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GARDENING 

 YOUNcfFOLKS 



CONDUCTED BY ELLEN EDDY SHAW 



Work of the Month 



MAY is a very busy month in the school garden. 

 Many gardens cannot be started even until 

 the first of this month. It means quick work if 

 there are any results to be obtained before school 

 closes. Onion sets, radishes, lettuces will give re- 

 sults. An early forcing carrot will give very small 

 tender carrots and the tops of early beets may be 

 used as greens. It is also possible to get young 

 beets from the garden before school closes. 



In transplanting young seedlings use a pointed 

 stick for lifting the young plant. Then place it in a 

 new drill in which the soil has been moistened and 

 is ready to receive the seedlings. Press the soil 

 firmly about the plants. Set these a trifle lower 

 than they stood in the old drills. 



Use a trowel when transplanting geraniums and 

 other pot plants to the garden. Dig a hole large 

 enough to hold the plant and its ball of soil. Water 

 the soil in the hole; then put in the plant and firm 

 the soil about it. 



If the school vegetable garden is a first or 

 second year one use the varieties that are easiest of 

 culture. Later on give the children varieties which 

 require in their culture more thoughtful care and 

 more work. Onions, lettuce, radish, dwarf beans, 

 kohlrabi, turnips, beets and corn will give satisfac- 

 tory results under ordinary care and the average con- 

 ditions of soil. In the flower garden try alyssum, 

 verbena, calendula, candytuft, zinnia, four o'clock, 

 dianthus, castor oil bean, and bachelor's button, all 

 easy of cultivation. 



In most children's gardens there is no lack of seed- 

 lings because children sow the seed too closely to- 

 gether; after the garden starts there is a long, tedious 

 period of transplanting and thinning. This must be 

 done if the work is to be successful. If the plants 

 do not have sufficient space in which to mature many 

 will die. So thin out the little seedlings; and then 

 thin out again. 



Use castor oil beans (ricinus) as a cover. Wher- 

 ever there is an unsightly spot screen it from view. 

 Castor oil beans grow rapidly and under almost any 

 condition. If there has to be a dump heap in the 

 garden plant the beans in front of it. Start a com- 

 post pile and screen it, too. 



If you have not received one of our 1914 garden 

 contest announcements, send for one at once. The 

 conditions of the contest differ some from those of 

 last year. But cameras are still to be given as 

 first prizes for individual gardens. Last year the 

 first-prize winners liked their cameras so much that 

 we wish more boys and girls to have a chance of 

 winning them. 



A Backyard Garden 



THERE are so many girls and boys who think 

 that there is no use in trying to have a garden un- 

 less they can have one large enough for everything. 

 This is where they make a big mistake, for a small 

 garden, properly cared for, will produce more than 

 four times the space poorly cared for. Too large a 

 garden plot will only discourage instead of encourage 

 you. You will soon get tired when you find that 

 you have more than you can take care of. 



Therefore, don 't think your backyard is too small 

 to contain a garden, or because it is swamped with 

 weeds, ashes and old tin cans, that it will not pay 

 you to clear it. It will, if no space remains unculti- 

 vated. This is accomplished by successive placing, 

 training and pruning. 



I want to tell you something about my little 

 vegetable garden and how I kept my home supplied 

 with vegetables from early spring until late in De- 

 cember on 144 square feet of ground, four feet one 

 way and thirty-six the other. I had my garden 

 plans all made for flowers only so I started on my 

 western line, had a ditch dug eighteen inches deep, 



eighteen inches wide and thirty-six feet long, run- 

 ning north and south. In the bottom of this I 

 tramped down twelve inches of old manure, then put 

 in about four inches of soil and planted a double 

 row of sweet peas on November 22, 191 2. 



Before spring I found that I would have to change 

 my plans and grow some vegetables. The only 

 available space was a four foot strip on the western 

 side of my garden, which I staked off. 



The sweet pea row was stake No. 1. Twelve 

 inches in was stake No. 2. Then ten inches in No. 

 3, eight inches No. 4, eight inches No. 5 and ten 

 inches No. 6. 



On March 24th, I planted rows 3 and 5 with onion 

 sets. April 5th, planted one-third of row 4 to rad- 

 ishes; set lettuce plants, (Big Boston) in row No. 2. 

 April 10th, sowed one third of row No. 4 in radishes. 

 April 15th, set lettuce plants in row No. 6. May 1st 

 sowed the rest of No. 4 in radishes. The onion 

 sets were placed two inches apart, the lettuce four 

 inches apart. On May 15th I was using lettuce 

 pulling the heads at eighteen inch intervals. 



May 23rd, set in row No. 2, six Earliana and nine- 

 teen Livingston's New Coreless tomato plants eigh- 

 teen inches apart. May 25th, set twenty-five 

 Ponderosa tomato plants in row No. 6 eighteen 

 inches apart. July 4th, planted eight hills of cucum- 

 bers in row No. 4. July 20th, pulled up sweet pea 

 vines and set a double row of Golden Self Blanching 

 celery. 



From this patch last season I harvested 400 rad- 

 ishes, 432 onions, 218 heads of lettuce, 10 bushels 

 of ripe and 2 of green tomatoes (which we used from 

 the 6th of July until the first of December, besides 

 all we wanted for canning and pickling), 160 heads of 

 celery, which we used from early fall until Christ- 

 mas. 



The sweet peas kept me supplied with all the 

 flowers I could use at home and many for my sick 

 friends, besides which I sold $7.50 worth. 



My cucumber vines looked very promising by 

 August 1 8th, but while away on my vacation from 

 August 20th to 30th, the striped bug destroyed 



Mabel's method of training her tomatoes on a trellis 

 peaked like a roof 



248 



them, or I could have counted on at least one-half 

 bushel. 



My tomatoes were trained on a trellis three feet 

 wide at bottom and coming to a point at the top five 

 feet high like the roof of a house. The vines were 

 pruned to one stem and all imperfect fruit picked off 

 while very small. 



Ohio. Mabel Jane Musser. 



Weekly Calendar for May 



1st Week (4=9). Loosen the soil in the gar- 

 den if the young seedlings are up. It is time to 

 sow biennials. The old bulb beds may be fixed for 

 summer planting. Leave the bulbs in the ground, 

 but cut off the tops. Sow runner beans. Thin out 

 vegetable seedlings. 



2nd Week (11 = 16). If the weather is mild 

 plant tomato seedlings outdoors. Stake the peas, 

 using brush. Keep the spaces between the rows of 

 seedlings neat and the soil loose. 



3rd Week (18=23). Sow more beans and tur- 

 nips, too. It is time to sow pumpkin seed. Orna- 

 mental gourd vines are attractive; plant the seeds 

 now. Start planting seeds for border and bedding 

 plants, e. g., sweet alyssum, candytuft and lobelia. 

 Use the hoe frequently. 



4th Week (25=30). Plant out the little seed- 

 lings of half-hardy annuals started indoors. Dah- 

 lias, geraniums and fuchsia may be put outdoors. 



A Schoolboy's Garden 



THIS is a brief report of my home garden for the 

 season of 191 3. The soil in my backyard is 

 very sandy, typical of many of the backyards in my 

 neighborhood. I used about two wheelbarrows full 

 of hen manure, five wheelbarrows full of horse man- 

 ure and one hundred pounds of the best commercial 

 fertilizer. The work of spading the manure into the 

 ground was done about the latter part of March. 

 This gave the manure a month's time to soak into 

 the soil. 



Every day after school I worked in the garden for 

 about one-half an hour. On Saturdays I worked 

 for about three hours. This gave me plenty of time 

 to keep my garden free from weeds, well cultivated 

 and the plants thinned out. 



Last year was the most prosperous year I have 

 had from a financial standpoint. I kept an exact 

 account of the proceeds of my garden in a book. 



RECEIPTS 



Tomatoes $10.24 



Pole beans .75 



Squash . . ' i.oo 



Rhubarb 65 



Strawberries S-°5 



Endive .60 



Spinach -4° 



Lettuce 5-so 



Radish 1.90 



Onions .65 



Carrots 1.80 



Peas 2-25 



Beets 2.50 



Beans 4-5° 



Parsley 1.55 



Peppers .85 



Sweet corn 2.10 



Total $41-99 



EXPENDITURES 



Commercial fertilizer ....... $3.00 



Seeds -5° 



Total $3.50 



Net Profits $38.49 



The hen manure was taken from my own hen 

 house. The horse manure I got from a barn near by, 

 free of charge. I received most of my seeds as a gift 

 from a friend. 



Rhode Island. Howard J. O'Conneix. 



