GARDEN 
SUGGESTIONS 
ape/ 
QUERIES 
CONDUCTED BY F. F. ROCKWELL 
August Work 
UGUST is in many ways the turning- 
point of the year in gardening. It 
marks the dose of the constructive work 
of the season, although the really inter¬ 
ested gardener does not find an oppor¬ 
tunity to let up. very much — because it is 
also the beginning of the season to come. 
In fact, it is the beginning of two seasons; 
one in the greenhouse, coldframes or 
house this winter; the other in next year’s 
outdoor gardens. Fortunately, the pleas¬ 
ure to be derived from gardening is not 
measured by the size of the garden. It 
depends first upon the disposition of the 
gardener; and next upon the success 
achieved with what is undertaken, whether 
that be a beautiful window full of flowers 
through the winter months, or an acre 
garden that will yield an unbroken suc¬ 
cession of all possible things from April 
to December. If you wish to accomplish 
either of these tasks, or any that lies be¬ 
tween them, there are a number of things 
to which you should give your attention 
this month. 
Plants and Materials for the Winter 
Window Garden 
Many fine plants that are now growing 
in the flower bed may be saved if you 
have not already enough plants growing 
in pots to meet your requirements. The 
great mistake usually made in trying to 
shift part of the outdoor garden into the 
house is to wait too long before beginning 
operations. If you insist on letting the 
choicest plants bloom right up until frost 
in the garden do not be disappointed if 
you fail to transfer them successfully at 
the eleventh hour. The plants should be 
taken up and potted some weeks before 
you expect to move them indoors. Potting 
a plant that is in vigorous growth in warm 
weather is very likely to prove fatal unless 
the proper precautions are taken. An 
enormous amount of water is taken up 
daily by the thousands of feeding root 
hairs, travels up through the stem and 
branches, and is transpired through the 
leaves. To upset this circulation causes 
a shock. The innumerable feeding roots 
are so widespread and fragile that it is 
possible to get only a small part of them 
in taking up the plants. Moreover, the 
more active feeding roots are not farthest 
from the base of the plant. 
Cut the plants back severely, even 
though it may be necessary to sacrifice 
blossoms and buds. A half or even two- 
thirds of the plant should be cut away. 
The object of this is to reduce the amount 
of moisture which the top of the plant 
will demand from the root system. Then 
cut around the roots with a trowel or a 
sharp, long-bladed knife, which will make 
a much better job of it, leaving a ball of 
earth small enough to go easily into the 
pots to be used. Cut well under the plant, 
so that it may be lifted out without any 
pulling and tearing, which would disturb 
the roots left with the plant. Unless it is 
imperative that the plant be taken up and 
potted at once, a still better method is to 
cut part way round it and leave the roots 
on the other side undisturbed until the 
plant is to be potted, which may be in a 
week or so. This induces the formation 
of new feeding roots within the earth ball 
that is to go into the pot, so that in trans¬ 
planting there will not be a complete rup¬ 
ture of the plant’s growth. The soil should 
Sometime this month spade over the compost pile. Dig 
it down so that all the elements can unite 
be well saturated with water before potting 
up is attempted, but long enough in ad¬ 
vance to prevent the soil being pasty. The 
newly potted plants should be kept in a 
shady place for a week or so and watered 
very lightly — just enough to keep the 
foliage moist. Copious watering just after 
potting or transplanting is useless, because 
there are no feeding roots to take it up, 
and it gets the soil in bad condition. It 
is well to understand these few simple 
facts, because ignorance of them is re¬ 
sponsible every fall for the loss of thou¬ 
sands of plants, which might easily have 
been saved to make windows and living- 
rooms cheery during the winter months. 
Plant Food for Winter and Spring 
Every gardener who has a cow or a 
horse to look after sees to it that a good 
supply of food is laid in for it before 
winter weather. Comparatively few peo¬ 
ple, however, seem to take any thought of 
what their plants are going to need 
through the winter or in spring before 
the natural supply is thawed out again. 
The advantage of making up a compost 
heap now is that the various ingredients 
will have a chance to decompose and to 
some extent unite, making the whole mix¬ 
ture more homogeneous and the plant food 
which it contains more available before it 
is stored away for the winter. The various 
chemical changes which take place to 
bring about these results progress very 
slowly in cold weather. Your success with 
winter plants and spring seedlings will de¬ 
pend to a large extent upon the food which 
you prepare for them now. It is a fact 
that not only plant food but air and water 
also are required by growing plants ; there¬ 
fore the mechanical condition of the soil 
is of the greatest importance. It must be 
porous and friable — so light and open 
that water will drain through it without 
leaving it pasty and muddy. 
The ingredients required for the mix¬ 
ture or compost are few and simple. If 
you live in a small city or in the suburbs 
the following may be procured without 
difficulty: rotted sod, rotted horse manure 
and leaf mould. The sod may be found 
in some pile where they were thrown in 
the spring when you made your garden, 
or where any pile of rubbish, old boards, 
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