GARDENING

Stuffed Dates Etc
Very dainty and good sweets can be made without cooking at all. All that is necessary is to have a certain amount of cream with which to stuff or surround stoned dates, cherries, and French plums, or walnuts and al...

Introductory
Although young America is growing more and more fond of out of doors, the lovely old occupation of gardening is less a favorite than formerly: and this is a great pity, for if one loves flowers, nothing so repays l...

Color In The Garden
In arranging a garden, select flowers which will keep it full of blossom from May to October, and remember when planting and sowing that some colors are more beautiful together than others. The color arrangement of...

The Use Of Catalogues
A good catalogue gives illustrations of most flowers, and in many cases its cultural directions are very helpful. As an extension of the notes that follow nothing could be more useful than two or three catalogues i...

Gardening Diaries
It is a good thing for a gardener to keep a diary. At the beginning of the book he would make a plan of the garden, to scale: that is to say, allowing one inch, or more, in the plan for every foot of bed. In this p...

Flower-shows
Where several children have gardens in the same big garden, or the same neighborhood, a flower-show is very interesting to hold now and then. To do this it is needful first to find some one willing to act as judge,...

Tools
For simple gardening the following tools are needed:--spade, trowel, hoe, rake, watering-can with a fine rose, syringe. They should all be strong and good. Besides these tools you will need either wooden labels or ...

Watering
Plants should never be watered when the sun is shining on them. Early morning in spring, and late afternoon or early evening in summer, is the best time. It is best to water with water which has had the chill taken...

Wall Pockets
If your garden is very small, but is against a sunny wall, the growing room can be increased by fixing a number of pockets, made of wood or of flower-pots, against the wall. These should be filled with good soil, a...

Borders
The first thing to do when a plot has been given to you, is to mark it off clearly with a border. There are several ways of doing this. Gardens are sometimes bordered with escallop shells, which are neat enough but...

Annuals
The seeds of all annuals can be sown from March until June according to the locality. Any one in the neighborhood who has gardened for some years can tell you when to plant better than any catalogue. The seeds of f...

Preparations For Sowing
Before sowing any seeds, see that the soil is nicely broken up, and remove any stones. When you have decided where to sow the different seeds, take away a little earth from each place and sow the seeds very thin...

Thinning Out And Transplanting
Begin to thin out the seedlings very soon after they appear, and be very careful not to pull up too many. It is easiest to thin out when the soil is wet. When the seedlings are two inches high only those which you ...

Weeds And Seedlings
It is most important to know what the baby-plants will look like when they come up, because one has to weed hard in the warm showery weather, and if one is not careful, mignonette, sweet-peas, and poppies may go on...

Autumn Sowing
Some seeds, such as cornflowers, godetias, and poppies, can be sown in the autumn. They will stand the winter as a rule and will make finer plants and blossom earlier than if sown in spring. They should be sown thi...

Biennials
These are best sown in May. If the garden is full they may be sown in an ordinary wooden box filled with several inches of good earth. Transplant them to their permanent places later on. Remember that all plants ...

Saving Seed
The best seed is saved from plants set apart for that purpose; for good seed comes from the first and finest flowers and not from those left over at the end of the flowering season. These plants should be sown in a...

Perennials
Perennials are plants which, although they die down in winter, come up again and blossom every following spring or summer. They can be grown from seed, but, with a few exceptions, this is a long and troublesome par...

Planting Perennials
The best months for planting perennials are November, February, and March. Dig a hole large enough to take the roots when well spread out, hold your plant in position, with the junction of stem and root just below ...

Planting Bulbs
For planting bulbs choose a day when the earth is dry, and make your holes with a trowel. If you want to make a clump of bulb-plants, take away the earth to the right depth from the whole area you wish to fill, pla...

Cutting Leaves
Never cut all the leaves of plants growing from bulbs, but allow those that are unpicked to die down naturally. If they look very untidy, as the leaves of the Star of Bethlehem always do, tie them up tightly. Seeds...

Shades
"Shades" are subterranean gardens: holes in the ground, some eighteen inches deep and about a foot square (or larger), the sides of which are covered with moss and little ferns. At the bottom you can sink a pot or ...

Kitchen Gardens
If you want to grow other things besides flowers, lettuces, radishes, and mustard and cress are interesting to raise. Strawberries, too, are easy to cultivate, but they need some patience, as the first year's growt...

Lettuce
Sow a few seeds of lettuce very thinly in a line once every three weeks. When the seedlings, which should be protected from birds by netting, are three inches high, thin them out, leaving one foot between each plan...

Radishes
Sow a few radish seeds thinly once every three weeks, and cover very lightly with earth. These seedlings also must be protected by netting from birds, and must have plenty of water, or the radishes will become stri...

Mustard And Cress
Mustard and cress seed can be sown at any time and is almost sure to be successful. In very hot weather sow in the shade, or protect from the sun in the middle of the day. The cress should always be sown three days...

Strawberries
Plant strawberries carefully in August or September. Dig a hole for each plant and spread the roots well out. Hold the plant while filling in the earth, so that that part of it where root and stem join comes just b...

Town Gardens
So far, we have been speaking of gardens in the country, or, at any rate, not among houses. There are many more difficulties to contend with in town gardening; there is more uncertainty, and often less reward for t...

Flowers For Towns
The following list of annuals, perennials, and bulbs which grow well in the heart of towns, though it is not complete, contains enough plants to fill a garden:-- ANNUALS. PERENNIALS. BULBS. A...

Watering
No exact rule can be given for watering; but it should be noted that water ought never to be allowed to stand in the saucers. In winter, one good watering a week with lukewarm water, applied in the morning, will be...

Flower-pots
In spring time, if the plants seem to have outgrown their pots, or if they are not thriving well, re-pot them in larger pots with the best earth you can get. Water well after re-potting. Turn the plants round eve...

Indoor Plants
A list follows of suitable plants to be grown indoors. Green plants are mentioned first. Aspidistra.--Of all green plants the aspidistra is the best to grow indoors. (This plant indeed is so hardy that it will st...

Bulbs In Glasses
Hyacinths and daffodils can also be grown in glasses filled with water, either glasses sold for the purpose, or any kind into the necks of which the bulbs will fit. The bulb should be placed in the glass in October...

Window Boxes
One cannot grow very many things in a window box, but it is most interesting to grow a few. In a town it is often all the garden that many people possess. The length of a window-box will depend on the size of the...

Flowers For Window-boxes
Nasturtiums and canary creeper can climb up a little trellis made of sticks at each end of the box, or they can cling to strings fixed to the box and nailed high up at the side of the window. Wandering Jew or ivy-l...

Picking Flowers
When you are picking flowers to send away, never pick old ones. Buds are best generally, especially in the case of poppies; but they should be buds just on the point of opening. Always use scissors to cut flowers w...