CONDUCTED BY F. F. ROCKWELL 
Author of Home Vegetable Gardening and Gardening 
Indoors and Under Glass 
When to Plant 
HE question of just when to set out 
the late tender things, such as to¬ 
matoes, peppers, egg-plants, curcubits and 
lima beans, is always a puzzling one. 
With the tenderer flowers — salvias, calad- 
iums, coleus, tuberous begonias, etc. — 
waiting a few days for absolute safety 
does not make so much difference. But 
it is very natural for one to want to 
have the first ripe tomatoes, or the first 
beans in the neighborhood, and musk- 
melons or lima beans as early in the sea¬ 
son, which is short enough, any way, as 
they can be had. Planting too early not 
only risks the life of the plants, but, even 
if they are not lost, cold, backward 
weather will check them so that they will 
be permanently injured and probably ma¬ 
ture later than plants set out after them. 
On the other hand, when it has become 
warm enough, every day lost is a serious 
handicap; and waiting over a day may 
mean a week’s delay on account of bad 
weather. The best solution I know for 
this dilemma is to make two plantings of 
such things — not to double the amount, 
but to risk half a week or so before you 
would feel absolutely safe. In that way 
you will be sure of getting absolutely the 
earliest crop of these which the nature of 
the season will allow. If the first plant¬ 
ing is lost it can be replaced later, and in 
the meantime the second planting is com¬ 
ing on to give you the earliest yield. 
The “ Seed-Bed ” versus Direct 
Sowing 
Most of the flowers, and many of the 
vegetables which are sown outside during 
May and June, may be planted in either 
of two ways — sown directlv where they 
are to grow, or in the seed-bed or border 
for transplanting later. Unless there 
exists some special reason in an individ¬ 
ual case, I think that the latter method 
is the most satisfactory. You can get 
better and much more evenly graded 
plants; the flower-beds or vegetable rows, 
when transplanting is done, can be given 
a perfect “stand and incidentally a great 
deal of space is saved, which can be used 
for earlier things, pansies or spring¬ 
blooming bulbs in the case of flowers, and 
early things, such as lettuce, radishes, 
turnips, kohl-rabi and peas, in the gar¬ 
den. The seed-bed may be made where 
it can be watered and carefully pro¬ 
tected from insects while the little plants 
are growing. The rows should be four 
to eight inches apart, according to the 
things grown, and the little plants care¬ 
fully thinned as soon as they begin to 
crowd each other. Such flowers as have 
a tendency to grow up into a single, tall 
stalk, like antirrhinums, heliotrope, and 
many others, when first started from 
seed, should be pinched back to induce a 
branching growth. It is a good plan to 
have on hand a supply of tobacco dust, 
and use it freely over the seed-bed, be¬ 
ginning just as tbe first seedlings are 
breaking through the soil, to keep away 
the various insects which may be in¬ 
terested in your undertaking. 
Don’t overlook at this time plantings 
of cabbage and cauliflower for fall and 
winter use. These should be put in from 
the first to the middle of June. And a 
generous sowing of beets and of carrots 
for late fall and winter use. The carrots 
especially should be put in as soon as 
possible after this date. Succession crops 
of all the quick-growing things will be 
in order also — lettuce, radishes, turnips, 
spinach, peas, etc. But change the va¬ 
rieties. Select sorts that are adapted for 
summer use. Of such, Brittle Ice and 
All Seasons and Deacon lettuces are 
good; Chartiers, Crimson and White 
Strasburg are standard summer radishes. 
British Wonder, a dwarf, and Alderman, 
tall, are splendid peas. Amber Globe is a 
fine quality turnip, and any left over will 
keep well through winter. Victoria, or 
New Zealand, spinach will “stand” well 
in hot weather — the latter requires lots of 
room. 
Watch for Insect Pests 
Where you are going to set out to¬ 
mato or other plants, or choice flowers, 
take care of the cutworms before plant¬ 
ing. Mix bran and Paris green, a good 
teaspoonful of the latter to a quart of 
the former. If the ground is bare, put it 
on dry; if there are other things for the 
worms to eat, mix a little brown sugar 
or molasses and water with it to make a 
mash; spread it about in small quantities 
in the evening several days before plant¬ 
ing. Cucumber beetles and squash bugs 
may be kept off by using tobacco dust 
around the hills, and arsenate of lead as 
soon as the plants are large enough to 
spray. For rose bugs, which usually will 
be sure to put in an appearance about this 
time, use extra-strong arsenate of lead— 
and it is well to apply Bordeaux at the 
same time—and hand picking. Also use 
Bordeaux on the young beans, potato 
and melon vines. It is an easy matter to 
begin early and attend to this regularly, 
and it will save a great deal of work and 
worry later. The currant worm also is 
likely to turn up about the time the fruit 
is forming. Arsenate of lead or helle¬ 
bore, if the fruit is partly grown, will 
take care of them, and the same treat¬ 
ment may be applied to the cabbage 
worm, which you may expect shortly 
after you see the small white or yellow 
butterflies hovering over the plants. Our 
old friend, the potato bug, may also be 
looked for after the first real hot summer 
days; but arsenate of lead and Bordeaux 
will take care of him. 
Constant Cultivation 
The big, regular job in the garden— 
and in the flower-beds, too, for that mat¬ 
ter—during the month of June is con¬ 
stant cultivation. Every week if pos¬ 
sible slide the wheel-hoe or the scuffle- 
hoe over the ground between the rows, 
working as close as you can without cut¬ 
ting roots, and not going deep enough to 
break them. If this seems like a lot of 
useless work, just remember that every 
time over is of more benefit to the gar¬ 
den than a light rain. And if you never 
let the weeds get started between the 
rows, you won’t have much trouble con¬ 
trolling them in the rows. 
(476) 
