Chapter 13

Somebody had a bright thought when the window-box came into existence. The only wonder is that persons who were obliged to forego the pleasure of a garden did not think it out long ago. It is one of the "institutions" that have come to stay. We see more of them every year. Those who have gardens--or could have them, if they wanted them--seem to have a decided preference for the window-box substitute.

There is a good reason for this: The window-box brings the garden to one's room, while the garden obliges one to make it a visit in order to enjoy the beauty in it. With the window-box the upstair room can be made as pleasant as those below, and the woman in the kitchen can enjoy the companionship of flowers while she busies herself with her housewifely duties, if she does not care to make herself a back-yard garden such as I have spoken of in a preceding chapter. And the humble home that has no room for flowers outside its walls, the homes in the congested city, away up, up, up above the soil in which a few flowers might possibly be coaxed to grow, if man thought less of gain and more of beauty, can be made more like what home ought to be, with but little trouble and expense, by giving these boxes a chance to do their good work at their windows. Blessed be the window-box!

Many persons, however, fail to attain success in the cultivation of plants in boxes at the window-sill, and their failures have given rise to the impression in the minds of those who have watched their undertaking, that success with them is very problematical. "It _looks_ easy," said a woman to me last season, "when you see somebody else's box just running over with vines, but when you come to make the attempt for yourself you wake up to the fact that there's a knack to it that most of us fail to discover. I've tried my best, for the last three years, to have such boxes as my neighbor has, and I haven't found out what's wrong yet. I invest in the plants that are told me to be best adapted to window-box culture. I plant them, and then I coax them and coddle them. I fertilize them and I shower them, but they stubbornly refuse to do well. They _start off_ all right, but by the time they ought to be doing great things they begin to look rusty, and it isn't long before they look so sickly and forlorn that I feel like putting them out of their misery by dumping them in the ash-heap."

Now this woman's experience is the experience of many other women. She thinks,--and they think,--that they lack the "gift" that enables some persons to grow flowers successfully while others fail utterly with them. They haven't "the knack." Now, as I have said elsewhere in this book, there's no such thing as "a knack" in flower-growing. Instead of "a knack" it's a "know-how." Ninety-nine times out of a hundred failure with window-boxes is due to just one thing: They let their plants die simply because they do not give them water enough.

Liberal watering is the "know-how" that a person must have to make a success of growing; good plants in window and veranda boxes. Simply that, and nothing more.

The average woman isn't given to "studying into things" as much as the average man is, so she often fails to get at the whys and wherefores of many happenings. She sees the plants in her boxes dying slowly, but she fails to take note of the fact that evaporation from these boxes is very rapid. It could not be otherwise because of their exposure to wind and air on all sides. She applies water in quantities only sufficient to wet the surface of the soil, and because that looks moist she concludes there must be sufficient moisture below and lets it go at that. Examination would show her that an inch below the surface the soil in the box is very, very dry,--so dry, in fact, that no roots could find sustenance in it. This explains why plants "start off" well. While young and small their roots are close to the surface, and as long as they remain in that condition they grow well enough, but as soon as they attempt to send their roots down--as all plants do, after the earlier stages of growth--they find no moisture, and in a short time they die.

If, instead of applying a basinful of water, a pailful were used, daily, all the soil in a box of ordinary size would be made moist all through, and so long as a supply of water is kept up there is no reason why just as fine plants cannot be grown in boxes as in pots, or the garden beds. There is no danger of overwatering, for all surplus water will run off through the holes in the box, provided for drainage. Therefore make it a rule to apply to your window-box, every day, throughout the season, enough water to thoroughly saturate all the soil in it. If this is done, you will come to the conclusion that at last you have discovered the "knack" upon which success depends.

I am often asked what kind of boxes I consider best. To which I reply: "The kind that comes handiest." It isn't the box that your plants grow in that counts for much. It's the care you give. Of course the soil ought to be fairly rich, though a soil of ordinary fertility can be made to answer all purposes if a good dose of plant food is given occasionally. Care should be taken, however, not to make too frequent use of it, as it is an easy matter to force a growth that will be weak because of its rapidity, and from which there may be a disastrous reaction after a little. The result to aim at is a healthy growth, and when you secure that, be satisfied with it.

The idea prevails to a considerable extent that one must make use of plants specially adapted to window-box culture. Now the fact is--almost any kind of plant can be grown in these boxes, there being no "special adaption" to this purpose, except as to profusion of bloom and habit of growth. Drooping plants are desirable to trail over the sides of the box, and add that touch of grace which is characteristic of all vines. Plants that bloom freely throughout the season should be chosen in preference to shy and short-season bloomers. Geraniums, Petunias, Verbenas, Fuchsias, Salvias, Heliotropes, Paris Daisies--all these are excellent.

If one cares to depend on foliage for color, most pleasing results can be secured by making use of the plants of which mention has been made in the chapter on Carpet-Bedding.

Vines that will give satisfaction are Glechoma, green, with yellow variegation--Vinca _Harrisonii_, also green and yellow, Moneywort, German Ivy, Tradescantia, Thunbergia, and Othonna. A combination of plants with richly-colored foliage is especially desirable for boxes on the porch or veranda, where showiness seems to be considered as more important than delicacy of tint or refinement of quality. In these boxes larger plants can be used than one would care to give place to at the window. Here is where Cannas and Caladiums will be found very effective.

Ferns, like the Boston and Pierson varieties, are excellent for not too sunny window-boxes because of their graceful drooping and spreading habit. They combine well with pink-and-white Fuchsias, rose-colored Ivy Geraniums, and the white Paris Daisy. Petunias--the single sorts only--are very satisfactory, because they bloom so freely and constantly, and have enough of the droop in them to make them as useful in covering the sides of the box as they are in spreading over its surface. If pink and white varieties are used to the exclusion of the mottled and variegated kinds the effect will be found vastly more pleasing than where there is an indiscriminate jumbling of colors.

A foot in width, a foot in depth, and the length of the window frame to which it is to be attached is a good size for the average window-box. Great care must be taken to see that it is securely fastened to the frame, and that it is given a strong support, for the amount of earth it will contain will be of considerable weight when well saturated with water.

Veranda boxes, in which larger plants are to be used, should be considerably deeper and wider than the ordinary window-box. Any box of the size desired that is substantial enough to hold a sufficient amount of soil will answer all purposes, therefore it is not necessary to invest in expensive goods unless you have so much money that economy is no object to you. If your plants grow as they ought to no one can tell, by midsummer, whether your box cost ten dollars or ten cents. If it is of wood, give it a coat of some neutral-colored paint before you fill it.

SPRING WORK IN THE GARDEN

Not much actual work can be done in the garden, at the north, before the middle of April. But a good deal can be done toward getting ready for active work as soon as conditions become favorable.

Right here let me say that it is a most excellent plan to do all that can be done to advantage as early in the season as possible, for the reason that when the weather becomes warm, work will come with a rush, and in the hurry of it quite likely some of it will be slighted. Always aim to keep ahead of your work.

I believe, as I have several times said, in planning things. Your garden may be small--so small that you do not think it worth while to give much consideration to it in the way of making plans for it--but it will pay you to think over the arrangement of it in advance. "Making garden" doesn't consist simply in spading up a bed, and putting seed into the ground. Thought should be given to the location and arrangement of each kind of flower you make use of. The haphazard location of any plant is likely to do it injustice, and the whole garden suffers in consequence.

Make a mental picture of your garden as you would like to have it, and then take an inventory of the material you have to work with, and see how near you can come to the garden you have in mind. Try to find the proper place for every flower. Study up on habit, and color, and season of bloom, and you will not be likely to get things into the wrong place as you will be almost sure to do if you do not give considerable thought to this matter. There should be orderliness and system in the garden as well as in the house, and this can only come by knowing your plants, and so locating them that each one of them will have the opportunity of making the most of itself.

Beds can be spaded as soon as the frost is out of the ground, as advised in the chapter on The Garden of Annuals, but, as was said in that chapter, it is not advisable to do more with them at that time. If the ground is worked over when wet, the only result is that you get a good many small clods to take the place of large ones. Nothing is gained by being in a hurry with this part of the work. Pulverization of the soil can only be accomplished successfully after it has parted with the excessive moisture consequent on melting snows and spring rains. Therefore let it lie as thrown up by the spade until it is in a condition to crumble readily under the application of hoe or rake.

Shrubs can be reset as soon as frost is out of the ground. Remove all defective roots when this is done. Make the soil in which you plant them quite rich, and follow the instruction given in the chapter on Shrubs as carefully as possible, in the work of resetting.

If any changes are to be made in the border, plan for them now. Decide just what you want to do. Don't allow any guesswork about it. If you "think out" these things the home grounds will improve year by year, and you will have a place to be proud of. But the planless system which so many follow never gives satisfactory results. It gives one the impression of something that started for somewhere but never arrived at its destination.

Old border plants which have received little or no attention for years will be greatly benefited by transplanting at this season. Cut away all the older roots, and make use of none that are not strong and healthy. Give them a rich soil. Most of them will have renewed themselves by midsummer.

If you do not care to take up the old plants, cut about them with a sharp knife, and remove as many of the old roots as possible. This is often almost as effective as transplanting, and it does not involve as much labor.

The lawn should be given attention at this season. Rake off all unsightly refuse that may have collected on it during winter. Give it an application of some good fertilizer. It is quite important that this should be done early in the season, as grass begins to grow almost as soon as frost is out of the ground, and the sward should have something to feed on as soon as it is ready for work.

Go over all the shrubs and see if any need attention in the way of pruning. But don't touch them with the pruning knife unless they really need it. Cut out old wood and weak branches, if there are any, and thin, if too thick, but leave the bush to train itself. It knows more about this than you do!

Get racks and trellises ready for summer use. These are generally made on the spur of the moment, out of whatever material comes handiest at the time they are needed. Such hurriedly constructed things are pretty sure to prove eyesores. The gardener who takes pride in his work and his garden will not be satisfied with makeshifts, but will see that whatever is needed, along this line, is well made, and looks so well that he has no reason to be ashamed of it. It should be painted a dark green or some other neutral color.

Rake the mulch away from the plants that were given protection in fall as soon as the weather gets warm enough to start them to growing. Or it can be dug into the soil about them to act as a fertilizer. Get it out of sight, for it always gives the garden an untidy effect if left about the plants.

Go over the border plants and uproot all grass that has secured a foothold there. A space of a foot should be left about all shrubs and perennials in which nothing should be allowed to grow.

If any plants seem out of place, take them up and put them where they belong. If you cannot find a place where they seem to fit in, discard them. The garden will be better off without them, no matter how desirable they are, than with them if their presence creates color-discord.

Peonies can be moved to advantage now. If you cut about the old clump and lift a good deal of earth with it, and do not interfere with its roots, no harm will be done. But if you mutilate its roots, or expose them, you need not expect any flowers from the plant for a season or two.

Get stakes ready for the Dahlias. These should be painted some unobtrusive color. If this is done, and they are taken proper care of in fall, they will last for years. This is true of racks and trellises.

Provide yourself with a hoe, an iron-toothed rake, a weeding-hook, a trowel for transplanting, a wheel-barrow, a spade, and a watering-pot. See that the latter is made from galvanized iron if you want it to last. Tin pots will rust out in a short time.

Take your watering-pot to the tinsmith and have him fit it out with an extension spout--one that can be slipped on to the end of the spout that comes with the pot. Let this be at least two feet in length. This will enable you to apply water to the roots of plants standing well back in the border, or across beds, and get it just where it will do the most good, but a short-spouted plant will not do this unless you take a good many unnecessary steps in making the application.

Be sure to send in your orders for seed and plants early in the season. Have everything on hand, ready for putting into the ground when the proper time comes to do this.

SUMMER WORK IN THE GARDEN

If weeds are kept down through the early part of the season, there will not be a great deal of weeding to do in midsummer. Still, we cannot afford to take it for granted that they require no attention, for they are most aggressive things, and so persistent are they that they will take advantage of every opportunity for perpetuating themselves. Therefore be on the lookout for them, and as soon as you discover one that has thought to escape your notice by hiding behind some flowering plant, uproot it. One weed will furnish seed enough to fill the entire garden with plants next year if let alone.

If the season happens to be very dry, some of your plants--Dahlias, for instance,--will have to be watered if you want them to amount to anything. These must have moisture at their roots in order to flower well.

Other plants may be able to get along with a mulch of grass-clippings from the lawn. Most of our annuals will stand quite a drouth.

If one is connected with a system of waterworks it is an easy matter to tide a garden over a drouth. But where there is nothing but the pump to depend on for a supply of water, I would not advise beginning artificial watering except in rare cases, like that of the Dahlia. We always find that so much work is required in supplying our plants from the pump that after a little we abandon the undertaking, and the result is that the plants we set out to be kind to are left in a worse condition, when we give up our spasmodic attention, than they would have been in if we had not begun it.

It is well to use the hoe constantly if the season is a dry one. Keep the surface of the soil open that it may take in all the moisture possible. On no account allow it to become crusted over.

Seed of perennials can be sown now to furnish plants for flowering next season.

Look to the Dahlias, and make sure they are properly staked.

Be on the lookout for black beetle on Aster and Chrysanthemum. As soon as one is discovered apply Nicoticide, and apply it thoroughly, all over the plant. Promptness is demanded in fighting this voracious pest.

During the latter part of summer, when the extreme hot weather that we have at the north sets in, cut away nearly all the top of the Pansy-plants. This will give the plants a chance to rest during the season when they are not equal to the task of flowering, because of the hot, dry weather which is so trying to them. Along in September, when the weather becomes cooler, they will take a fresh start and give us fine flowers all through the fall.

Look over the perennials and satisfy yourself that there is color-harmony everywhere. If you find a discord anywhere, mark the plant that makes it for removal later on.

Be sure to keep all seed from developing on the Sweet Peas. This you _must_ do if you would have a good crop of flowers during the fall months.

If any plants seem too thick, sacrifice some of them promptly. No plant can develop itself satisfactorily if it is crowded.

Poor plants will find their way into all collections. If you find one in yours, remove it at once. There are so many good ones at our disposal that we cannot afford to give place, even for a season, to an inferior kind.

Let neatness prevail everywhere. Gather up dead leaves and fallen flowers, cut away the stalks of plants upon which no more flowers can be expected, and keep the walks looking as if you expected visitors at any time, and were determined not to be caught in untidy garments.

While the good gardener can always find something to do in the garden, he will not have as much work on his hands at this season as at any other, therefore it is the time in which he can get the greatest amount of pleasure from his flowers, and in proportion to his care of them earlier in the season will be the pleasure they afford now.

FALL WORK IN THE GARDEN

Because the growth of grass on the lawn is not as luxuriant and rapid in fall as it is in midsummer, is no reason why the lawn should be neglected after summer is over. It should be mowed whenever the grass gets too tall to look well, clear up to the end of the season. The neat and attractive appearance of the home-grounds depends more upon the lawn than anything else about them. It is a good plan to fertilize it well in fall, thus enabling the roots of the sward to store up nutriment for the coming season. Fine bonemeal is as good for this purpose as anything I know of except barnyard manure, and it is superior to that in one respect--it does not contain the seeds of weeds.

Go over the garden before the end of the season and gather up all plants that have completed their work. If we neglect to give attention to the beds now that the flowering-period is over, a general appearance of untidiness will soon dominate everything. Much of the depressing effect of late fall is due to this lack of attention. The prompt removal of all unsightly objects will keep the grounds looking _clean_ after the season has passed its prime, and we all know what the Good Book's estimate of cleanliness is.

Seedlings of such perennials as Hollyhock, Delphinium, and other plants of similar character, ought to be transplanted to the places they are to occupy next season by the last of September. If care is taken not to disturb their roots when you lift them they will receive no check.

If you give your Hybrid Perpetual Roses a good, sharp cutting-back early in September, and manure the soil about them well, you may reasonably expect a few fine flowers from them later on. And what is more delightful than a perfect Rose gathered from your own garden just at the edge of winter?

Perennials can be divided and reset, if necessary, immediately after they have ripened off the growth of the present year. If this work is done now, there will be just so much less to do in spring.

Before the coming of cold weather all tools used in gardening operations should be gathered up and stored under cover. If any repairs are needed, make note of them, and see that the work is done in winter, so that everything needed in spring may be in readiness for use. It is a good plan to give all wood-work a coat of paint at the time it is stored away, and to go over the metal part of every tool with a wash of vaseline to prevent rust.

Have a general house-cleaning before winter sets in. Cut away the stalks of the perennials. Pull up all annuals. Rake up the leaves, and add everything of this kind to the compost heap. All garden refuse should find its way there, to be transmuted by the alchemy of sun and rain, and the disintegrating forces of nature into that most valuable of soil constituents--humus. Let nothing that has any value in it be wasted.

After hard frosts have killed the tops of Dahlias, Cannas, Caladiums and Gladioluses, their roots should be dug, on some warm and sunny day, and prepared for storage in the cellar or closet. Spread them out in the sunshine, and leave them there until the soil that was dug with them is dry enough to crumble away from them. At night cover with something to keep out the cold, and expose them to the curative effects of the sun next day. It may be necessary to do this several days in succession. The great amount of moisture which they contain when first dug should be given a chance to evaporate to a considerable extent before it will be safe to put them away for the winter. Cut off the old stalks close to the root before storing.

While clearing the beds of dead plants and leaves be on the lookout for insects of various kinds. The cut-worm may still be in evidence, and may be found among the rubbish which you gather up. And if found, destroy it on the spot. This precaution will go far toward safeguarding plants in spring, many of which are annually injured by the depredations of this pest.

When you are sure that cold weather is at hand, cover the bulb-bed with coarse manure or litter, hay, or straw, as advised in the chapter on The Bulb Garden. And give your Roses the protection advised in the chapter on The Rose.

Cover Pansies lightly with leaves or evergreen branches. If you have mulch enough, apply some to your hardy plants, and next spring note the difference between them and the plants which were not given any protection.

BY WAY OF POSTSCRIPT

A CHAPTER OF AFTERTHOUGHTS WHICH THE READER CANNOT AFFORD TO MISS