24 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



February, 1913 



Conducted by Ellen Eddy Shaw 



Starting a Community Garden 



GARDENS in the city!— but where 

 can one find the land." It is the 

 inevitable first question in starting 

 children's gardens. There were plenty of 

 lots outside the city proper, but what we 

 were looking for, in Boston, was an open 

 space in the congested district, where the 

 children are most in need of a breathing 

 space. After days of wandering up and 

 down unknown streets we found a large 

 lot, on Sterling Street, Roxbury, centrally 

 located in a tenement district swarming 

 with children. To be sure, it was nothing 

 but a dump, but it was an open space and 

 not built upon. 



The next question was, "to whom did 

 it belong," and, more important still, 

 "would the owner permit us to use it?" 

 I questioned some small boys. They told 

 me the property was owned by the Boston 

 Elevated Railway Company, and used as 

 a dumping ground for snow in the winter. 



The Boston Elevated Railroad proved 

 to be a true friend. They saw that the 

 lot, cleared of rubbish and kept attractive, 

 would be worth more to them than a dump. 

 So, very much encouraged, I started out 

 to measure the land. I had no more than 

 unrolled my yellow measuring line then 

 two curious small boys asked, "What you 

 doin'?" I told them that we hoped to 

 have a garden for all the children in the 

 neighborhood and dwelt long on the de- 

 licious fresh vegetables they could take 

 home. Small boys are great news 

 spreaders. The lot was 240 by 120 feet. 

 Sterling Street was on one side, tenements 

 on two sides and a high fence in the rear. 

 I found that we could have 165 individual 

 gardens each 8 x 10 ft. 



The lot was a dump in bad condition. 

 Plowing twice and getting out the large 

 stones took a long time. Then sixteen 

 loads of splendid well-rotted stable manure 

 was applied and an attempt made at 

 harrowing with a very poor harrow, but 

 the best we could find in the district. 



A strong substantial tool house, 12 x 10 

 ft., was built in one corner of the lot. 

 Racks for the tools were put up. Shelves 

 for the watering cans and a large bin for 

 seeds was made, and a loft overhead for 

 extra stakes, etc. It was small and the 

 children took great interest in helping me 

 plan just where everything should be put, 

 for we had to use every inch. Four dozen 

 spades, rakes, hoes, and water cans, two 

 dozen trowels, one dozen spading forks and 

 four wheelbarrows made up our equipment. 

 The handles of the rakes and hoes were 

 marked off with rings 6 inches apart, to be 

 used in measuring. 



It seemed as if the garden could open 

 any day but our fence, though ordered, 

 was not yet in existence. We waited for 

 it six weeks and the last week of June began 

 staking out the plots, while the men started 

 on the fence. 



You will ask, "how did you get the 

 children for the garden?" The yellow 

 measuring line helped much; the three 

 settlement houses in the district sent 

 children; I gave a lantern slide talk on 

 gardening at two nearby schools and told 

 the children to watch the lot. The prin- 

 cipals sent me lists of children who were 

 interested and I talked to passers-by, telling 

 them what was going on. If a child wanted 

 a plot, I told him to come the next day and 

 I would see about it, then I put him to 

 work helping me. If he did this willingly 

 and appeared the next day, the plot was 

 his. This method worked very well. 



In September, the garden was at the 

 height of its beauty. The pessimistic 

 friends who tried to discourage us in the 

 beginning marveled at our success. A 

 bird's eye view showed 165 neat gardens, 

 each 8 x 10 ft., a if foot path running be- 

 tween them. There were 10-foot rows of 

 radishes, lettuce, beans, beets, carrots, 

 Swiss chard, parsley, and kohlrabi, besides 

 zinnias, calendula, sweet alyssum and 

 candytuft. We started too late to have 

 many flowers, but each garden had at least 

 one row. 



Partial expenses: Tool house, $75; tools, 

 $137; installing water, $55; seeds, $25; 

 total, $292. 



Jean A. Cross. 



Garden Director, Boston Social Union. 



Work of the Month 



MIDWINTER is such an in-between 

 time in plant work. Yet it's just the 

 time to have really active things going 

 on in the classroom. So try some of the 

 following suggestions: 



(1) If you wish to raise a plant from seed 

 and have it surely blossom try dwarf French 

 marigolds. This experiment is worth try- 

 ing in school for it succeeds. Be sure to 

 buy the seed suggested above and no 

 other kind of marigold seed. Plant the 

 seeds in a box in drills a quarter inch deep. 

 When the little plants are about an inch 

 high transplant into pots. If the children 

 are doing this at school it would be safer 



Dwarf French manigold is satisfactory for pot culture 



for each child to transplant three or four 

 little seedlings into a three-inch pot. 

 When the seedlings are accustomed to 

 their new quarters and are growing vigor- 

 ously pull out the weakest little plant of 

 all. After a few days pull out another 

 weak one, and so on until just one sturdy 

 plant is left in each pot. These little 

 marigold plants will grow to a height of 

 about six inches. They will flower in 

 about six or eight weeks from the time of 

 planting. If this work is to be a school 

 one, and to be used in lower grades, teachers 

 will find the fibre flower pots very good to 

 use. They are easily handled by little 

 children. Each child can have his own 

 little red pot on his own desk with no 

 danger of breakage. These fibre pots are 

 sold at most seed houses for a few cents 

 a dozen. 



(2) Other plants easy to raise from 

 seed are sweet alyssum, corn flower, dwarf 

 nasturtium, scarlet runner beans. The 

 corn flower plants may develop lice. The 

 nasturtiums are likely to spindle out and 

 get leggy. To avoid this place the little 

 plants in the sunniest of places. It is 

 possible to raise all of these plants in class 

 rooms and to bring them to a state of 

 blossoming. Start them all in boxes and 

 transplant once or twice. When trans- 

 planting set the little plant a bit lower 

 than it was before. This helps to develop 

 a greater root system. 



One can start all these seeds in individual 

 pots putting about six seeds into a three- 

 inch pot. These little seedlings are not 

 transplanted, but are thinned out right 

 from each pot pulling out the weakest of 

 seedlings. It is stated in the August 

 Garden Magazine that in the case of 

 petunia seedlings the smallest, weakest 

 seedlings produce the large double flowers. 

 The ranker seedlings produce the single 

 blooms. 



(3) If the house plants begin to look a lit- 

 tle the worse for wear encourage them a bit 

 with a tonic. Buy five cents worth of sodium 

 nitrate at the drug store. Dissolve ten 

 grains of these crystals — -not more — in 

 a quart of water. This makes the tonic 



