Book of Gardens 
97 
January THE GARDENER’S CALENDAR First Month 
Continuous bearing 
greenhouse vegeta¬ 
bles should bemulch- 
ed with manure 
Trench stored celery 
shoidd be protected 
so that water can¬ 
not penetrate to it 
Plenty of sod and 
straw covering for 
the root pit will 
keep out the frost 
SUNDAY 
MONDAY 
TUESDAY 
WEDNESDAY 
THURSDAY 
FRIDAY 
SATURDAY 
Thi s calendar .of the gardener's labors is 
aimed as a reminder for undertaking all his 
tasks in season. It is fitted to the latitude 
of the Middle States, but its service should 
be available for the whole country if it be 
remembered that for every one hundred 
miles north or south there is a difference 
of from five to seven days later or earlier 
in performing garden operations. The 
dates given are, or course, for an average 
season. 
1. Do not 
neglect to 
mulch thor¬ 
oughly all the 
late plantings 
of bulbs, peren¬ 
nials and other 
soft plants. 
Coarse manure 
is the material 
preferred for 
this purpose. 
Leaves or any 
light stuff may 
be used, how¬ 
ever, if manure 
cannot be had. 
2. Spraying 
of dormant 
trees and 
shrubs may be 
practiced 
throughout the 
winter months. 
Any of the 
soluble oil 
sprays may be 
used for scale 
and other bark 
infections. 
Stronger solu¬ 
tions may be 
used now than 
later. 
3. New land 
that is in¬ 
tended tor 
growing pur¬ 
poses can be 
made ready for 
plowing by 
burning the 
longgrasswhile 
it is dry. This is 
also excellent 
treatment for 
the grass grow¬ 
ing in orchards 
and bordering 
cultivated 
fields, etc. 
4. Don't ne¬ 
glect to keep 
up regular 
sowings in the 
greenhouse of 
those crops 
which require 
frequent plant¬ 
ings to assure a 
supply. Beans, 
cauliflower, let¬ 
tuce, radishes, 
spinach, etc., 
are all true 
croppers and 
may be planted 
in this way. 
5. It is not 
a good prac¬ 
tice to allow 
leaves to lie on 
the lawn all 
winter. They 
should be 
raked into piles 
and carted to 
some corner 
where they can 
be composted. 
They are far 
too valuable to 
be burned, as 
is only too 
often done. 
6. House 
plants must 
have some 
attention at 
this time; the 
pores or 
breathing oi- 
gans become 
clogged with 
dust. Sponge 
the foliage 
with a good 
soap solution 
in lukewarm 
water, with a 
little tobacco 
extract in it. 
7. Why not 
make a small 
plan of your 
place to scale. 
You can then 
chart any 
changes intelli¬ 
gently, mark 
the location of 
water pipes, 
waste lines, and 
other informa¬ 
tion that it is 
often necessary 
to know 
quickly and 
accurately. 
14. Heavy 
mulchings that 
are applied for 
frost pro¬ 
tection, or the 
loose coverings 
over vegetable 
trenches, 
should be 
loosened up 
with a fork or 
they will get 
matted down 
and be of com¬ 
paratively lit¬ 
tle value to the 
plants beneath. 
8. Crops that 
have been 
growing in the 
greenhouse fqr 
any consider- 
a b 1 e time 
should be 
mulched. Pure 
cow manure is 
the best ma¬ 
terial for this 
purpose; sever¬ 
al inches of it 
should be ap¬ 
plied to the 
benches where 
the plants are. 
15. What 
about cold- 
frames for your 
garden this 
coming spring? 
You can easily 
build the 
frames your¬ 
self, but the 
sash must be 
ordered now or 
you won’t have 
them in time. 
Remember 
that the early 
cold-frame 
is the best. 
9. Chicory 
and rhubarb 
can be forced 
under the 
benches in the 
greenhouse. 
Use a drop cur¬ 
tain to exclude 
the light. The 
roots may also 
be grown in 
any warm cel- 
1 a r . Mush¬ 
rooms, too, 
may be grown 
in similar situ¬ 
ations. 
10. It is a 
bad practice to 
b aVk* from 
trees, as a con- 
siderable 
amount of the 
live bark will 
be injured. 
When the bark 
is moss grown 
it can be 
cleaned by 
scrubbing 
it well with a 
stiff, hard bris¬ 
tled brush. 
11. Plants 
that are being 
wintered in 
frames require 
air and light 
occasionally or 
they will be¬ 
come soft and 
yellow. Open 
up the frames 
bright day, anil 
always water 
them in the 
morning so the 
plants will be 
dry at night. 
12. Bean 
poles and pea 
brush are 
necessary ac¬ 
cessories of the 
productive 
garden. Why 
not gather 
some now while 
other outdoor 
work is slack. 
Do not put it 
off until spring, 
or in the rush 
of other prepa¬ 
ration it may 
be omitted. 
13. While 
the ground is 
frozen it is a 
good practice 
to get the man¬ 
ure into your 
garden. This 
will prevent 
the cutting up 
of the borders 
with the wagon 
wheels. Be¬ 
sides. the fer¬ 
tilizing quality 
improves 
with age. 
16. Potatoes 
and other 
stored root 
crops should be 
picked over 
and any bad 
tubers re¬ 
moved. In 
very dt y cel¬ 
lars where the 
tubers are like¬ 
ly to shrivel 
they can be 
covered with 
straw to ex¬ 
clude the air. 
17. During 
severe freezing 
weather large 
transplant ed 
with absolute 
safety. Dig 
them with good 
sized balls of 
earth around 
their roots and 
let them lreeze 
hard before 
m o ving . A 
stone-boat can 
be used for 
transportation. 
18. While 
the trees and 
shrubs are dor¬ 
mant caterpil¬ 
lar nests and 
egg masses of 
various insects 
are readily 
discernible. 
Burn the nests 
with a torch of 
soaked rags, 
and paint the 
with a solution 
of creosote. 
19. Before 
spring all the 
fruit trees 
must be 
looked over 
carefully and 
every mummi- 
(led fruit re¬ 
moved. These 
diseased, 
shriveled fruits 
are the breed¬ 
ing places of 
many of our 
insect enemies, 
and they should 
be burned. 
20. Authori¬ 
ties state that 
placing food for 
our uselul win¬ 
ter birds will 
not result in 
their giving up 
their valuable 
activities of 
weed, seed and 
noxious insect 
hunting. Regu- 
lar feeding 
means more 
birds and 
greater eco¬ 
nomic benefit. 
21. Have you 
a small fruit 
border around 
your garden? 
Raspberries, 
blackberries, 
currants and 
gooseberries 
are a necessary 
part of a good 
garden, and 
this is the time 
to plan where 
they can best 
be put in when 
actually spring 
opens. 
22. A good 
grape arbor is 
both attractive 
and remunera¬ 
tive. Build the 
arbor substan¬ 
tially and buy 
only good vari¬ 
eties of grapes 
for it. Trench 
the ground be¬ 
neath the ar¬ 
bor so that the 
plants will 
grow and pro- 
duce abun¬ 
dantly. 
23. Plants 
that are grow- 
in g in the 
house should 
be top dressed 
occasionally 
with some sort 
of concentrat¬ 
ed plant food. 
Prepared 
plant foods 
come for this 
purpose that 
are excellent 
and odorless. 
Your dealer 
will have them. 
24. While 
the vines are 
dormant is an 
excellent time 
to take them 
down for any 
painting that 
may be neces¬ 
sary on build¬ 
ings or fences 
where they are 
growing. 
Necessary re¬ 
pairs should be 
made before 
replacing the 
25. All edged 
tools should be 
looked over 
now and those 
that need it 
must be 
sharpened. 
Lawn mowers 
that are in 
need of repairs 
ought to be at¬ 
tended to at 
this time, and 
if the wheel- 
hoe needs tink¬ 
ering it should 
be fixed. 
26. Have you 
ever given 
more than a 
passing 
thought to 
your garden 
soil? Your 
State agricul¬ 
tural college 
will make a soil 
test for you, 
perhaps free of 
charge, saving 
you many dol¬ 
lars in wasted 
fertilization. 
Write to them. 
27. Have you 
ever figured 
the loss in your 
garden from 
summer 
droughts. 
Checkmate the 
dry weather 
with one of the 
good irrigating 
systems that 
are on the mar¬ 
ket. Order it 
now, before the 
rush: it can be 
installed later 
in the year. 
28. Dahlia 
bulbs should 
be looked over 
at this time, 
as you can tell 
now how they 
are going to 
keep, if they 
are shriveling, 
with sand; if 
they show 
signs of start¬ 
ing into growth 
they should be 
kept in a cooler 
place. 
29. All kinds 
of hardy plants 
that require it 
can be pruned 
at this time. 
Young fruit 
trees should be 
piuned severe¬ 
ly, while trees 
that have at¬ 
tained fruiting 
size need only 
very moderate 
reducing. It is 
well to look 
them all over 
30. It will 
start hotbeds 
for the early 
vegetables and 
flowers. Fresh 
manure must 
be used for this 
purpose; it 
would be a 
good policy to 
start gathering 
it now, so as to 
have plenty 
when the time 
comes for using 
31. Many 
evergreens are 
damaged every 
winter by al¬ 
lowing wet, 
heavy snows to 
accumulate on 
their branches, 
breaking them 
down. Take a 
wooden rake 
and shake the 
trees gently to 
remove the 
every heavy 
storm. 
What are 
these maples 
and, beeches 
and birches but 
odes and idyls 
and 'madiiyalsf 
What are these 
pines and firs 
and spruces but 
holy hymnst 
—Oliver 
Wendell 
Holmes 
r LIZA says it ain’t right, with high prices teltin’ us to save all the food we kin, but I ain’t goin’ to quit 
fcedin’ the wild rabbits this winter. I raised quite a batch of extry carrots for ’em last summer, out 
back of the cow barn—’Liza called it my rabbit garden — an’ saved all the knotty late apples that weren’t 
good for nothin’ else. Now that they’s two foot of snow on the ground, an’ it's colder’n a February moon, 
l kinder like to feel that them little cottontailed devils ain’t got empty stomachs. It's pretty hard sleddin’ 
for ’em this weather—you kin tell that by the mess of fresh tracks in the snow around the house every 
mornin’, where they been huntin’ for food. Didn’t take the furry little cusses long to find where I’d put 
the carrots an’ nubbins on the bare ground under the front piazza, though, an’ now they hold mass meetin’s 
there reg’lar every night. Mebbe it’s waste, but — well, I dunno but what it’ll be forgiven me. 
—Old Doc Lemmon. 
Hyacinths, narcissus 
and other bulbs 
may be lifted and 
brought indoors 
Old croquet wickets 
can be utilized to 
hold the leaf mulch 
over small plantings 
Liquid fertilizer is 
simply prepared by 
placing a sack of 
manure in water 
To retain the white¬ 
ness of the cauli¬ 
flower heads, break 
the leaves over them 
A good tomato trellis pays for itself in im¬ 
proved yield. It is a good plan to make 
one this winter, building it in sections to 
facilitate handling 
Straw mats are excellent covers for cold 
frames. They can be bought from supply 
men; or if you have enough long-fibered 
straw you can make them yourself 
Cuttings from 
grapes and green¬ 
house fruit trees 
should be taken now 
