GARDEN 
SUGGESTIONS 
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QJJERJES 
CONDUCTED BY F. F. ROCKWELL 
W ITH the beginning of the new year 
comes the usual flood of new reso¬ 
lutions so easy to make — so seldom kept. 
Those of us who are interested in garden¬ 
ing have the same temptation to plan, in a 
general indefinite way, far too much, only 
to find ourselves surprised again at the end 
of the year at how little we have actually 
accomplished. And yet there is something 
inspiring and stimulating about the fact 
that it is the beginning of a new year, of 
which we should take advantage. The 
trouble usually lies not so much in our 
“biting off more than we can chew” as in 
the fact that we are apt to cut off such a 
big slice that we don’t even know where 
to take the first bite. So in regard to this 
coming year’s garden resolutions I would 
make the following suggestions : 
Plan but a few improvements. 
Make those plans very definite and con¬ 
crete. 
Get them down on paper in black and 
white at once in as detailed shape as pos¬ 
sible. Try that plan this year, now, and 
see if at the end of the twelve-month you 
As soon as the small roots form, replant the slip in a 
pot of rich soil 
have not made more progress than in any 
other previous season. 
Begin Gardening Now 
Contrary to the general belief, January 
is the most important month, so far as the 
success of your vegetable and flower gar¬ 
dens is concerned. Next month, if you 
want early results from either vegetables 
or flowers, you will have to begin the work 
of starting plants. Before you do this you 
must, however, get your seed. And be¬ 
fore you can order your seeds intelligent¬ 
ly, and to accomplish just what you would 
like to accomplish for the following sum¬ 
mer’s gardening, you must have a definite 
knowledge of where each thing is going 
and of just the types and varieties you 
want. And before you can know these 
things accurately you must have thought 
out carefully a plan for the position, the 
amounts and the varieties of all the veg¬ 
etables and flowers you expect to grow. 
That means work — diligent, painstaking 
work, without the exhilaration of spring 
smells and swelling buds around you. In 
making your plans for this summer’s work, 
if you have had a few seasons of garden 
experience of your own, you will be able to 
judge from that to a large extent just 
what to put in and what to leave out. If 
you have kept any kind of a record or 
diary of your various garden operations to 
show dates of planting and harvesting, 
height and time of blooms of flowers, va¬ 
rieties that you have found especially at¬ 
tractive, and so forth, you will find this 
of the greatest use in planning your work 
ahead. In fact, without some such accu¬ 
rate basis to go by, it will be impossible 
for you to make your plans with any defi¬ 
nite assurance that you have got things 
just right. 
In case you have neither several years’ 
experience nor a season’s personal record 
of this kind to guide you, by all means 
secure at least one good book on flower- 
garden making and another on vegetables. 
No matter how many magazines you may 
be taking, you will find a book well worth 
while. Naturally the magazines have to 
folloV more or less closely the work of 
the month. But to plan your work ahead 
for the season you need information about 
the whole year’s work ready for immediate 
reference. If you have kept, as most 
readers do, your copies of House and 
Garden for the past year you will have 
a great deal to guide you which may be 
gleaned by looking through them again at 
this time. It is a good plan also to se¬ 
cure a generous supply of catalogues, as 
very many of them contain useful infor¬ 
mation put in a way that will be of ma¬ 
terial help to you. 
Propagate Plants Now for Bedding 
Out Next May 
Young plants in prime condition, that 
are just the right size for setting out in the 
spring, to bloom vigorously all summer, 
can be had by starting them from slips or 
cuttings. Even with a limited amount of 
room you can start quite a number of 
plants this way. Plants from such flowers 
as you may have in your house or green- 
m 
Do not allow the new roots to reach this stage of 
maturity before transplanting 
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