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SUMMER BULBS IN RICH SOIL

Success with summer-flowering bulbs depends largely upon their getting a quick, strong start. Most of them are tender and should not be set out until the ground is warm. They prefer rich, mellow soil. Tuberous-rooted Begonias, Caladiums, Callas, and other particularly tender bulbs are greatly benefited by the use of individual forcers. In dividing Dahlia clumps, be sure to have an "eye" remain with each root. Dahlias do not send out sprouts like a potato, hence do not look for any when planting.

PLANT A "SUCCESSION CROP" OF GLADIOLUS

These sure and beautiful flowers, which have forged to the front rank of general popularity within the last few years have but one drawback, you cannot get flowers right up to frost from one early planting. For succession of bloom, succession of planting is essential. Planting a different depths, putting the larger ones down four or five inches, will give a second lot of blooms when those from the preceding month's planting are going by.

NEXT WINTER'S WINDOW GARDEN

IN THE bustle of getting the summer plants started, do not overlook the present opportunity of starting plants for blooming indoors next winter. Set aside a few square feet of ground for the starting of Heliotrope, Fuchsias, everblooming Carnations, Silk Oak (Grevilla robusta) and other good house plants of similar character. All these grow readily from seed, will provide a plentiful supply of pot plants little later on, and prove ideal for bloom in the winter window garden.

PLANT NOW FOR ROSES NEXT JUNE

IT IS not too late to have a Rose garden this year! If you act promptly, you can enjoy an abundance of blooms next month! Good strong, field-grown plants, potted during last fall and winter, are obtainable at reasonable prices. They will be in full growth when you get them, and ready to go right ahead and flower freely this season if transplanted with reasonable care. One of the great advantages of using this type of plants is that is practically receives no check in transplanting. In planting grafted or budded Roses, be sure to get the "collar" or "union," where the bud was joined to the stock, two inches below the soil, and be very sure to firmly press the soil about the roots. You can use your feet to help pack the soil without any danger of getting it too compact. After planting, rake surface loose and fine, to leave a soil mulch about the plant.

DO THIS MONTH

¶Finish planting vegetables—succession crops, and late or tender things.
¶Make a second planting of Gladiolus.
¶Make ground ready for flower seeds and plant as soon as conditions are favorable.
¶Plant summer bulbs as soon as soil is warm enough.
¶Plant potted Roses for bloom this year.
¶Promptly thin out all vegetable and flower seedlings.
¶Get all early weeding done on time.
¶Put in plant supports for vegetables and flowers.
¶Make ready for warfare on garden pests and diseases.
¶Attend promptly and thoroughly to spraying of all fruit trees.
¶Give plenty of air and water to all plants under glass.

PLANT THIS MONTH

Vegetables Under Glass; for forcing: beans, cucumbers, melons (seed); tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, melons (plants).
   For transplanting later: pole and lima beans, corn, cucumbers, muskmelons, watermelons, summer and winter squash (in paper pots).
Vegetables Out-of-doors; succession plantings: beets, carrots, lettuce, peas, radish, spinach, turnips, and also late potatoes.
   After danger of frost: first plantings; beans, sweet corn, cucumbers, martynia, melons, okra, pumpkins, from seed; and egg plants, peppers, and melons, and other plants started in paper pots, from the frames.
In Seedbed: for transplanting later: cabbage, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, late celery, leeks, and tomatoes for late crops to mature just before frost.
For Plants; for transplanting in the fall or for forcing: French artichoke, asparagus, rhubarb, sea kale, witloof chicory.
Flowers; under glass if not already started: Begonias, Daisies, Fuchsias, Geraniums, Lantana, Lemon Verbenas, Petunias, Streptocarpus, and others for next winter's bloom.
   Out-of-doors: bedding plants such as: Geraniums, Ageratum, Altermanthera, Abutilon, Alyssum, Asters, Lobelias, Petunias, Phlox Drummond, Verbenas, Vincas, Japanese Ivy, German Ivy.
   After danger from late frost: Begonias, Coleus, Heliotrope, Salvias, Coboea scandens, Moonflower, and Kudzu vine.*
   From seed: to remain where sown: annuals and biennials; the above, and also: Balsams, Caldendula, Candytuft, Castor beans, Celosia, Coxcomb, variegated corn. Cosmos, Pinks, Gypsophilia (repeated sowings), Annual Larkspur, Marigold, Mignonette, Morning glory, Nasturtiums, Poppies, Salpiglossis, Annual Sunflowers, Zinnias, etc.
Bulbs Outdoors; Bulbous Anemones, Gladiolus, Zephyranthes; and (after danger from frost): Tuberous Begonias, Caladiums, Callas, Cannas, Dahlias, Tuberroses, Madeira vine and Cinnamon vine, etc.
Shrubs Out-of-Doors; Potted Roses: and early in the month, all ornamental shrubs as mentioned in last month's Reminder.
Fruits Out-of-Doors; if planted at once: fruits and small fruits mentioned in last month's Reminder.

SPARE THE PLANTS AND SPOIL THE CROP

CROWDED rows often result in inferior vegetables. This is just as true of corn, peas, and beans as of root crops. Do your thinning early—the earlier the better. Every day's delay after te plants have made a good start, not only adds to the work but also to the injury or the set-back which the remaining plants sustain. The exception to this rule is onions, which are likely to be thinned out more or less by the attach of the onion root maggot. Even these, however, should be thinned before they get larger than 5 inches tall. Onions will stand overcrowding better than almost any other vegetable, but careful records prove that even onions, judiciously thinned, produce considerable increased yields.

SPEEDING UP EARLY GROWTH

JUST after thinning or after the second cultivating will be a good time to give a top dressing of nitrate of soda to root crops, and other vegetables which are well enough established to be benefited. It always pays to pulverize and sift the nitrate before applying it. If it is coarse and lumpy, it is not only more difficult to apply, but a good deal will be wasted, and if some of the larger lumps fall near the plants it is apt to injure them.

THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST WEEDS

DON'T let the weeds get ahead of you. Even if you have to get some one to help out for a few days, it will be much cheaper in the long run—for weeds not only multiply, but they grow while you wait. Hoeing or weeding that could be done in thirty minutes to-day may require two hours by next week! Keep your wheelhoe going so that no weeds will ever have a chance to start between the rows. If you go over the ground once a week, you can wheelhoe as rapidly as you can walk. This will reduce the work of hand weeding and hoeing to a minimum.
   Another often neglected matter is the timely providing of supports for such plants as tall peas, Sweet Peas, beans, tomatoes, annuals, and perennial flowers. Any that may need support should be taken care of before they have begun to climb or to lean over. If they once go down, it is next to impossible to handle them satisfactorily. The best time to put in supports is when planting.

A CRITICAL TIME FOR THE FRUIT CROP

EARLY spraying saves the first crop. A general spraying is due "before the buds open."{ Another "after the petals fall and before calyx closes." Get ready well in advance. A few warm days may open out the foliage, begin to swell the buds, so quickly that you will be taken off your guard. Where you have a number of different varieties, spraying will have to be something of a perpetual performance every two or three weeks, as by the time the latter things would be ready, it will be too late to catch the early ones just right, and vice versa. This spraying means not a little extra work, but you cannot be sure of good fruit without it.

BE PREPARED FOR GARDEN PESTS

DON'T repeat last year's experience, and wait until the enemy is within your (garden) gates before you get ready to fight. You may find yourself needing some special things later, but by all means have ready in advance, a general purpose spray, such as combined arsenate of lead, boreaux mixture, and nicotine sulphate*, which is effective against both chewing and sucking insects and fungus diseases. Spraying in the Vegetable garden is not a difficult thing if done systematically; it is a hundred times more work to dislodge the enemy when he is once established than to keep him out in the first place.

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