Gardening for Little Girls.

by Olive Hyde Foster.

Preface

Children take naturally to gardening, and few occupations count so much for their development,--mental, moral and physical.

Where children's garden clubs and community gardens have been tried, the little folks have shown an apt.i.tude surprising to their elders, and under exactly the same natural, climatic conditions, the children have often obtained astonishingly greater results. Moreover, in the poor districts many a family table, previously unattractive and lacking in nourishment, has been made attractive as well as nutritious, with their fresh green vegetables and flowers.

Ideas of industry and thrift, too, are at the same time inculcated without words, and habits formed that affect their character for life. A well-known New York City Public School superintendent once said to me that she had a flower bed every year in the children's gardens, where a troublesome boy could always be controlled by giving to him the honor of its care and keeping.

The love of nature, whether inborn or acquired, is one of the greatest sources of pleasure, and any scientific knowledge connected with it of inestimable satisfaction. Carlyle's lament was, "Would that some one had taught me in childhood the names of the stars and the gra.s.ses."

It is with the hope of helping both mothers and children that this little book has been most lovingly prepared.

CHAPTER I

First Steps Toward a Garden

And because the breath of flowers is far sweeter in the air (where it comes and goes, like the warbling of music) than in the hand, therefore nothing is more fit for that delight than to know what be the flowers and plants that do best perfume the air.

--_Bacon._

IF you want a flower garden, you can begin work as early as March. Does that sound strange,--with cold winds and occasional snow? Ah, but the plans should all be laid then, and many things started in the house.

Four steps must be taken before starting actual work:

_First._--Find out what s.p.a.ce you can have for your garden.

_Second._--Consider the soil, situation, surroundings.

_Third._--Make a list of seeds, bulbs, etc., desired.

_Fourth._--Decide on planting with view to height and color.

As to the first step, find out positively where you can have your garden. It makes considerable difference whether you can have the whole back yard, a plot along the walk, a round bed in the center of the lawn (only worse than none at all!), or a window-box. You can not very well decide on a single plant until this is settled.

As to the second step, learn all you can about the soil, situation, surroundings. Is your ground rich or poor? If light and sandy, you can grow such flowers as nasturtiums and mignonette. By adding fertilizer you can have poppies, roses, and dahlias. If the ground is heavy and stiff with clay, you can still have your roses and dahlias if you will add both manure and sand. So find out what kind of earth you are going to work with. Quite poor soil will grow sweet alyssum, California poppies, coreopsis and geraniums, while rich soil is needed for asters, larkspur, zinnias and marigolds. And think about your location (a dry spot being necessary for portulaca, and a cool, moist place for lily-of-the-valley), as well as bear in mind whether your garden is sheltered and warm or exposed to the chilly winds. Any desert can be made to blossom as the rose,--if you only know how.

As to the third step, make the list of the seeds, bulbs, etc., that you would like, with the idea of having some flowers in bloom the whole summer long. If you are lucky enough to have a kind friend or neighbor give you of her store, they will probably be good and come up as they should. If you have to buy, though, be sure to go to a first-cla.s.s, reliable dealer, for you don't want to waste your time and money on old things that won't grow.

Then last of all, decide on your planting from this list with a view to height and color, so that you will arrange to the best advantage,--the nasturtiums which climb, for instance, going to the back of the bed against wall or trellis, while the dwarf variety should be at the front.

BIG WORDS FOR COMMON THINGS

To select your flowers intelligently, though, you must know something about their nature, habits, and tendencies, and certain words always found in seed catalogues and garden books may be puzzling to a beginner.

a. _Annuals_, for example, are the plants that live but a year or a single season.

b. _Biennials_, however, continue for two years before they perish, making roots and leaves the first year and usually flowering the second.

c. _Perennials_ are the kind that continue for more than two years.

d. _Deciduous_ refers to the shrubs and trees that lose their leaves in the fall.

e. _Evergreens_ are those that keep their verdure the whole year round.

f. _Herbaceous_ plants may be annual, biennial or perennial, but they have a stem that does not become woody, and that dies down after flowering.

g. _Hybrids_ are plants produced by "crossing," or mixing two distinct varieties.

PLANT NEEDS

All plant life, you must understand, requires five things,--WARMTH, LIGHT, AIR, WATER and FOOD. But plants differ as much as people, and some need more of one thing than they do of another. Some grow best in sunlight, others in the shade; some in sand, others in rich soil. You will have to find out what each kind requires. The food properties needed in the soil have some big names, too,--_nitrogen_, _potash_, and _phosphoric acid_, all of which are found in farm manures. If you can not conveniently get these, however, florists and seed-men can supply you with other fertilizers more easily handled.

THE SEED NURSERY

If you are just getting ready to start your garden, the annuals,--the plants that flower from seed the first season though they do not come up again,--will probably interest you most as they give the quickest returns. Many kinds can be started in the house in March, and for this purpose any kind of a shallow box will answer. Bore holes in the bottom and put in a layer of broken pottery or stones, to permit drainage, so the roots will not rot. Fill three or four inches deep with good soil, after pulverizing and taking out all sticks and stones.

RULES FOR INDOOR PLANTING

Mark grooves in seed boxes (or "flats") with a stick, in parallel lines.

Plant seeds only about their own depth.

Scatter thinly to avoid crowding.

Press soil down firmly after seeds have been covered.

Keep the earth moist by means of a fine spray, or sprinkle with a whisk broom. The ordinary sprinkler lets out the water with such force as to wash the seeds clear out of the ground.

The very finest seeds should be _sprinkled_ lightly--and thinly--over the pulverized soil and then pressed into the earth with a small board.

The different seeds should be sown in separate rows, and the names plainly marked on the edge of the box, so you will not become confused, or forget what you are growing.

Cover the boxes with gla.s.s or a newspaper for the first week, to keep the earth moist and warm until the seeds sprout.