I S YOUR seed order placed? 
Before all else make out the list 
of your requirements and get 
ready for the spring work. 
Place nursery orders too. S tudy the 
planting tables on pages 30 and 31 of 
this number and figure out your 
needs. Then read over again the 
„ , . . , practical articles in 
Early Ve S etable £ Ja Gar . 
Seed Sowing den "Magazine. 
Seed sowing should be the watch 
word for this month. If you want quality as well as quantity in 
the vegetable garden start sowing seed indoors or in a hotbed 
now. To those who usually start gardening in May this may 
seem early, but plants started now usually escape the summer 
drought and always produce better results. 
French globe artichoke, started early this month, and kept 
potted as required, will produce heads this summer. 
Cabbage and cauliflower sown the latter part of 
February can be transferred to flats or to a frame 
when large enough. These will be ready for the 
table early in June. 
Celery started now will be ready for use in July, 
these are best handled in flats when they are large 
enough to dibble off. Egg-plant and peppers should 
be sown the latter part of February and carried 
along in pots. 
Onions sown in flats and later dibbled into other 
boxes where they have more space, will rival in size 
the finest Bermudas, and as they are very mild and 
even excel in quality. Leeks may be handled 
exactly like onions. 
Lettuce should be sown the latter part of this 
month; a small pan is sufficient to produce all the 
plants required. Transplant the young seedlings to 
flats when large enough to handle. Place them in a 
coldframe later on so as to harden them off before 
planting outdoors. 
A flat of parsley started late this month will be 
ready for planting in the garden much earlier than 
you can start seeds outdoors. Just sow the seed 
very thinly, and when the seedlings are fairly 
large place the flat in the frame to harden off. 
If (you have room in a frame where you have a 
heating pipe or a solid bench in the greenhouse try a few of the 
English kidney potatoes. They force well and are most delicious. 
Tomatoes for growing outdoors should be started the latter 
part of this month; they can be carried along in pots or can be 
handled in boxes. Pots, of course, pro- 
duce the better plants but take up con- 
siderably more space. 
T HERE is a number of flowers to be 
started this month if you want good 
stocky plants for setting out. Ageratum, if 
wanted from seeds must be started now; also 
sow snapdragons. Both can be handled in flats. 
The first crop of asters should be sown 
Getting Ready for n0W; ^ make tOG 
Early Flowers 
THE MONTH'S 
REMINDER 
COMPILED WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE HOME GARDEN. FROM 
THE TEN YEARS’ DIARIES OF A PRACTICAL EXPERT GARDENER 
For reckoning dates, the latitude of New York City is generally taken as a 
standard. In applying the directions to other localities, allow six 
days’ difference for every hundred miles of latitude 
in the greenhouse must be started 
now. They should be grown on in 
pots, repotting them from time to 
time as occasion requires. 
Have you ever grown the orna- 
mental grasses? They are some of 
our most decorative plants, and can 
be sown in flats now and when large 
enough potted off in small clumpsinto 
4-inch pots. Later on they will lend a 
picturesque character to the garden. 
Plants for 
Summer Beds 
S TART petunias and heliotrope so as to have good sized, stocky 
plants for setting out. Lobelia for bedding should be sown 
now, the entire patch wanted should all be started at one time to 
insure a uniform size. A flower garden without a bed of pansies 
or forget-me-nots seems to lack atmosphere; these should be 
started from seed now, in flats. 
Sow salpiglossis, salvia, and sca- 
biosa; you will have plants by 
bedding out time that are capable of 
producing flowers all summer. If you want quality 
sweet peas in your garden sow now in 4-inch pots. 
Put about four seeds in each pot; later on these 
can be thinned out to one. These young plants 
should be grown very cool, and placed in a coldframe 
just as soon as they show growth. The Scotch 
pansies or violas are far too little known although 
they are easy to grow. Get some seed and try them 
this year. 
Verbena seed started now will give good sized 
plants for setting out for summer flowers. 
r J''HE secret of 
Set some seakale roots and 
force like rhubarb or aspara- 
gus in any warm dark corner. 
Roots may be dug from the 
garden or bought from the 
seedsmen 
Soil for 
Seed Sowing 
large a sowing as this 
plant flowers in crops 
sow now is for early 
Prune the berry and 
bush fruits so as to 
leave only productive 
wood; and tie up to 
stakes, etc. 
and what seed you 
flowers only. 
The seed of bedding begonia is very small 
and must be handled carefully. The tuberous 
type excellent for flowering in a shaded 
border, and which is ofttimes used in pots, 
may also be sown now. 
This is the time also for the bedding type 
of carnations and sweet Williams. These 
are usually handled in flats. The different 
types of celosia can now be sown; this is a 
very peculiar plant and should be handled in 
pots to produce the best results. 
Primulas and cvclamen for use next winter 
•ting seeds lies in having an 
open soil that admits air and water, yet does 
not become suddenly dry. An ideal soil for seed 
sowing is composed of equal parts loam and leaf- 
mold with about one eighth good sharp sand added 
to keep it open. This is mixed and sifted. Always 
sift the soil to be used. To allow 
for drainage, the pots, pans or boxes 
used for sowing should have about 
one inch of drainage placed in the bottom, composed 
of broken pots (crocks), cinders, stones, clam or 
oyster shells — or anything of that nature. 
Place about one half inch of sphagnum moss over the drainage 
material to keep the soil from running down; over this put some 
rough lumps from the soil screenings; then about two inches of 
soil over this. Pack firmly and smooth off the top for 
sowing. Be sure to firm the soil well 
as loose soil stays wet when watered 
and is the cause of “damping off.” 
TTHIS is the time to give the palms 
a good overhauling. All the plants 
that need repotting should have larger 
pots; where it is not possible to do this as 
much top soil as possible should be 
scraped out of the pot and a good rich 
mixture substituted. Stove 
plants and ornamentals in 
the house should also be 
handled in the same way. 
If you haven’t already applied a 
mulch to the carnations do so at once. 
The plants are growing rapidly at this 
time of year and should be disbudded 
regularly. 
B EDDING plants that are to be pro- 
pagated next month (such as coleus, 
geranium, alternanthera, etc.), must be 
started into growth so as 
to produce plenty of 
stock. If there is any 
danger of being short on the stock all 
Plants in 
Greenhouse 
Start Bedding 
Plants 
This geranium has been cut 
back and started to supply 
cuttings for this year’s plants. 
Now’s the time 
27 
