Garden 
suggestions 
and 
Queries 
The Editor will be glad to answer subscribers’ queries pertaining to individual problems connected with the garden and grounds. When a 
direct personal reply is desired please enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope. 
The Garden Month 
“April showers 
Bring May Flowers,” 
but April hours, spent in the garden bring 
May lettuce and June peas and other good 
things for the table. 
We are, indeed, confronted by a wilder¬ 
ness of things which all seem to demand 
immediate attention. It is hard to know 
what to do first. Sometimes an hour’s 
thought will accomplish as much as a 
week’s work; and that is a good principle 
to keep in mind just at this season of the 
year. If your planting plan has been made 
out, as it should have been many weeks 
ago, you have already the right start. At 
least you know definitely what you are 
going to set out to do. The next step in 
increasing the results of your labor is to 
apply it systematically — make a list of the 
many things you have to do, in the order 
in which they should be done. This may 
seem a very unimportant matter, and very 
likely you will think that you can carry 
it all in your head just as well. Take my 
word for it that you can’t. It will require 
but a few moments to make out such a list, 
and it will at least assure your getting 
everything done, and getting each thing 
in order. Isn’t that worth the trouble? 
As a matter of fact, however, it will save 
trouble. Keep this list in use, and put 
down every garden matter that will need 
attention as you go along; and check off 
the ones attended to, with the dates. If 
this list is kept for 
use another year, it 
will prove invaluable 
as a guide to next 
season’s operations. 
The dates especially 
are of value in this 
record. For instance, 
if you got your lima 
beans in too early 
and had them froz¬ 
en, you will have a 
guide to refer to. As 
a suggestion to be¬ 
ginners the follow¬ 
ing list is given: 
Clean up all litter in 
garden for compost 
heap — March io. 
Engage man to plow — March 16th. 
Have manure delivered. 
Get two bags fertilizer and 50 pounds 
nitrate of soda — March 20th. 
Put soda on rhubarb and asparagus, and 
loosen up soil — March 28th. 
Set lettuce plants outside frames. 
Set out early cabbage and cauliflower — 
April 1st. 
Note: Heavy frost on 3rd. Cabbage 
not injured, but cauliflower lost. Sow 
onions (make seed-bed especially fine). 
Transplant tomatoes. 
Sow small seeds from the packet, shaking 
them directly into the drill when there is 
no wind. Cover at once 
And so on, with the dozens of other things 
you will find to think of and do. All this, 
of course, may seem dry enough, when 
you are impatient to get into the garden 
itself, but it will pay. 
About Sowing Seeds 
You must not be so impatient that you 
do the work in a hurry and fail to do it 
properly. Gardening is not all easy work, 
even if it is all play. The sowing of seeds, 
if you have no seed drill, is one of the 
most tedious jobs, but also one of the most 
important. It will require care and 
patience. In the first place, be sure to 
have your seed bed in the very finest 
condition you can possibly get it. Read 
the suggestions on page 244 of this issue 
of how to put it in shape. Then, when 
you are ready to plant, take with you to 
the garden a good stout line, a hoe. an 
“onion” hoe or other very small one, and 
an iron rake. Tf the ground is not fresh, 
rake the strip you are going to plant over 
again and then stretch your line for the 
first row. Set it straight, even if you have 
to move it at one end or the other several 
times. Remember you are marking off for 
the whole garden. Of course, thfe depth 
of the drill will depend upon the sort of 
vegetable to be planted. For lettuce, rad¬ 
ish, turnip and seeds of similar size it 
should not be more than one-half of an 
inch deep. If you haven't a very small 
hoe for making such drills use a sharp¬ 
ened stick, rather flat, so as to leave a 
clean V-shaped drill; the earth will fall 
back if a pointed stick is used. Then tear 
off a small corner of your packet of seed 
and scatter thinly and evenly in the little 
drill. The number of seeds to be put in 
a given length of 
drill will vary with 
the veg e t a b 1 e s 
planted, but as a 
rule for seeds of 
this size there 
should be several to 
every inch of row. 
And now we 
come to the most 
important trick of 
successful seed¬ 
sowing : Firm the 
seed into the soil. 
Unless the ground 
is very moist, as it 
sometimes is early 
in the spring or late 
in the fall, this 
(270) 
