56 
House & Carden 
May 
THE GARDENER’S KALENDAR 
Fifth Month 
Sweet corn may be 
planted in rows 
instead of hills. 
Thinning is needed 
Large seeds, when 
planted in drills, 
are dropped from 
the hand at intervals 
See to it that plants 
do not dry out before 
you set them. Wa¬ 
tering must follow 
Two boards placed 
tentwise over the 
row will shade 
young plants 
SUNDAY 
MONDAY 
TUESDAY 
This Kalendar of the gardener’s labors 
is aimed as a reminder for undertak¬ 
ing all his tasks in season. It is fitted 
to the latitude of the Middle States, 
but its service should be available for 
the whole country if it be remembered 
that for every one hundred miles 
north or south there is a difference of 
from five to seven days later or earlier 
in performing garden operations. The 
dates given are for average seasons. 
WEDNESDAY 
1. Sun rises 
4:39; sun sets 
6:43. 
When the 
oaks silk out 
you can sow 
New Zealand 
spinach, 
squash, pump¬ 
kins, corn, lima 
beans, string 
beans, etc. 
Also plant 
peas, spinach, 
radishes, tur¬ 
nips, etc., for 
succession. 
THURSDAY 
2. If you 
haven’t good 
storage for 
dahlias, you 
may have to 
plant them 
now .Dig holes 
18"deep, place 
a little sheep 
manure in the 
bottom, plant 
crown 5" be¬ 
low the surface. 
Fill in with 
earth as the 
plant grows. 
FRIDAY 
3. Do not 
try to grow 
good lima 
beans without 
the use of poles. 
Cedar poles are 
best, but any 
saplings may 
be used. Leave 
about 2" stubs 
on the side 
branches. Set 
the poles now 
and see that 
they are firm 
enough not to 
blow over. 
SATURDAY 
4. This is 
the latest date 
at which it is 
safe to plant 
potatoes. Use 
fertilizer in the 
soil in prefer¬ 
ence to ma¬ 
nure. The 
seed should be 
soaked in for¬ 
maldehyde to 
prevent the de¬ 
velopment of 
scab later in 
the season. 
5. Maples 
should be 
pruned now, 
just as the 
buds are burst¬ 
ing. This elim¬ 
inates harmful 
bleeding. Any 
large scars 
should be im- 
mediately 
painted to pre¬ 
serve the wood 
against the ef¬ 
fects of mois¬ 
ture. 
12. Dig in 
some fertilizer 
around the 
strawberry 
plants when 
they are in 
flower: this is 
better for them 
than liquid 
feeding. The 
mulch to pro¬ 
tect the fruit 
should now be 
applied. Clean 
straw is the 
best material. 
19. Don’t 
neglect to keep 
your garden 
sowings up to 
the mark: this 
is necessary for 
a proper suc- 
cession of 
crops. Sow 
now: beans, 
corn, lettuce, 
radish,spinach, 
turnip, cucum¬ 
ber, kohlrabi, 
etc. Keep all 
the space 
working. 
26. Cover 
crops sown in 
the orchard 
last fall should 
be plowed un¬ 
der now. Use a 
chain on the 
plow and get 
this green ma¬ 
nure well cov¬ 
ered over so 
that it will de¬ 
compose and 
do some good 
to the soil later 
on. 
6. Start cut¬ 
ting the grass 
just as soon as 
it begins to 
show new 
growth. Good 
lawns should 
be cut close 
and not require 
raking after¬ 
ward; sweep¬ 
ing with birch 
twigs is prefer¬ 
able to raking 
as it does not 
loosen the 
roots. 
13. Poor', 
impoverished 
ground in or¬ 
chards and 
places where it 
is possible to 
work it can be 
built up by the 
use of cover 
crops. Sow 
now for this 
purpose buck¬ 
wheat or rye to 
plow under 
thoroughly in 
midsummer. 
20. The 
price of good 
fruit is con¬ 
stant spray¬ 
ing. When the 
trees are in 
flower, spray 
with arsenate 
of lead to de¬ 
stroy the cod- 
1 i n g moth. 
Spray them 
e v er y four 
weeks to de¬ 
stroy scab and 
blight. 
27. Bedding 
out of all kinds 
can now be 
completed . 
Begonias, 
coleus, gerani¬ 
ums, cannas, 
etc., are all 
coarse growers 
and the beds 
should have 
plenty of ma¬ 
nure spaded 
under. Use 
lime on old 
beds. 
7. It is now 
perfectly safe 
to set out or 
plant all vege¬ 
table crops ex¬ 
cept egg-plant 
and peppers. 
With the use of 
regular plant 
protectors, 
these last two 
may also be 
planted now. 
Plant protect¬ 
ors are an ex¬ 
cellent invest¬ 
ment. 
14. Don’t 
wait until the 
bugs have done 
damage; spray 
your elms now 
to kill the elm 
leaf beetle. 
Also spray cur- 
rants and 
gooseberries to 
destroy the 
currant worm, 
using arsenate 
of lead. Do all 
spraying very 
thoroughly. 
21.Sow now 
for winter use 
cabbage, cauli¬ 
flower, kale, 
Brussels 
sprouts and 
late celery. 
Make a small 
seed bed for 
these plantings 
and sow in 
drills very 
thinly about 
4" apart. Keep 
watered and 
partly shaded. 
28. Shrubber- 
ry plantings, 
and small fruit 
borders around 
the base of 
fruit trees or 
other specimen 
plants, should 
be kept turned 
over with a 
digging fork. 
This kills 
weeds and pro¬ 
motes growth 
by furnishing 
soilventilation. 
8. When the 
bulb plantings 
are in flower 
they should be 
gone over care¬ 
fully and la¬ 
beled. in cases 
where later 
changes are 
contemplated. 
This is also a 
good time to 
chart any fu¬ 
ture plantings 
to be made 
next fall. 
15. Start a 
big batch of 
chrysanthe¬ 
mum cuttings 
now. These 
can be finished 
in 7" pots and 
make nice sized 
flowers for cut¬ 
ting. Keep 
them well 
sprayed and do 
not let them 
get pot-bound. 
You will be 
glad to have 
them next fall. 
22. Keep 
the harrow 
moving over 
the potato 
patch until the 
shoots show 
through. Even 
if you injure a 
few in this way, 
it is preferable 
to letting the 
weeds have an 
equal start 
with the pota¬ 
toes and injur¬ 
ing them. 
Flowers nod¬ 
ding gaily, 
scent in air , 
Flowers po- 
sied, flowers 
for the hair , 
Sleepy floicers, 
flowers hold 
to stare — 
0, pick me 
some! 
— T. Sturge 
Moore 
9. Musk- 
melon seeds 
may be sown 
now. Put in 
about six seeds 
to a hill and 
thin out later 
to three. Keep 
the frames 
closed until the 
seeds germi¬ 
nate: They 
must then be 
ventilated. 
Water _ spar¬ 
ingly. 
16. Garde¬ 
nias for bloom¬ 
ing next winter 
in the green¬ 
house should 
be started now. 
Select the 
warmest bench 
in the green¬ 
house and fill 
it with rich 
soil. Be sure to 
keep the plants 
well sprayed 
and properly 
ventilated. 
23. Where 
extensive 
changes in the 
perennial gar¬ 
den are being 
made, the 
plants can be 
lifted and pot¬ 
ted up. By 
this method 
you can keep 
up the work all 
summer on 
perennial 
plantings and 
ensure success. 
29. All trees 
should be gone 
over and any 
scars on the 
trunks should 
be covered 
with tin and 
painted. 
Branches 
which have 
been broken by 
storms should 
be removed 
clean and the 
scars painted 
over. 
10. Care 
should be ex¬ 
ercised when 
cutting the as¬ 
paragus that 
the crown is 
not cut in two. 
This would 
cause small 
shoots. Use an 
asparagus 
knife and cut 
at an angle 
rather than 
straight down 
to the crown. 
17. When the 
greenhouses 
are empty 
they should be 
overhauled 
and all needed 
repairs made 
to the benches. 
Clean out and 
oil the furnace 
to prevent its 
rusting, paint 
exposed wood¬ 
work, replace 
broken glass, 
etc. 
24. All ever¬ 
greens should 
be looked over 
and the dead 
foliage under- 
n e a t h the 
1)ranches re¬ 
moved. Where 
specimen trees 
have started to 
grow more 
than one 
leader, the ex¬ 
tra ones should 
be removed at 
once. 
30. All root 
crops for farm 
use should be 
sown now. Size 
is the principal 
consideration 
with this class 
of forage crops, 
and flavor is a 
secondary 
matter. Man¬ 
gels, carrots, 
turnips, field 
and fodder 
corn should all 
be sown now. 
11. Protect 
your plants 
from cut worms 
by using card¬ 
board collars 
about them, or 
poisoned food. 
Nets should be 
made and set 
over the cu- 
cumbers, 
squash and 
pumpkins to 
protect them 
while they are 
still small. 
18. August 
is the usual 
time to set out 
evergreens, but 
they can also 
be planted this 
month. To 
make sure of 
success, keep 
them well 
sprayed a n d 
mulched, and 
prune slightly 
with a pocket 
knife. Water 
when planting. 
25. Box¬ 
wood hedges, 
and specimen 
evergreens 
such as ret- 
inosporas, box¬ 
wood, yews or 
those that are 
being clipped 
to particular 
forms, should 
be clipped with 
hedge shears 
just as growth 
starts. Do not 
postpone this. 
31 .Sun rises 
4:10; sun sets 
7:13. 
Make some 
use of your 
greenhouse 
during sum¬ 
mer. Potted 
fruits, melons, 
summer flower¬ 
ing bulos like 
achimemesand 
gloxinias, are a 
few of the pos¬ 
sibilities which 
come to mind. 
O UR weekly, paper came out Saturday with a letter from Ira Hicks, who’s got a job down to New ] ork, 
about how they have to dig down something like a hundred feet to build the right kind of foundation 
for those big sky-scrapers you read about. By jingo, that struck me as being mighty good sense—putting 
in underpinnings as are underpinnings! You can't have an apple orchard without it has good roots, 
any more than my yoke of oxen could haul a load of cordwood down off the mountain without I’d put 
in a heap of work teaching them what gee” and "haw” mean. And it’s the same way with gardeninga 
if you just scratch around on top with a rake, instead of plowing right deep and honest, the crop won’t 
amount to much. Come to think of it, why wouldn't “plow deep’’ be a pretty good motto for a man 
to paste inside his hat as a kind of rule to live by? 
—Old Doc Lemmon 
Maples should be 
pruned just as their 
buds open, to pre¬ 
vent bleeding 
The use of a gar¬ 
den line when plant¬ 
ing is the secret of 
straight rows 
Berry baskets make 
excellent individual 
shades for newly 
set vegetables 
Melons and corn 
planted in the same 
hill. A conservation 
of garden space 
The old advice to “swat the weed” cannot 
be too often repeated. Constant vigilance 
is the price of weed immunity, and it must 
be exercised 
Various forms of tomato supports may be 
used. Among them are individual stakes, 
horizontal strands of wire, and pole trel¬ 
lises, as shown here 
