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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



March, 1913 



Around the Garden 



A MONTHLY KALENDER OF TIMELY GARDEN OPERA- 

 TIONS AND USEFUL HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS 

 ABOUT THE HOME GARDEN AND 

 GROUNDS 



All queries will gladly be answered by the Editor. If a personal 

 reply is desired by subscribers stamps should be enclosed therewith 



(|p§|$: r°3ooooc^>oooo|~x £g$ X^OOOOC^OOOOgaX 



MARCH IN THE GARDEN 



HERE has always been associated with the 

 name of March the thought of the begin- 

 ning of gardening. Although the snow may 

 be piled up throughout the countryside, and 

 though the icicles may not find many oppor- 

 tunities for dripping during the month's 

 early days, still the good old tradition clings to us despite 

 the later one of the Lion and the Lamb. At any rate, we 

 begin to feel that we have been wintering too long, and 

 being provident, our forethought leads us now to begin 

 active preparations so when the proper season is at last with 

 us we shall not be found unready to begin operations the 

 very first of its all too fleeting days. 



THOUGH gardening is an active operation it is also a 

 meditative one, a pursuit that is a relaxation to the mind 



cellor Buttons, Calendula, Drummond Phlox, Marigolds, Can- 

 nas, Heliotrope, and Lantana. With the advent of an early 

 season Sweet Peas should be planted outdoors as early as 

 practicable. 



NOW is the time when the garden beginner should study 

 up the matter of soils. The ideal flower garden cannot 

 be evolved from a sand heap without the assistance of more 

 encouragement than mere hope. One cannot do better than 

 reflect upon the Parable of the Vineyard in this connection, 

 for depth and mellowness are the prime soil requisites to 

 successful gardening. We know that plants receive nutri- 

 ment through their roots, therefore these roots have, more 

 often than not, to seek this nutriment; hence it is necessary 

 that depth and mellowness are maintained to assist the roots 

 to extend themselves freely and without undue struggle. 

 The spade is the honorable badge of the gardening frater- 

 nity and it should never be left to rust in the tool-house! 

 Work the soil to make the soil. A rich sandy loam, two 



as well as to the body. Bye and bye we shall be turning up 



the soil, working it over, putting in the seeds; later lifting or three feet deep, will be best appreciated by growing flow 



and transplanting later, but even now there is active work we ers. It should be well drained. As sand alone is too porous 



can attend to. By the end 



of the month you will prob 



ably be uncovering your bulb 

 beds and also removing 

 mulches. Then you must 

 clear up your lawn just as 

 soon as there are indications 

 that the frost has left the 

 ground, for if this is neglect- 

 ed the undue heat of the 

 mulch will give the roots of 

 the grass the impetus of an 

 unnatural start and the lawn 

 will then be apt to suffer 

 from probable later frosts. 



HYDRANGEAS and 

 Dogwood may be 

 pruned now, also Elders, and 

 after the frost has departed 

 t h e hybrid perpetuals 

 (Roses) should be cut back 

 eight or ten inches, or more, 

 as they appear to require. 

 Perhaps spraying will be 

 under way. Apricots should 

 be sprayed before April 1, 

 also Peach trees. In fact, by 

 April 15 all first spraying 

 should be finished. 



A NUMBER of flower 

 seeds may be planted 

 indoors this month, among 

 them double Petunias, Bach- 



Plan now for garden effects as delightful as this one 



to retain moisture and plant- 

 foods for any length of time, 

 and so permeable to heat 

 that it encourages the 

 scourge of drought by prac- 

 tically burning up the plants. 

 So, too, is an all-clay soil as 

 bad on the other hand as 

 being too retentive and too 

 tenacious. By studying the 

 properties of both sand and 

 clay we at once arrive at an 

 appreciation of the advan- 

 tages of mixing them in 

 proper proportion, which, 

 improved by the addition of 

 fertilizing material, gives us 

 just the sort of loam our 

 gardens should attempt to 

 have for their bedding soil. 



AZALEAS 



A READER of this de- 

 partment asks the Ed- 

 itor for information concern- 

 ing Azaleas as house plants. 

 Although Azaleas are very 

 lovely as they come to us 

 from florists they are not 

 satisfactory permanent 

 house plants. For Spring 

 blossoming Azaleas should 

 have a temperature of about 

 6o°. The soil should be moist. 



