Around the Garden 
A MONTHLY KALENDER OF TIMELY CARDEN OPERA- 
TIONS AND USEFUL HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS 
ABOUT THE HOME GARDEN AND 
GROUNDS 
All quene* will gladly be answered by the Editor. If a 
reply is desired by subKribets stamps should be enclosed 
April, 1914 
APRIL GARDENING NOTES 
By Gardner Teall 
PRIL, traditional rainy-month, cannot 
quench the ardor of the garden-maker. 
Even though storms compel him to remain 
indoors, he will only be reminded that the 
earth is getting into condition for his plant- 
ing enthusiasm, and he will be arranging 
seeds, looking over tools, fixing up baskets and making 
labels and stakes against the busy season, when there will 
be less time for these things. 
B ut it will not be raining all day e^cry day, and so, 
here are some of the things to be attended to outside 
the house: Asparagus beds to be fertilized (Rhubarb beds 
also); mulching to be removed from the strawberry bed; 
coldframes to be put in shape for the tender plants that 
are to be transferred to them from hotbeds later in the 
month; Box edging to be set out early; Asparagus beds 
to be forked lightly when the fertilizer has been spread 
over them, and bulb beds to be uncovered later in the 
month. By April fifteenth all spraying must be completed. 
C AN NAS, P'rench Marigolds, Lantana, Drummond 
Phlox. Double Petunias, and other seeds should be 
sown within doors under cover for later transplanting. 
Pips of the Lily-of-the-Valley should be started without 
delay. For vegetables, onions, beets, eggplants, peppers 
and tomatoes are among those that should be started from 
seed in flats. Lettuce can be sown outside in hotbeds. 
T he garden beginner will do well to remember that good 
soil is essential to the good garden. Those garden- 
makers who have been students of Botany readily understand 
the needs of plant physiology, that plants are, after all, 
very much like living human beings in respect to their 
response to environment and proper nourishment. How 
often we see the garden beginner contenting himself with 
the thought that because he has purchased packages of seeds 
of his favorite flowers or of the vegetables which may ap- 
peal to his palate, and having scattered these seeds upon in- 
different soil, trusting in his sublime Ignorance of gardening 
essentials to Nature's strugglings against all odds to produce 
for him the little garden of his dreams. Instead he should 
be studying soil problems before seeding at all. Depth 
and mellowness of soil are things he must have for his 
garden. The reason is obvious. Without depth the root- 
lets cannot find their way to avoid the baked condition of 
the upper soil during periods of drought, and without mel- 
lowness it cannot be open to ameliorating atmospheric in- 
fluences so necessary to successful plant growth. 
A t the bottom of this page the garden-maker will find 
a useful planting-table for vegetables and in connection 
with selections which will be made by the garden beginner, 
he will do well to remember that good soil is quite as neces- 
sary to vegetable culture as it is to the growing of flowers. 
SPRING PLANTING TABLE FOR VEGETABLES 
\'cRctablc5 
When l«> Plant 
Amtfor 
Distance 
0 1‘lanl 
Depth to 
Plant 
X'cRCtables 
When to Plant 
.\mt for 
.'>11 ft rw 
Distance 
to Plant 
Dctith to 
Plant 
:>Ufl rw 
In Hun 
kows.\part 
In Run 
Rows.Vparl 
1 ft. 
\ Xo\]A ft. 
A|)ril-Mav 
1 oz. 
2 to 4 in. 
13 in. 
1 in. 
Leek 
-\pril 
'A oz. 
2 lo 4 in. 
13 in. 
Yi in. 
Mav 5-.\ug. l.'i 
1 pt. 
2 to 4 in. 
kJ to 2 in. 
2 in. 
Melon. Musk 
.May l.')-Junc l.i 
Yi oz. 
4 to 0 ft. 
4 to (5 ft. 
1 in. 
Vi pt. 
3 in. 
3 in. 
2 in. 
Melon. Water 
May lo-June 15 
la oz. 
(i to 8 ft. 
0 to 8 ft. 
1 in. 
.Vpril 
April-Junc 
1 oz. 
3 to 4 in. 
16 in. 
2 in. 
Ukra 
.May 13'Junc 15 
Yi OZ. 
ft. 
3 ft. 
A to 1 in. 
1 oz. 
2 in. 
.\pri1-May 
Yi oz. 
1 tt. . 
llroccoti 
25 
1 pt. 
2 ft. 
3 ft. 
2 ft. 
2 ft. 
2 V, ft. 
May-Junc 
20 
2yi ft. 
iyi ft. 
•A in. 
Pepper (Seed) 
Tune 1 
oz. 
3 lo 15 in. 
1.1 in. 
Yi in. 
.\pril lo-luno 20 
2Yi ft. 
.15 
2 ft. 
'A in. 
Pumpkin 
■May l-luiic 2n 
Vi oz. 
« to 8 ft. 
lulv l-,\ug, 1 
100 
0 in. 
3 to 4 ft. 
^ to ^ in. 
Radish 
.\pril 1-Sept. 1 
Yi oz. 
2 to 3 in. 
1 ft. 
Yi in. 
.\pril 
1 oz. 
1 to 2 in, 
1 ft. 
Rhubarb ( Plants) 
April 
2 to .1 ft. 
3 to 4 ft. 
yi pt. 
3 ft. 
3 to 4 ft. 
18 in. 
4 ft. 
ft. 
1 in. 
I'J oz. 
26 
2 ft. 
2 V 2 ft. 
Mav l-'.-luly 1 
4 in. 
4 ft. 
1 ft. 
1 ft. 
Kale (Horccole) 
.\prilTuly 
35 
IS in. 
2^5 ft. 
V5 in. 
Tomato (Plants) 
lune 
20 
3 ft. 
3 ft. 4 in 
May l.')-Tuly 20 
l.‘> in. 
Turnip 
-\pril-Scpt. 
Yi oz. 
4 to 0 in. 
1.’) in. 
DaUs Riven arc for latitude of New York. Each 100 miles north or soutli will make a difference of from 3 to 7 days in the season. The <ljs(anccs Riven lien- 
indicate the <listancc apart the planls should stand of\er thinning. The seed should be sown much nearer together. (.\) These plants may be started early (in the 
crcenhousc or hotbed, in early Spring, or outdoors in the seedbed later), and afterwards transplanted to their permanent location, til) These crops usually occupy the 
ground for the entire season. (C) These arc quick maturing crops which, for a constant supply, should be planted at several dilTcrenl times in "succession" — a week or 
two weeks apart. (1>) These arc crops which often may be cleared off in time to permit planting another quickly maturing crop, usually of some early variety. (E) These 
crops arc supplementary to those in Class D. and may be used to obtain a second crop out of the ground from which early crops have been cleared. 
