WINTER GARDENING FOR A SPRING START 



W. L. WILSON 



Soil for the Early Seedlings — What It Means to Use Frames in the Dull Days — 

 Using the Cellar Heat as a Substitute for a Real Greenhouse 



A PRACTICAL CELLAR-WINDOW FRAME 



Limited as to space, of course, yet serving well in getting an early start with seeds. It is 

 placed in position in November and banked around with heating material to exclude frost 



JHE only way to 

 have a good 

 garden all sum- 

 mer is to make 

 garden all winter. This 

 sounds like a large 

 order, but winter gar- 

 dening is done almost 

 as much with the head 

 as with the hands. 

 Furthermore, it saves a 

 vast deal of time and 

 labor later on, when 

 gardening time is more 

 valuable, and assures 

 the avoidance of many 

 irritating mistakes. 



Winter gardening 

 really begins when the 

 garden is cleared of 



the current year's crops, and spread with a layer of manure (not 

 necessarily, or even desirably, "well rotted") from two to four 

 inches thick. This is turned under and the ground left rough 

 so that it will store water liberally, and, incidentally, will freeze 

 and thaw repeatedly during the winter thus improving itself 

 physically. In general this cannot be done before the last 

 week in November or first week in December, as up to that 

 time, with some protection, it is usual to carry along Endive, 

 Chinese Cabbage, ordinary Cabbage, Kohlrabi, Brussels-sprouts 

 Turnips, Carrots, Cauliflower and Celeriac. 



When this is done, and the garden gate closed for the winter, 

 one moves into the house to give attention to the reading that 

 must be done, the plans that must be made and, later, the plants 

 that must be started between then and the time that the Chives 

 — encouraged by a protective frame — begin to yield in the very 

 earliest spring. 



OF FIRST importance is the laying in of a good supply of 

 garden soil to fill the flats and pots later on. Sugar barrels 

 are convenient receptacles for it; and if you suspect that it 

 carries any pests or diseases treat it with a forty per cent, solu- 

 tion of formaldehyde, one ounce to a gallon of water, at the rate 

 of a gallon to each cubic foot of earth. Such treatment also 

 tends to lessen damping off trouble, though it will not entirely 

 prevent it. The soil after being so treated is not disturbed for 

 two weeks, or more. At this time likewise there should be 

 provided good manure for the bottom layer in the flats and sand 

 to cover the seeds planted in them. 



IF THERE is no greenhouse — and most of us gardeners want 

 one anyhow — a well-lighted and warm cellar, with east 

 and south windows, or both, will do good service as a storehouse, 

 work room, and "conservatory." The window-sash may be 

 removed, and portable glass frames extended therefrom. These 

 should be of the width and height of the windows, and not more 

 than two and a half feet deep, so that all parts of them can be 

 readily reached from inside the cellar; and they should have 



hinged tops so that they 

 can be ventilated. Build 

 them with tight bot- 

 toms to keep out the 

 cold, and bank around 

 them on all sides in 

 cold weather. I made 

 two of these frames — 

 for east and south 

 windows — ten years ago 

 in the fall, since when 

 1 have raised all my 

 own plants, including 

 Eggplants, Peppers, 

 Tomatoes, Asparagus 

 and Artichokes. If they 

 were made on the double- 

 glass system no doubt 

 they would be all the 

 better. When the 

 weather becomes warm enough these frames are removed 

 and stored, and the bald spot of ground left by them 

 is set with flowering plants that have been raised through 

 their protection. The south frame is removed about the 

 first of May when the Tomatoes go into the garden; and 

 the east one about the first of June when the Peppers and 

 Eggplants are set out. 



The real gardener will have in addition to such accessories a 

 regular coldframe out of doors, filled with manure in the fall so 

 that the ground it encloses will not be frozen when the frame is 

 cleaned out and put into service early in March. 



WITH these facilities, or something like them, you can begin 

 next summer's garden any time in the fall— October and 

 early November does very well. Sow Head Lettuce very 

 thinly in a flat. It is likely to take more time than usual to 

 germinate, and will grow so slowly during the shortening days 

 and increasingly cooler weather that it can stay in the flat in the 

 window frames with no more attention than watering about 

 once a week until about the first of December. Then trans- 

 plant to four-inch paper pots, which are fitted snugly into a flat 

 for convenience in handling. They are not to be allowed to 

 freeze, of course, if it can be prevented, and it is not much trou- 

 ble to lift them out of the frames and keep them in the cellar 

 during blizzardy days; but if they do freeze they are not neces- 

 sarily lost. They may droop until they are flat, but they will 

 generally come out all right if kept in a cool place and allowed 

 to recover gradually. These plants will grow very little, at 

 best, in midwinter, and during the coldest and darkest weather 

 will remain almost dormant. Early in February, however, 

 their growth will become apparent, and about the first of April, 

 when they are set out in the garden under portable frames — after 

 having been in the coldframe from about the first of March — 

 they are well grown and should yield good heads early in May. 

 During coldest nights a hood made of carpet or double burlap 

 is to be placed over the window frames to counteract the effects 

 of a sudden chill. 



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