250 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



Mav, 19 13 



peculiar difficulties, since with each vege- 

 table the distance differs according to the 

 variety grown. Take lettuce, for instance. 

 Golden Queen, a splendid extra early sort, 

 will develop fine solid heads in a space of 

 6 inches. Attempt to grow large sorts 

 like All Seasons or Big Boston in the same 

 space of row, and the result will be that 

 plants will "go to seed" prematurely. 

 A safe general rule for thinning out young 

 lettuce plants is to let them first stand 3 

 inches apart in the row; later removing 

 every other plant, making the distance 6 

 inches. Finally let the plants stand 12 

 inches apart in the row. This may seem 

 an unusual amount of space for lettuce, but 

 the result will be fine large heads that will 

 "stand" long before bursting and be of 

 superior firmness to those grown in crowded 

 rows. 



Few vegetables appreciate proper and 

 timely thinning out more than spinach. 

 Time and time again, I have noticed where 

 two rows of the same variety of spinach 

 sown at the same time in the same kind of 

 soil, prove the necessity of timely thinning. 

 That row, in which the strongest plants 

 were thinned to stand the proper distance 

 apart, would endure before seed stalks 

 appeared fully 3 to 4 days longer, than the 

 row in which the plants were permitted 



to grow as best they could under crowded 

 conditions. 



WHEN TO THIN AND HOW 



The month of May is the time at which 

 nearly all vegetables require thinning. 

 The earlier it is done, the better radishes, 

 lettuce, spinach, etc., will be your reward. 

 All vegetables will develop more quickly if 

 "thinned" almost as soon as the seedlings 

 are past the baby stage, than if left to re- 

 main in a crowded row for a longer time. 



It is very interesting to observe how 

 lettuce, for instance, will grow to be about 

 2 inches tall and then wait, so to say, for 

 the helping hand of the gardener to make 

 room in the row and give the developing 

 plant more breathing space. All seedlings 

 may be thinned out just as soon as they are 

 large enough for the thumb and the point- 

 ing finger to take hold of them without 

 breaking the top from the roots. With most 

 vegetables, this is the case when they reach 

 a height of from 1 to 2 inches above the soil. 



An excellent helper in this operation is a 

 short pointed stick, about the size of a 

 pencil. By pushing the stick about 1 

 inch away from the plant into the soil, and 

 then gently lifting the soil, it is easy to thin 

 out the most crowded row without disturb- 

 ing that plant, that is going to stay in the 



row. Should it happen that the soil 

 around the little seedling, which is to re- 

 main, becomes loose, just take the fingers 

 and press the plant again firmly into the 

 soil. A little shaking up of this kind will 

 rarely ever harm the plants. Another 

 excellent instrument to assist in this opera- 

 tion of thinning is Cleves Angle Trowel, as 

 shown in the illustration among the radish 

 seedlings, and indeed it is a wonderfully use- 

 ful all purpose trowel to have in the garden. 



Hints for Transplanters 



Keep all the soil possible about the 

 seedling roots; otherwise be sure to spread 

 the root system out evenly and naturally. 



Don't forget to firm the soil thoroughly 

 around the plants. 



Cut back the tops of shrubs etc. to hasten 

 the recovery of the plant. The first young 

 leaves usually die anyway, so they will not 

 be missed. 



For safety's sake shade all newly set 

 lettuce plants. Tomatoes, eggplant, etc., 

 don't mind the heat, providing their roots 

 are kept moist. 



Above all things don't let the root system 

 dry out during the transplanting. Keep 

 the seedlings in a thin mixture of mud if 

 large, or take only a few at a time from the 

 flat if small. 



Proper spacing of the plants in this row means a maximum crop and uniform spacing of the rows makes cultivation 



and your crops will be better 



Keep the garden neat and clean 



