools. One class of twenty boys 

 worked once a week from nine to half-past ten; the 

 other class of twenty-three from half-past ten until 

 twelve. The planting was uniform, a row of 

 nasturtiums bordering the path, a row of radishes 

 and parsley sown together, two rows of string beans, 

 five tomato plants — the dwarf Stone, and last a 

 row of lima beans trained on the houses and the 

 fences in the rear. All of the staking of plots was 

 done by the boys and the measuring of lines for 

 the rows. Each boy was furnished with a rake and 

 a Dutch hoe. These were kept in a tool box at 

 the rear of the yard. 



When vacation came the work was volunteer 

 work. Where there had been two boys to a plot 

 there was now one who volunteered to continue 

 during the summer. The crop returns show a total 

 of: tomatoes, 13 pecks; string beans, 14% pecks; 

 radishes, 146 bunches; lima beans, 32 quarts; 

 nasturtiums in abundance. 



The market value of these crops is probably 

 about one-third of the expense of preparing the 

 land. But the benefit to the boys cannot be meas- 

 ured commercially. 



Washington, D. C. Stjsan Sipe, 



Supervisor of Gardens. 



Things to be Attended To at Once 



READ over not only the following reminder, but 

 the one on the first page of the magazine. 



(1) Be sure the soil of the seed bed is fine, free 

 from all lumps before any planting. 



(2) Sow seeds of hardy flowers. 



(3) Transplant from the frame those vegetables, 

 like cabbage, which can stand frost, if hardened 

 to it. 



(4) Cannas may be planted. 



(5) Watch the hot beds and cold frames care- 

 fully on account of sudden changes in the weather. 



(6) Cover the pea seedlings with chicken wire 

 if the sparrows bother. 



(7) Do not plant too soon. When the ground is 

 cold and damp nothing is gained. But the garden 

 itself should be already for planting. 



(8) Be ready for the Arbor Day tree planting. 



(9) Pick out shrubs from the table in last month's 

 magazine. This table gives you help so that color 

 effect may be worked out. If you wish color in the 

 winter choose Berberis vulgaris or the common 

 barberry. If you wish color in the early spring 

 Forsyth ia suspensa. Weigela is the shrub which 

 flowers best under trees. The shrub table will 

 give you all the information you need. 



(10) Consult this planting table. Know it: 



III the Wallach garden observe lima beans trained 

 to side of house 



OUTDOOR PLANTING TABLE 



Name 



Beans (bush) 

 Beets . . 

 Cabbage . 

 Corn . . 

 Lettuce 

 Muskmelon. 

 Onion 

 Parsley- 

 Pepper 

 Potato 

 Pumpkin 

 Radish 

 Tomato 

 Turnip 



Deptl 



to 



Plant 



2 



in. 



1* 



in. 



k 



m. 



i* 



in. 



h 



in. 



1 



in. 



\ 



in. 



h 



in. 



i 



in. 



5 



in. 



1* 



in. 



i 



in. 



*-i 



in. 



I 



in. 







Distance Apart of 

 A. Seeds B. Furrows 



12-20 



in. 



4-9 



in. 



20—24 



in. 



3 

 6-8 



ft. 

 in. 



4-6 ft. 



4-12 



in. 



6 



in. 



18 



in. 



12-18 



in. 



8-10 



ft. 



3 

 3 

 6 



in. 



ft. 

 in. 



3 ft- 



12-15 in. 



3 ft- 



3-4 ft. (hills) 

 12-18 in. 



4-6 ft. (hills) 

 10-12 in. 



1 ft. 



2 ft. 

 24-36 in. (hills) 



8-10 ft. (hills) 

 6-8 in. 



3 ft. (hills) 

 12 in. 



Suggestions for Schools 



IF YOU have a north corner why not start a wild- 

 flower garden. Have the boys bring black 

 soil from the woods. Transplant ferns into this. 

 Pick out the wild flowers you wish and transplant 

 after their blossoming time into this garden. Plants 

 which will give a continuous round of blossoms 

 throughout the season are hepatica, violet, saxifrage, 

 columbine, anemone, false Solomon's seal, wake 

 robin, bell flower, bluet, meadow rue and aster. 

 There are many others. Work up your own wild- 

 flower garden. If the soil is rich and black from 

 the woods you should have no trouble. 



Plant dwarf nasturtium on strips of land close to 

 the building. Where soil is poor you can grow 

 cornflowers. They stand all sorts of soil adversity. 



If your building is of brick break the monotony 

 of its walls with the ampelopsis vine. 



The California privet is the fastest-growing 

 hedge plant. If you prefer a break of fast-growing 

 trees use the poplar. 



The children should be quite familiar with their 

 garden spaces, the seeds they are to plant and the 

 method of planting before they go into the real 

 garden. This offers good live work along lines of 

 arithmetic, language and spelling. 



For turning over of soil in small gardens, the spad- 

 ing fork is tool sufficient. The large garden needs 



the plow. Spade flown to the limit of the fork's 

 prongs, working into the soil barn-yard manure. 

 Break up all lumps and rake the ground until 

 perfectly fine and smooth. Chemical fertilizer in 

 the form of phosphates acts on soil as a tonic docs 

 on the appetite. The barn-yard dressing docs not 

 act as quickly on the plants but has more lasting 

 value. So it is good to use both kinds of fertilizer 

 on the school garden. 



If you have no way to provide for summer care 

 then why not plant radish and lettuce at school? 

 You will get results from these before the vacation. 

 Then you can leave the school garden all cleaned 

 up after having obtained one crop. Throw the 

 rest of the work into the children's own back yards. 



One way to have great masses of brilliant and 

 not very harmonious color in one garden is to break 

 these clashing colors with masses of white or green. 

 The white might be white asters, or, if low-border 

 plants will do, then use sweet alyssum or candy- 

 tuft. Mignonette, being so nearly all green, gives 

 at a distance an all-green effect, and so may well be 

 used to break up unpleasing color combinations. 

 Wide paths between garden spots also help. 

 Although at a distance the paths lose outline and 

 seem almost to disappear. 



The country school problem is usually that of 

 improvement of grounds. Clean up your property, 

 plant trees, fix the streets and gutters. If there are 

 unsightly outbuildings, cover these with vines. 

 Morning glories and climbing nasturtiums grow fast. 



Suggestions for the Older Boys 

 and Girls 



IT IS a good plan to take a strip of land at home 

 and see what you can make out of it. One 

 can estimate the value of his crop without necessarily 

 selling his products. For example, take a piece of land 

 and plant to potatoes. See just how much money 

 your actual yield would bring at market prices. 

 Or, see who can raise the finest, most perfect corn. 



Here is a good experiment. Take two pieces of 

 land the same size, but not so near together that 

 rains will wash the soil of one plot on to the other. 

 Send to your nearest experiment station for inocu- 

 lated soil. Spread it evenly over the top of one of 

 the plots. Do not inoculate the other. Plant the 

 same number of beans on each plot. See from 

 which plot you get the most and best beans. Or 

 get the bacteria and inoculate the seeds yourself. 



Did you ever try raising flax, cotton or other 

 fibre plants? 



If you think the soil of the garden plot is acid, 

 make a chemical test. This is done in the following 

 manner. Get some blue litmus paper at the drug 

 store. Ten cents' worth is enough for many tests. 

 Touch a piece of it with vinegar. Notice that acid 

 turns blue litmus red. Get a small sample of earth 

 from your garden plot. Wet a piece of litmus and 

 bury in this soil. Leave for a time. If when you 

 take it out the paper has turned red, you know 

 the soil is acid. Sweeten the garden plot with that 

 soil sweetener, lime. 



Contest Bulletin. — Let us hear of your results 

 in bulb-growing even if you are not entirely satis- 

 fied and dropped out of the contest. It is not a bit 

 too early to register for the 1910 Garden Contest. 

 Write and find out full particulars concerning the 

 conditions of the contest and the prizes offered. 



The proposed garden spot must be cleaned of all rubbish 

 before plowing or spading 



String off the seed bed and rake it fine, 

 breaking up all lumps 



Measure off carefully the place for each row, drive ic 

 stakes, and string across 



