Part 1 (2/2)

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.

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