xil 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GA 



RDENS 



February, 1907 



Polish Your Mission Furniture I 



AND ALL OTHER FURNITURE 



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FEBRUARY GARDEN NOTES 



By Eben E. Rexford 



WHILE it is too early in the season to 

 do any actual work in the garden, it 

 is not too early to plan the work which 

 will soon be upon us with a rush. If it comes 

 before we have made full preparation for it, 

 quite likely a good deal of it will be slighted 

 in the hurry of the moment. 



There is no excuse for a poor garden under 

 ordinary conditions. The average garden may 

 be made a good one if the owner of it is will- 

 ing to give it proper attention. This means 

 thorough preparation of the soil for the re- 

 ception of seed, the application of reliable 

 fertilizers in liberal quantities, careful seed- 

 sowing, and no quarter to weeds. This does 

 not call for a great amount of labor or of 

 time, and is not a matter of great expense. 



Of course, many persons are so situated 

 that the little piece of ground they call a 

 garden is hardly equal to the dignity of the 

 title bestowed upon it, but it is a great deal 

 better than no garden at all. Those who 

 have nothing but a little back yard often fail 

 to do anything with it because of its insig- 

 nificance, and the unfavorable conditions 

 which generally prevail there. The ground 

 is always willing to do its share of work 

 as best it can, and plants are always 

 willing to do their share if given 

 half a chance, and, if we are willing to do 

 what we can to help matters along, the most 

 impromising back yard may be made some- 

 thing more than a mere apology for a garden. 

 Anj'way, it "pays" to clean it up once a year 

 if nothing is planted in it. But don't let the 

 matter end with the annual cleaning up. 

 Spade up the soil. Turn it up to the sunshine 

 — if there happens to be any — and let that 

 and the air sweeten, and purify, and mellow 

 it. Add something that has the elements of 

 plant-growth in it, and work it over and over 

 until it is as fine as it can be made. Then 

 plant something in it. It may be vegetables, 

 or it may be flowers, but make the attempt to 

 grow something. You may not succeed in 

 growing anything that you would care to 

 enter for a prize at an agricultural fair, but 

 }ou can grow really good specimens of veg- 

 etables and flowers in places where few per- 

 sons would look for favorable results. The 

 average back yard is a most forbidding place, 

 so far as appearances go, but it is possible to 

 make it attractive and even profitable. 



Those who can have "a real garden," and 

 who have other work to take up most of their 

 time, ought to plan for economizing labor in 

 it. Do not lay it out in little narrow beds, 

 as we have been in the habit of doing, but 

 plant it in rows. This will enable you to 

 make good use of the wheel-hoe and culti- 

 vator. Let the rows run the entire length 

 of the garden, that the turns made in culti- 

 vating may be as few as possible. 



Plan to get all possible benefit of the sun- 

 shine. This you can do by planting tall- 

 growing plants, like corn, pole-beans, and 

 climbing peas, at the north. Graduate your 

 plants according to their habit of growth, to- 

 ward the south, so that all of them may have 

 an equal chance at the warmth of the sun. 



If you propose to set out such plants as 

 asparagus or rhubarb, which require perma- 

 nent quarters, put them at one side where they 

 will not interfere with the proper cultivation 

 of annual plants. Locate them where they 

 can be cared for well, of course, but keep them 

 out of that part of the garden which must be 

 spaded or plowed up each season. 



The above advice applies with equal force 



