The Garden Magazine 



Vol. X— No. 3 



Published Monthly 



OCTOBER, 1909 



One Dollar a Year 



Fifteen Cents a Copy 



Double Numbers Twenty-Five Cents 



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[For the purpose of reckoning dates, New York is 

 generally taken as a standard. Allow six days' difference 

 for every hundred miles of latitude.] 



Do All the Gardening You Can 

 in the Fall 



1V/TORE important gardening opportun- 

 -!-▼-*• ities are missed between September 

 15th and October 15th than during any- 

 other month in the year. 



The greatest opportunity of all is to cut 

 out the spring rush. Vegetable and flower 

 seeds must be sown in spring and this work 

 alone is enough to keep everyone busy then. 



Three-fourths of all other planting can 

 be done as well or better in the autumn. 

 You can add immeasurably to your pleasure 

 in gardening by doing in a leisurely way 

 during the golden autumn days everything 

 that can possibly be done then for the good 

 of a garden. 



THE FOUR REASONS FOR FALL PLANTING 



i. You avoid the spring rush. 



2. You get better quality and more variety 

 to choose from, with less risk of substitution. 



3. You avoid summer drought and delays 

 in shipment. More plants are killed by 

 dry summers than by cold winters. 



4. You save money because labor is 

 cheaper and easier to get and you have time 

 to do a better job. 



THE FOUR GREATEST OPPORTUNITIES 



First, save a year in the development of 

 your place by planting the hardy bulbs of 

 a permanent nature; e. g., daffodils, late 

 tulips, peonies and lilies. 



Second, you will probably save a year by 

 planting trees, shrubs and vines this fall. 

 It is possible for you to plant these next spring 

 but the chances are you won't. You will be 

 too busy then. 



Third, this the best time to perfect your 

 garden of perennials by multiplying the best 

 kinds, buying new ones, and rearranging the 

 "whole according to a definite color scheme. 



Fourth, you can make your home grounds 

 beautiful and cheery this very winter by 

 planting shrubs with brightly colored bark 

 and berries. Remember that five long 

 leafless months are coming when most home 

 grounds are bleak and ugly. There is no 

 excuse for this. 



Before October First 



USE this page as a "check list," just as 

 you do the "Reminder" for April. 

 There are so many big things to consider 

 now that the best plan is to check off the 

 items that do not concern you. Then con- 

 centrate on the things to be done before 

 October 1st. 



Buy Your Bulbs Now 



/^\RDER all your bulbs in September, 

 ^-^ even if some are best planted in 

 October. The earlier the order the better 

 the quality and the less danger of disappoint- 

 ment and substitution. 



When ordering bulbs, be sure to ask 

 for bulb pans, not seed pans. Hyacinths 

 should have deeper pots than ordinary. 

 Nearly all other bulbs look prettier in pans 

 and are easier to handle. 



The best time to pot and bury bulbs for 

 winter bloom is the last half of September. 

 The longer the bulbs stay outdoors the better 

 roots they make and consequently the finer 

 flowers. 



Wouldn't your bulb beds look prettier 

 for the next five years if every inch of ground 

 were covered with an evergreen carpet of 

 hardy pinks, thrift or evergreen candytuft? 

 They make a prettier background for 

 daffodils and late tulips than raw earth. 



You can save a lot of hard work by 

 planting when the ground is softened by the 

 autumn rains. This is a great advantage 

 when planting bulbs by the thousand so 

 as to make them look like wild flowers. 



Pointers About Perennials 



"VT'OU can divide perennials and rearrange 

 * your border as late as the last week 

 of October, but new plants from nursery- 

 men had best be bought before October 1st. 

 Ten to one your garden is "petering out" 

 now. Now is the time to visit the best 

 gardens and see how they manage to have 

 plenty of fresh flowers when most gardens 

 look seedy. One way is to make a second 

 sowing of annuals in June. But take a note 

 book and ask to see the following perennials: 

 Delphinum, gaillardia, tufted pansies, 

 Viola cornnta, inulas, erigerons, chrysanthe- 

 nums, Japanese anemone, phlox, Veronica 

 longifolia, var. subsessilis, Conoclinium, 

 and Aconitum Fischeri. 



More money is spent in September on 

 peonies than on any other perennial plant. 

 Don't plant peonies in the spring. Septem- 

 ber is the best month, but October is good. 



Don't plant autumn-blooming perennials 

 now — except phlox — but see the best varie- 

 ties now and order next March. 



You can save a year by planting now the 

 early-blooming perennials; i. e. anything that 

 flowers in March, April or May. Remember 

 that annuals do not bloom till July. Don't 

 you want some Russian violets, or Amoor 

 Adonis, in March; golddust, dwarf iris 

 or pulmonaria, in April; columbines, bleed- 

 ing heart or German iris, in May? 



Don't you need a lot of edging plants for 

 your garden? You can start seeds now of 

 rock cress, horned pansy, tufted violet, wall 

 pepper, Carpathian bellflower, evergreen 

 candytuft, etc. Sow in flats in frames and 

 set them out in spring. 



Kitchen Garden Opportunities 



TF FROST has not destroyed your garden 

 -■- you can enjoy it two to six weeks longer 

 by covering plants with boxes, burlap, 

 newspapers, etc. 



Before frost comes pick every tomato, 

 and ripen them on shelves. Tomatoes and 

 pears have a better flavor when ripened off 

 the plant. The best way is to pull tomato 

 vines and hang them on the walls in a stable 

 or outhouse. 



You can gain a month on spinach by 

 sowing seed outdoors now. Mulch the 

 little plants toward the end of November. 

 Crop should be ready about the last week 

 of April. 



Try corn salad this fall by the method just 

 described for spinach and send us a photo- 

 graph to illustrate your success. It has a sort 

 of buttery texture, somewhat as spinach has. 



October First to Fifteenth 



OCTOBER is the best month for planting 

 hardy bulbs outdoors; e. g., tulips, 

 daffodils, hyacinths, snowdrops, crocuses, 

 scillas. Also lilies — if you can get well- 

 ripened bulbs before November. 



To enjoy autumn colors to the utmost 

 take an automobile ride to a big nursery. 

 It is a quick way to find out the names of 

 trees and shrubs that have the most interest- 

 ing colors now. Some are worth planting 

 solely for autumn color; e. g., the Tartarian 

 maple. 



Don't burn autumn leaves. Get all you 

 can to improve flower beds next fall. Leaf 

 mold is worth $2 or more a wagon load. 

 Oak and chestnut leaves of this season can 

 be used for mulching next month, but not 

 elm or maple. 



