Garden Suggestions 
CONDUCTED BY F. F. ROCKWELL 
Author of Home Vegetable Gardening and Gardening ii 
Indoors and Under Glass 
Summer Gardening 
OR many gardens July is the fatal 
month. This is partly due to the 
fact, of course, that during the 'not swelter¬ 
ing weather which we usually get then, 
one naturally has less inclination to do 
anything outside of the comfortable shelter 
of veranda or friendly shade-tree. But a 
still more potent reason, I believe, is the 
fact that due to the drought which we 
almost invariably have about this time of 
the year, work in the garden becomes so 
discouraging that we naturally get dis¬ 
gusted with it and let things go. 
Elsewhere in this issue is described in 
detail a new system of irrigation or water¬ 
ing which makes gardening practically a 
sure thing — which at least overcomes the 
greatest difficulty and factor of uncer¬ 
tainty, failure from long continued dry 
weather. Such a system, on a small scale, 
(especially where a supply of water at a 
pressure of twenty-five to fifty pounds is 
already available) costs very little to in¬ 
stall and next to no time and no expense 
except the cost of the water to operate. 
What to Plant Now 
HE three most important crops to 
be planted during late June or July, 
are cabbage, for late fall and winter use, 
cauliflower and celery. If you have not 
taken the trouble to grow your own plants, 
they may be purchased readily, but take 
care to get them as short and stocky as 
possible. Such plants are much less apt 
to wilt down badly and be put back by 
the process of transplanting. The celery 
plants should be set in rows three or four 
feet apart and six inches apart in the row. 
Two of the most satisfactory varieties for 
the home garden are Golden Self-blanch¬ 
ing and Winter Queen. The plants which 
are wanted for early use, the latter part of 
August and September, may be set out two 
weeks or more in advance of those re¬ 
quired for fall and winter. The early 
crop, however, is never nearly so good in 
quality as that which matures later, in cool 
weather. When setting, put the plants 
down to the heart or “crown,” but be 
careful not to get them deeper than this. 
Give level, clean culture until about Au¬ 
gust 15th. Then with the hoe, or hilling 
attachment on the wheel hoe, work the 
rest up along the rows, and then go over 
them again working the earth in carefully 
about the stalks with the fingers, pressing 
the stalks up together in a bunch as you do 
so. Celery requires a great deal of mois¬ 
ture, and unless the soil is naturally damp 
in most seasons, water will have to be sup¬ 
plied by some artifical means. Another 
method, known as the “new” celery cul¬ 
ture, consists in setting the plants ten or 
twelve inches apart each way (six inches 
for dwarf varieties), the idea being to 
make the tops of the plants and the foliage 
supply dense enough shade to blanch the 
stalk. This system, however, should not 
be attempted unless the soil is made very 
rich indeed, and an abundance of water 
may be had. 
Wherever there is space in the garden 
which is not required for other use — and 
there generally is such spare room where 
early crops of beets, lettuce, peas, etc., 
have been removed—cabbage for late fall 
use and for storing for the winter months 
should be grown. Spade the ground 
up deep, put on a dressing of good gar- 
A cabbage plant with only side leaves 
trimmed for transplanting 
den fertilizer, and in each hill put half 
a handful of a mixture of cottonseed meal 
and fine ground bone. The plants should 
be set about two feet apart in the rows, 
and the rows two and a half to four feet 
apart according to variety, the Flat Dutch 
type requiring more room than the Danish 
or solid, round-headed types; or such 
medium early sorts as All-seasons and Suc¬ 
cession, which are often grown for late use 
because they may be set out later and still 
mature a crop before hard freezing. The 
Savoy type, of which Drumhead Perfec¬ 
tion is the best variety, is of extra fine 
quality, and if you once try it you will be 
likely to grow it exclusively. 
Cauliflower grows to perfection during 
the cool autumn weather. It is given the 
same treatment as cabbage, except that it 
is more particular about having plenty of 
water during dry weather, and the heads, 
of course, must be tied up to remain white, 
when they begin to show. 
Strawberries for Next June 
H AVE you had success with strawber¬ 
ries? If not, or if you have ever 
seen better looking berries than those 
which grow in your own patch, buy a 
supply—it does not need to be large—of 
some of the fine new varieties, and set 
them out in single rows, twelve inches 
apart in the row and two feet between 
the rows, or if space is limited, they may 
be put in a “bed,” that is a foot apart each 
way. Cultivate frequently and keep all 
the runners pinched ofif close. By fall 
each plant will have made a bushy, stocky 
clump a foot or more in diameter, and 
ready to yield you next June the biggest, 
most luscious berries you ever ate. Even if 
you get but a few dozen plants they will 
yield you a good many quarts next year, 
and furthermore afford you then, if you 
take the trouble to supply yourself with the 
necessary number of small pots, with all 
the potted strawberry plants you want to 
make a bed for the following year. 
Thinning Out Vegetables 
ANY persons who are very careful to 
remove from their rows of vege¬ 
tables every weed which dares show itself, 
still fail to secure the best results because 
they leave the vegetables themselves too 
thick. This is especially true with such 
things as lettuce, and the root crops, such 
as beets, carrots, parsnips, etc., all of 
which must have full room to develop un¬ 
less they are to work injury to each other. 
Naturally we hate to pull up and throw 
away perfectly good young plants over 
which more or less time and trouble have 
already been spent, but in no other way 
can you secure the finest specimens of the 
various things- in your garden when you 
have been fortunate enough to have your 
seeds come up “too thick.” Where, how¬ 
ever, it is your fault for having sown the 
seed too thickly make a note to plant 
more thinly another year. If you want to 
save these extra plants cut back the tops 
about one-half and the roots one-half or 
even two-thirds, and set out in a freshly 
prepared surface if possible. 
(43) 
