WHEN TO DO WHAT YOU WANT TO DO 



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JANUARY— WHEN WE MAKE PLANS FOR THE FUTURE 



Herein are listed the seasonal activities for the complete garden. Details of how to do each item may 

 be found in the current or the back issues of The Garden Magazine — it is manifestly impossible to 

 make each number of the magazine a complete manual of practice. References to back numbers may be 

 looked up in the index to each completed volume (sent gratis on request); the Service Department will also 

 be glad to cite references to any special topic if asked by mail and to send personal replies to specific ques- 

 tions; a stamped, addressed envelope being enclosed. 



When referring to the time for out-door work of any sort New York City (latitude^) at sea level in 

 a normal season is taken as standard; but at best dates can only be approximate. Roughly, the season 

 advances northward fifteen miles a day. Thus Albany, which is one hundred and fifty miles from New 

 York, would be about ten days later, and Philadelphia, which is ninety miles southwest, about a week 

 earlier. Also allow four days for each degree of latitude, for each five degrees of longitude, and for each 

 four hundred feet of altitude. 



(Copyright, 1921, Douhleday, Page ii Co.) 



' ANUARY is really one of the most important months of the 

 gardener's year, for while actual work outdoors is to a great 

 extent dependent upon the vagaries of the season, yet plan- 

 ning and ordering are matters that can be done indoors in 

 the worst of weather, while activity outdoors is at its 

 lowest ebb. Real success in gardening is only reached by having 

 thorough and well considered plans ahead. Arrange, re-arrange, and 

 again re-arrange the details of the coming year's work (on paper) 

 until the desired combinations and sequences are obtained. If your 

 place is the best planned, and best kept in town, the example will spread 

 so that your town ultimately becomes a better and more beautiful place 

 to live in. Beauty pays in actual dollars and cents as well as in other 

 less tangible ways. 



Resolutions for the New Year 



While the New Year's resolutions are being made, it would be well to 

 put down on paper those appertaining to the garden, and during 

 the long evenings ahead endeavor to work them out to a practical 

 solution; then when the season arrives for actual operations, 

 one knows just what is to be done, in addition to how and where. 



Ask yourself a few questions; What would you like to accomplish? 

 This is no easy question to answer. Write it down. Any number 

 of answers may be made and something still be left out. The per- 

 sonal equation, however, largely affects what will be done; ask your- 

 self if your enthusiasm is of the kind that urges you to actually 

 do things, or is it of the flash in the pan kind that makes a lot of 

 smoke, but doesn't start anything; or, having started, fails to finish. 



If your enthusiasm is genuine, and your plans for improvements am- 

 bitious, don't let that enthusiasm die hard by attempting too 

 much. It is perfectly easy to accomplish on paper all the differ- 

 ent things you can think of and would like to see done, but it is 

 so much easier to wield a pencil beside a comfortable fire than it is 

 to wield a hoe outdoors. Results are your goal. 



Have some phase of gardening as a special hobby. This does not 

 mean leaving out other interests, but specializing in some kind of 

 work or some flower that particularly appeals to you. Beds of 

 such flower favorites, accessible and intimate, will give an added 

 zest and personal interest to your garden at all times. 



Intensive Cropping? 



Getting two crops where you got one before? Like chess, "it's a great 

 game." There are some good text books on the subject, and now 

 is the chance to make your move. 



Thus plan all your first plantings — except, of course, the full season 

 crops like Salsify, Parsnips, etc. — with a definite idea of what is 

 to follow them when they mature and are removed, so that from ' 

 start to finish there will be no idle rows in the garden. For in- 

 stance, follow earliest Peas with Eggplants and Peppers; inter- 

 mediate Peas may be followed with Endive, a second planting 

 of Bush Beans, Beets, etc.; and the late Peas with Cabbage, 

 Cauliflower or Brussels-sprouts. The first planting of Corn 

 should be out of the way in time for setting the fall Celery and 

 the next one — about a week or ten days later — in time for the 

 Celeriac. (See also suggestions on pages 231, 260). 



Orders 



It will soon be time to get off your orders for all kinds of things. Read 

 carefully the dealers' announcements in the advertising pages and 

 send requests for catalogues of whatever interests you. 



Bird baths, bird houses, new fencing, pool for the gold fish, new seats, 



vases, and baskets for summer flowering plants need to be con- 

 sidered now. 



All required nursery stock, perennials, seeds of annuals and vegetables 

 should be ordered as soon as the lists can be made up after the 

 catalogues have been studied. 



Good tools are essential to a successful garden. Check up those you 

 have and make a list of new ones needed. 



New Plantings and Propagation 



Large trees may be conveniently moved when the wall of earth about 

 the roots is frozen solid. Do the digging while the ground is open 

 and make the move when sufficiently frozen. 



Include in your lists, when planning improvements about the grounds, 

 plants with persistent foliage, i.e. that does not fall until late in 

 the autumn, thus prolonging the season, and adding to the gen- 

 eral landscape effect. 



If you have a greenhouse and a propagating bench with bottom heat, 

 many of the evergreens may be propagated by means of cuttings 

 made at this time. Select the healthiest and most robust of the 

 young wood; and if frozen when cut, restore to normal condition 

 by plunging in cold water. 



Hardwood cuttings of well ripened deciduous plants may also be 

 secured now, and prepared for rooting. 



Lawns, New and Old 



Plan to improve the lawn; don't be content with a worn-out, patchy, 

 moth-eaten appearance. Make definite plans for improving it. 

 Having the material on hand when the time comes is half the game. 

 First of all you want good seed; cheap lawn seed is dear at any 

 price. Figure on about a quarter pound to every hundred square 

 feet. A fairly good sod will not require this amount when renovat- 

 ing in the spring. 



And the fertilizer; there are many special brands on the market, but in 

 our experience a top-dressing of bone meal one season, and hard- 

 wood ashes another is well worth while. Mix the bone meal with 

 very fine-screened loam, in the ratio of 1 part bone to 5 of loam, 

 and top-dress the lawn with this about two weeks before seeding. 

 If bone is applied at the same time as the seeding is done it molds 

 and the young grass damps off easily. 



Vegetable Garden 



Very little can be done in the North Atlantic states during this month 

 save to prepare manure, and when weather permits get it on to the 

 ground. Check up the supply of bean poles, brush, tools, sash, 

 etc., and order to replenish stock. 



In milder sections of the country, where there is but little or no frost, 

 the hardier kinds of vegetables may be sown outdoors, such as 

 Asparagus, Beets, Carrots, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Leeks, Lettuce 

 Onions, Turnips, etc. In localities so favored that these vege- 

 tables can be sown outdoors it is not too soon to think of prepar- 

 ing a hotbed to start such tender subjects as Tomatoes, Egg-plants 

 and Peppers. 



It is generally preferable, however, to wait until February 1st for the 

 earliest hotbed; in the meantime the manure for it can be collected. 



Time is not infrequently lost during the actual planting season by plan- 

 ning the vegetable garden for convenience in planting, whereas 

 convenience in cultivation is more essential. Planting is done but 

 once, while cultivation is done several times during the life of the 

 crops. Arrange the various rows as far as possible to a uniform 

 width so that you do not have to change the width of the cultivator 



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