280 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



January, 1910 



My $xj ft. Home Garden 



MY GARDEN is not very big; it is 7 feet by 

 3 feet. The first thing I did was to send 

 for my seeds. When I got my seeds I planted 

 most of my seed in the house. I planted china 

 pinks, phlox, verbenas, Sweet William, petunias, 

 and asters. I planted them the twenty-first of 

 April. Later I sowed one row of balsam, one of 

 four-o'clocks, and one of mignonette, then I trans- 

 planted my other flowers outdoors. 



Alford Centre, Mass. Ruth Kline. 



My Home Garden 



IT WAS rather late in the spring when I got the 

 seeds for my garden. I chose nasturtiums, ver- 

 benas, sweet peas and petunias, as they are among 

 the flowers I like about the best. I started my 

 verbena and petunia seeds in boxes, and later on 

 my sweet peas in a cup of water. When the frost 

 was out of the ground they were very small, so I 

 waited a week or two. Then I planted them. 

 The verbenas did not start to bloom till late in the 

 summer, and they were at their best when the 

 frost came. Now I shall have to wait till next sum- 

 mer for a new garden. 



Clarksburg, Mass. Dorothea Dunlop. 



A Flower Garden 



MY GARDEN is 30 feet by 60 feet. The 

 following seeds were sown in the hotbed: 

 aster, balsams, salvia, geraniums, zinnia, lark- 

 spur, ten weeks' stock, snapdragon, cosmos, Japan- 

 ese pinks, and golden glow. My asters finished 

 blooming in August, but the balsams, salvia, and 

 zinnia are still blooming (end of October). The 

 perennial larkspur is blooming now, but the annual 

 larkspur is through its blooming. 



I have a number of cuttings of geraniums I made 

 myself. Both the chrysanthemums in pots and in 

 the beds have buds. 



Chicago, 111. Edward Vlasak. 



Vegetables Only 



MY TEACHER gave me seeds to plant my 

 home garden with. My soil is sandy loam, 

 and lies against a steep incline. I spaded it with 

 care, and put on fertilizer. 



I planted lettuce, beans, radishes, and beets at 

 first. I had put some tomato seeds in a box in 

 the house. I planted Stone's Early. I took rad- 

 ishes out for our table in about four weeks, and 

 lettuce soon after. My first planting of these two 

 vegetables soon ran out. Then I put in carrots 

 and more beets, at the same time transplanted my 

 tomato plants. I replanted my rows of beans for 

 later use. . 



My carrots and beets came right along. I thinned 

 them for early use, and left the main crop for winter. 

 I have more carrots than we can use, and expect 

 to sell a nice lot. I am going to put all the beets 

 in the cellar for winter. I worked my garden 

 before school and on Saturdays. 



My garden is about 30 x 50 feet. I am going to 

 try to enlarge it next year. 



Barrytown, N. Y. Norman Bothrick (Aged 14). 



Big Tomatoes 



This tomato, raised by Everett Lins, just fitted, 

 into a strawberry basket 



Three Years' Experience 



MY FIRST practical garden experience 

 started three years ago when I joined 

 Miss Miller's class at Rosedale School. I won 

 several dozen bulbs as a garden prize. ' 



These I planted with 300 tulip bulbs on Novem- 

 ber nth. I wanted a hotbed for early plants in the 

 spring, and persuaded Papa to make it. I wheeled 

 the fertilizer more than one block from our house, 

 so I did not get the hotbeds in shape to plant until 

 April 3d. 



On April 3d, I planted nasturtiums, salvia, and 

 asters. April 14th I planted verbenas. My first 

 planting in the open ground was on April 10th, 

 when I planted peas. The first week in May I 

 found that my plants in the hotbed were large 

 enough to transplant. I then planted them in 

 boxes two inches apart. As soon as the weather 

 became warm enough I planted them in the open 

 ground. 



I have had flowers blooming all summer, from 

 tulips, crocus, narcissus, hyacinths, in April; 

 Oriental poppies and larkspur, in May; roses in 

 June; lilies in July; phlox, day-lilies, and tritomas 

 in August; and hibiscus, four-o'clocks, asters, salvia 

 and platycodon in September. 



Next spring I intend to work my garden again. 

 If I am successful, I shall make it my future business. 

 Mabel Jane Musser (12 Years Old). 



6th Grade, Rosedale School, Cleveland, Ohio. 



A Garden for Five Years 



I AM thirteen now, and have had a garden ever 

 since I was eight. My main garden this year 

 is 50 x 40 feet; this is aside from my garden, 

 which is 30 x 20 feet. I began the garden April 

 19th, and finished it May 10th. 



Roger Perry cleared $42.53 from Ms vegetable 

 garden this year 



A mass of blossoms raised by a small girl in the 

 Berkshire Hills 



In my flower garden I have a row of sunflowers 

 I planted for my squirrels and pigeons. Next row, 

 peonies and flower-de-luce, six varieties; next row, 

 sweet peas, all colors. I have lovely flowers now. 

 I have three varieties of lilies, hardy ones; next a 

 row of nasturtiums, Tom Thumb variety; French 

 marigolds and bluets, very pretty. I have six 

 varieties of asters. All people who see them say 

 they never saw such large, handsome ones. 

 Then I have winter phlox, a few old-fashioned 

 flowers, the names of which I do not know and 

 golden glow — that, I think, finishes up my 

 garden. 



Groton, Mass. Frank A. Woods 



I AM sending the largest tomato from my vine. 

 I have picked others of which the smallest 

 weighed three-quarters of a pound. This is the 

 first year my father gave me a garden of my own. 

 New Brighton, S. I. Everett Lins (Aged 9 Years). 



A Garden in a Box 



I AM a girl living in town, who has not ground 

 to plant anything, but wanted to be in the 

 contest, so I decided to plant my garden in a box. 

 I got my soil out of the garden before it was sown 

 with grass seed. It was very rich soil. I got my 

 seed from the State Normal School here. I soaked 

 the seeds over one night and planted them in the 

 box, covering them well with soil. The parsley 

 grew about two and one-half inches high. It is 

 very full and green. 

 New Paltz, N. Y. Josephine Rust. 



Plenty of Vegetables 



MY GARDEN is 70x38 feet. I did most of the 

 work myself in the home garden, but when I 

 was haying my mother hoed some. I planted in 

 May. I planted a peck of potatoes, making six rows 

 thirty feet long. I had a bushel of potatoes when 

 dug. I raised a few beets, carrots, onions, cabbage, 

 cucumbers, beans, and tomatoes. I got twenty- 

 three citrons from my two hills, and about thirty 

 squashes and two rows of corn. I had some 

 cannas, dahlias, sunflowers, morning-glories, zinnias, 

 and a flower I do not know the name of. 

 Groton, Mass. Paul H. Wllson. 



Poisoned the Bugs 



I PLANTED my garden on Monday, May 31, 

 1909. It is 24 feet long by 14 feet wide. In it I 

 have six hills of tomatoes, which cost me fifteen 

 cents. I worked to pay for these. I have ten 

 hills of potatoes. There are, in my garden, about 

 sixteen hills of corn and thirty-four hills of beans. 

 There is one hill of summer squash where the 

 corn did not come up. I have ten hills of turnips 

 and six rows of dahlias at the back of my garden. 

 I had to put some poison on my potatoes so as to 

 keep the bugs from eating the potatoes up. The 

 whole amount of work I did on my garden aver- 

 aged about three-fourths of a day a week. Most 

 of this I did after school. The deer went through 

 my garden several times, but did not hurt it much 

 — only took the tops off a few beans. 



New Ashford, Mass. Charles Pike. 



Record for Garden Work (See page 279). 



Name of Plant, Dianthus 



Date of Planting, June 19th; 



Condition of Soil, Hard, poor 



Fertilizer Used, None 



First Appearance of Plant, .... June 24th 



Growth per Week, % inch 



Date of Blooming, August 9th 



New Paltz, N. Y. Helen L. Sutcliffe. 



A'^i* 



*:w 



:-*■■-. . '■'• •" ■ .- - 



' - ■ '-■ ■■ ' .. .' : - . 





A beautiful back yard garden in Chicago, showing 

 the results of a school boy's labor 



