312 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



June, 1910 



*-.<M> *.£ 



PEMSDS 



Growing Tomatoes in a Small 

 Garden 



MY GARDEN plot is very small, being only 

 15 x 20 ft., but last year I grew in it a 

 sufficient quantity of tomatoes to last me a full 

 twelve months. We planted the seed in a flat box 

 about March 15th, and, when the seedlings were 

 two inches high, transferred them to three and a half- 

 inch paper pots. The more vigorous plants were 

 later shifted to four- and five-inch earthen pots, and 

 all of them were kept out of doors on sunny days 

 and given plenty of water. As our potting soil 

 was not rich and our facilities of the crudest, the 

 plants made no great showing; but even so, they 

 were of quicker growth when set out than the flat- 

 grown plants sold by gardeners. 



On May 20th, we began to set the larger plants 

 in the garden, covering them at night with the pots, 

 for none of them was over four inches high. To 

 support the vines we used four rows of wire netting 

 20 feet long, 3 J feet apart, fastened to cedar spots 

 g inches in diameter and 7 feet long, set 2 J feet in 

 the ground. The netting was 3 feet wide, of 2-inch 

 mesh, and the upper edge was stretched even with 

 the top of the posts. Three intermediate, lighter 

 posts were driven on each line, and the netting fas- 

 tened to them after being stretched tightly between 

 the end posts. 



Twenty-five plants were set along each row of 

 netting; twelve on one side, thirteen on the other, 

 eighteen inches apart, and about four inches from 

 the centre line — that is, the line of the netting. 

 The two rows of plants were, therefore, eight inches 

 apart, with the plants alternating. One double 

 row consisted of Chalk's Early Jewel; the other 

 three of Ponderosa. 



No manure was available, but cultivation was 

 thorough, and we applied fifty pounds of Canadian 

 hard-wood ashes. We set the plants deep, first 



removing the two lower branches, mixed a pint of 

 wood ashes with the surrounding soil, and pressed 

 it down with the foot. For protection against 

 insects we kept them covered with tobacco dust 

 until they began to grow rapidly. When the vines 

 were eighteen inches high, the main stem was tied 

 loosely to the netting; and thereafter, once a week, 

 the vines were pruned and supported from the 

 netting by jute twine or cotton strips. No attempt 

 was made to confine the vines to a single stem; 

 they were allowed to branch moderately and fill 

 the space of eighteen inches allotted to each plant. 

 In height they grew about one foot above the top of 

 the netting, as shown in the photograph, and then 

 were stopped by pruning. 



Thus the vine, which, at maturity, usually covers 

 a considerable circular area on the ground with the 

 fruit underneath, was compelled to grow vertically 

 and flat. As the rows were placed north and south 

 and all leaves shading the fruit were removed 

 weekly, the sun had full play. About one-half the 

 foliage was cut away and, allowed to lie where it 

 fell, served as a mulch. 



After the plants began to grow vigorously culti- 

 vation was discontinued for fear of disturbing 

 the roots, which travel far; we have traced them 

 four feet from the stem, and but three inches under- 

 neath the surface. After the last cultivation we 

 covered the ground between the rows with grass 

 cuttings, and laid boards to walk on to prevent 

 compressing the soil. In times of drouth we soaked 

 in a gallon of water to each plant, weekly, wetting 

 as little as possible of the surface. Watering pots 

 •have no place in a vegetable garden. 



Our crop was so large that besides having a sur- 

 plus over daily consumption, we canned ninety- 

 five quart jars, and had a generous provision of 

 sweet pickle for winter use. We counted eight 

 hundred fruits, which averaged one-half pound each. 

 The largest weighed eighteen ounces. The most 

 convenient size for canning is twelve ounces; for 

 the table six ounces, and they should be served 

 whole, and peeled without scalding. It may be of 

 interest to state that in canning forty-two ounces 

 of unpeeled tomatoes are required to fill a quart jar. 



To secure the best results with canned tomatoes, 

 use fruit before it is dead ripe, while it is still partly 

 green around the stem, and the day it is gathered. 

 Boil slowly thirty minutes. Fill heated jars to 

 overflowing, using a fruit-jar funnel. Use rub- 

 ber bands of the best procurable quality (those 

 sold with the jars are the poorest, and risk is taken 

 in using them), and screw on the caps while hot. 

 Store in a dark, dry, cool place. If the caps are old, 

 make sure they are in sound condition. If the 

 rubber band is cut in screwing on the cap, file away 

 the sharp film in the thread which causes it. 



To open a jar which has been securely sealed, 

 place it, inverted, in a saucepan containing one inch 

 of hot water, on a hot stove, for ten or fifteen min- 

 utes. The jar should stand on a thin strip of wood, 

 and not directly on the bottom of the pan. 



Peekskill, N. Y. C. W. Durham. 



Rose Lessons from English 

 Gardens 



I HAVE perused with much interest and enjoy- 

 ment the twelve articles by Mr. Wilhelm Miller 

 which have appeared in The Garden Magazine 

 under the above heading. The conclusions he 

 arrives at in the December number are so much at 

 variance with what I believe to be the facts that I 

 have wondered whether there are not two, and per- 

 haps a dozen, ways of looking at this gardening 

 question. 



If Mr. Miller's conclusions are correct it looks 

 as if a damper would be thrown on many efforts at 

 gardening along English lines among the thousands 

 of readers of your magazines, both in the United 



A crop of 800 tomatoes averaging one-half pound each was gathered from this backyard garden 15x20 ft. 



Roses like these, measuring three to four inches 

 in diameter, were picked in a Toronto garden all 

 summer and until frost came 



States and in Canada, and this tempts me to make a 

 somewhat feeble protest against some of the con- 

 clusions that, to me, are incorrect in the Decem- 

 ber article. 



Among the statements which Mr. Miller makes 

 are the following: 



i. "There seems almost nothing about the 

 English cottage gardens which I should care to see 

 my countrymen copy." 



I lean to the opinion that we might, with great 

 benefit, to our gardens copy from 75 per cent, to 

 90 per cent, of the ideas and effects which the 

 English gardeners, after several hundred years' 

 experimenting, have adopted. I feel like my friend 

 from Missouri — " show me " something better to 

 aim for than the English cottage garden effects in 

 flowers, and you may then tell us to aim for the sub- 

 stitute; but do not take away our cherished ideals 

 and leave us "up in the air" groping aimlessly for 

 something to strive for and emulate. 



2. "Every cottage is built of permanent material 

 and every cottage is surrounded by fruits, flowers 

 and other forms of living beauty which is enough to 

 explain five-tenths of the American tourists' 

 enthusiasm." 



The illustrations accompanying that statement 

 showed a wooden pergola and four brick houses with 

 shingled roofs, which are not more permanent than 

 can be seen by thousands in Philadelphia, Boston, 

 Toronto and dozens of other cities on this Conti- 

 nent, where people have the tendency to own their 

 own homes. If the owners of these homes had 

 had dozens of examples of good gardening to copy 

 from right in their vicinity, as every English cot- 

 tager has, we would see a marked improvement 

 in their garden effects. So few of the people on this 

 side of the water who can afford to experiment and 

 make beautiful gardens have the leisure, or rather 

 the desire to do so, that the American cottager has 

 few examples, that he can see daily, to stimulate 

 his enterprise to go and do likewise. England 

 and the Continent are full of such lovely examples 

 that the poorest in the land gets his gardening les- 

 sons daily at first hand through his eyes; instead 

 of which his American cousin has to scan the pages 

 of his seed catalogue for his ideas, provided his 

 ideas have progressed sufficiently along the garden 

 road to possess the aforementioned seed catalogue. 



