Making the Plan. There is no winter in the life of a gardener. Even in February when the temperature is below zero, the catalogues begin to arrive. With the children back at school, the house quiet, this is a perfect time to bring out that garden plan you made last year and figure out exactly how the garden will grow this summer. By looking at this simple plan you know where the peonies are and how much space there is between them and the lawn. And you know where you planted the snapdragons last year, a spot where something else...

Planting Annuals Inside. No doubt you want to have flowers this summer but perhaps you don’t want to spend a lot of money on perennials because you may have to move next year. In that case you must grow annuals, and the easy way is to raise them from seed yourself. Some annuals are much better sown in the open ground when the earth begins to get warm in May. Some come into blossom much earlier if started in boxes in the house in March.

What can you sow now to have early bloom? For tall plants, zinnias in all...

Preparation of the Soil. Twelve inches of top soil if clean and well spaded will grow anything you want in the garden, but it must be nourished properly. A lack of humus (moisture-holding fiber) will cause the soil to dry out too quickly. Therefore, in the fall, instead of wastefully burning your leaves, stack them in a corner, sprinkle them with a little unslaked lime or Adzo, and you will have all the humus you need. They must, however, be free from insect pests and disease. This does not apply to oak leaves, as they take a long time to...

Making a “Back Yard” into a Garden. “How can I keep my back yard tidy? Everyone scatters rubbish about and walks on the flower beds.” How often we hear this complaint!

Change the name and you will change the family habits too. If you called your living-room “the den” or “the glory hole,” you wouldn’t expect it to be tidy. In the same way “back yard” suggests chickens pecking around, straw, rubbish, and a few old cans, not a garden with flower borders. Get the habit of calling your back yard “the garden” and the family’s untidiness will become a...

Planting for Scent. My earliest recollection of our garden in England is of the scent of the various flowers. Even today if I smell hyacinths I see at once the long, sunny bed with spruce trees as background and a lovely grouping in pink, blue, and white, pouring out a warm, intoxicating smell which came in at every open window. I can smell also the wisteria over the back door; there is nothing like wisteria for filling the house with fragrance. Then there was the heliotrope in the window boxes, the tobacco plants, as we called them then, the musk...

Arranging Cut Flowers. Arranging the flowers you have grown is just as much a joy as growing them, if you only follow a few simple rules. Don’t overcrowd and don’t stick a handful, just as you cut them, all together in a container.

Use a sharp knife for cutting. If possible, take a bowl of water to the garden with you and set each flower in the water the moment you have cut it. This seals up the juices and prevents the air from getting in so that your flowers will last much longer. Dahlias and Oriental poppies last beautifully...

Lilies for August Planting. Whenever I think of lilies I see the old cottage gardens in England, lying far back from the road, all their flowers in front, a stone wall with calendulas blossoming between the clefts, and masses of lilies urging the passer-by to lean on the wall and chat with the cottager in order to sniff for a little while longer that heavenly scent. English gardeners do nothing to make their lilies grow in such profusion except to dig and separate them when the clumps have grown too large. The garden is so full of other flowering things...

Dividing and Transplanting. Now, while all this season’s mistakes are clear in your mind, is the time to remake the garden. Try to get as much work done as possible this fall, for you know what a fiendish rush there is in spring, with the house shrieking for its clean-up, the children with measles, clothes needing renovating, and curtains mending. And because in the order of things the garden is peaceful and silent, all other wants are attended to first. By then it is too late to move your plants. So now, with the children back at school and the...

Planting Bulbs for Spring Bloom. Now is the time to prepare for the winter storing of flowering bulbs, to plant all bulbs out of doors for next spring’s flowering, and to reset any tulip beds which are three years old or older.

On a fine, sunny day dig the gladiolus bulbs. The roots will not be deep, scarcely lower than the bulb itself, but the corm or bulb will have widened and often grown into two. Lift carefully so as not to damage the corm in the digging. Have ready a number of empty seed flats and lay each variety...