THE MONTH'S REMINDER, JUNE, 1918 



The purpose of the Reminder is to call to your attention the things which should be thought about or done during the next few weeks. For full 

 details as to how to do the different things suggested, see the current or back issues of The Garden Magazine. {An index of contents is prepared for 

 each completed volume, and is sent gratis on request. The Readers' Service Department will also cite references on any special topic if asked — 

 that's its job.) To get the full benefit of this, check off with a pencil, in the square D provided for that purpose before each paragraph, the items that 

 apply to your own case, and use the page as a reference list. 



JUNE is the month in which to do 

 seemingly unnecessary jobs. The gar- 

 dener who deserts his or her garden 

 before it is cleaned up is only post- 

 poning the day of reckoning. While the 

 rush of April and May planting may have 

 let up a little, there are other jobs coming 

 on; and the man who has not had experience is 

 likely to let some of them slip until too late, 

 or until they cannot be done to the best ad- 

 vantage. Don't let up as long as you can see 

 anything to do. 



In the Vegetable Garden 



DLANT tender crops. □ In many of 

 *■ the more Northern states there is danger 

 of frost until after Decoration Day. Where 

 the season is so short, it is all the more neces- 

 sary to get the very tender things, such as 

 Q tomatoes, □ peppers, and □ eggplants, 

 in with a rush when the danger point is passed. 

 The same applies to seeds of the tender 

 vegetables like □ melons, □ cucumbers, 

 squash, □ okra, etc. 



Much of the success of these things depends on 

 giving them a running start. Plenty of nitro- 

 gen; readily available. Put a couple of 

 handfuls of tankage, or dried blood and bone- 

 meal (mixed) in each hill when preparing for 

 planting. 



Don't wait until your first sowing of peas 

 or beets is all used up before putting in an- 

 other. □ Make succession plantings often 

 enough to keep a constant supply coming on; 

 — every two to four weeks, according to the 

 length of time the crop to be followed will 

 remain in condition for the table. 



D Start plants for the fall and winter 

 gardens. One of the most important things 

 to do this month is to make sowings of 

 D cabbage, D cauliflower, and □ Brussels 

 sprouts in time to have good rugged plants 

 ready for setting out early in July. Sow 

 seed thinly — two or three seeds to the inch in 

 well prepared soil. Firm carefully. Label 

 carefully. 



Plenty of time yet for the main crop of 

 celery, but D put in some plants early this 

 month for an extra early supply. If your own 

 plants are not big enough, get a hundred or 

 two from your local florist; or order by mail. 

 Remember that celery must be well fed, and 

 particularly well watered, to make good growth 

 and be tender. 



Keep the early planted garden going! 

 The plant food in the soil becomes available 

 for use rather slowly until thoroughly decayed. 

 A light top dressing spread along the row or 

 around the hill now, and raked into the ground, 

 will do wonders to stimulate continuous, 

 even growth; thus laying the foundation for 

 big yields later. 



Save all the moisture for future use. Keep 

 on cultivating — no matter how free from weeds 

 your garden may be! Every time you go 

 over the garden means just that much mois- 

 ture saved for thirsty plants later in the 

 season. 



Watch out for bugs. Be ready to fight them 

 on their first appearance. Lay in a stock 

 now of bordeaux mixture, arsenate of lead, and 

 nicotine extract. These properly used will 

 take care of most of the blights,, bugs, and 

 sucking insect pests that garden plants are 

 heir to. Stop criticizing the administration 



long enough to apply practical prepardeness 

 to your own back yard. 



Prepare for Canning and Drying 



"C^AILURE to prepare for canning etc. 

 ■*■ is to pass up the biggest money saving 

 opportunity that will ring at your front 

 doorbell in a twelvemonth. "Preparation," 

 however, doesn't consist in merely buying 

 a dozen glass jars and a tin funnel 

 next time you happen to think of it. 

 Plan now what you want for this winter, and 

 then plant to produce just those things, espe- 

 cially for winter (see page 229). □ Order 

 your seeds for winter crops now. □ And 

 buy a suitable equipment for canning [and 

 drying — one of the best paying investments 

 you ever made. 



Plant for winter storage not earlier than the 

 middle of this month. □ Plant some 

 parsnips and salsify the first part of this 

 month, and see what a difference you will 

 find compared with the overgrown, stringy 

 product you are used to harvesting in the fall. 



In the Flower Garden 



SET out seedling plants started in the 

 cold frame, or the seed-bed □ last 

 month or the latter part of April. If thin- 

 ned out rigorously as soon as well started, as 

 they should have been, they will be sturdy 

 little plants now. Nothing to be gained by 

 delaying any longer putting them in their 

 permanent positions. To get the quickest 

 growth, always use a little "starter' (bone 

 meal, or bone and tankage or dried blood) 

 where each plant is to be set, instead of 

 just "putting it out." And remember that 

 flowering plants need just as carefully pre- 

 pared soil as vegetables if they are to thrive 

 well. 



Pinch back for plentiful blooms I You will 

 find, if you look over your flower beds care- 

 fully, many things, that are making very 

 rapid growth, D but are making it all in one 

 direction — straight up in the air. Snap- 

 dragon, Heliotrope, etc., should be pinched 

 back quite severely, to induce the laterals to 

 make a strong growth. This may sacrifice 

 the first spike of bloom, but it will be much 

 more than made up later. Spare the top and 

 spoil the rest! 



Keep all flowers picked ! The plant grows 

 and blooms not to satisfy your sense of the 

 beautiful, but to produce seeds that its kind 

 may not perish from the earth. The way to 

 make it keep on blooming is to prevent its 

 forming seeds. Therefore, the more flowers 

 you cut D before they reach the seed-forming 

 stage, the more flowers you will continue to 

 have. This is particularly true of a number 

 of the early flowering annuals, such as Sweet 

 Peas. Make it a rule never to let a Sweet 

 Pea blossom wither on the vine, and you will 

 have Sweet Peas in bloom longer than you 

 ever had them before. 



"Renovate" your bloomed-out flowers. Here 

 is a little experiment you can try which is 

 well worth attempting. Although not always 

 proving successful, it will "work" if condi- 

 tions are right. As soon as your Sweet Peas, 

 or other annuals sown from seed, begin to 

 "peter out," apply the shears and cut them 

 back, clean, — almost to the roots. Water 

 generously, and as soon as the new growth 



225 



starts, work in a top dressing, or apply liquid 

 manure. If the plants are treated this way 

 in time — that is, before they begin to act- 

 ually die — it is often possible to get a new crop 

 of blooms which, if not fully as large as the 

 first, will be prized as much for coming out of 

 season. 



Sow "succession" crops of flowers. There 

 are many flowers which could be had all 

 season, or nearly so, by making several plant- 

 ings □ instead of one in the spring; and 

 often a single package of seed contains 

 enough seed for the whole season's supply. 

 Gypsophila, Pansies, Poppies, etc., should 

 be kept in supply in this way from early 

 summer to fall. 



□ Make another planting of Gladiolus. 

 The only trouble with this splendid flower is 

 that it will not continue to bloom until frost 

 from a single planting. The bulbs are so 

 cheap, and they will last so long, that there is 

 no excuse for anyone not making a late planting 

 now, to be in its glory during September and 

 early October. Put some of the bulbs deeper 

 than others, so that they will not all come 

 along at the same time. 



In the Greenhouse 



EEP your house going through the 



K 



summer. Melons, tomatoes, and other 

 things started now will give you a crop when 

 Jack Frost is again making a drive on the 

 outside garden. Do you realize that a por- 

 tion of your house, properly shaded, will be 

 cooler than it is out-of-doors in July and 

 August? 



D Start house plants for next fall and 

 winter now. "Grown on" during the sum- 

 mer months in the greenhouse, they will be in 

 ideal condition for brightening your living 

 rooms next snow-tide. Get some young 

 Ferns, and by keeping them happy from now 

 until next December, you will have the 

 choicest kind of a collection of Christmas pre- 

 sents ready to help meet the high cost of giv- 

 ing. 



■ Keep the greenhouse sanitary. Remember 

 that it is much more difficult to keep your 

 summer plants under glass free from insects, 

 than those which are out-of-doors. Spray or 

 fumigate just as regularly — if not as often — 

 as you water. 



Q Clean out that boiler ! As a rule boilers 

 wear out more during the summer than in 

 winter. Ashes and soot collect and hold 

 moisture, and cause rust. Get your boiler 

 thoroughly clean, then put two or three 

 quarts of kerosene in your compressed air 

 sprayer, and give it a rough "painting" be- 

 fore you "lay it by" for the summer months. 



The Frames 



KEEP the frames busy all summer. In 

 them you have the richest soil on the 

 place; don't let if loaf. As soon as the last of 

 the vegetable and bedding plants, and early 

 crops are removed, get a summer or fall crop 

 started. If you don't need them for anything 

 else, sow clover or cowpeas, to fork under in 

 the fall — they are just as useful here as in the 

 garden. 



Start perennials early. □ Order your 

 seeds of Pansies, Daisies, Forget-me-nots, 

 Canterbury Bells, etc., now, so that you can 

 get a good early start. Then if the first sowing 



