Evening star., 1901-05-11
BACK YARD GARDENS
POSSIBILITIES OF EVEN THE SMALL
EST PLOT.
What One Woman Did in Raising
Vegetables and
Fruits.


The average city or suburban back yard,
usually kept sacred to the family wash,
may, in a dozen different ways, be con-
verted into a garden of inexhaustible de-
light. as well as interest and instruction.
One New York woman who loves live.
romping creatures rather than green, grow
ing things. has rooted her high backyard
fences with fine chicken-fence wire. Into
the security of this great cage she has
turned pair of mischievous monkeys, q
couple Of rabbits and some tame crows.
The result is a continuous performance for
her family and her near neighbors. Most
women would find this rather strenuous
pastime.
Another active little lady with a love Of
gardening and practical turn Of mind,
who lives on the outskirts OF the great
metropolis, keeps her family supplied with
fruit and vegetable luxuries The man of
the house is tied to the city through the
summer, but his ingenious wife has brought
the mountain to Mahomet.
Her plot is somewhat larger than the av-
erage city yard, and she has made the
most of ii. Against the fence which gets
the south sun she has trained peach trees
in the English Gordon fashion, seldom seen
in this country. These trees bore fruit
four years from the planting of the pits. On
the west fence grows grape vine, also
trained in a set pattern
What was formerly the grass plot In the
center of the yard is now wonderfully
thrifty little garden. Vegetables which
properly belong farther south, artichokes
and okra. are codded and made comfort
able by glass coverlets. While ii is still
too cold to put seeds in the ground, boxes
of okra. lettuce and tomatoes are started
indoors. and when these young plants are
ready for the garden more seeds are start
ed in the box. In this way the chatelaine
manages to eat of the fruit of her vine con-
tnually. This particular family enjoys
the luxury or perfectly fresh picked okra
lettuce and artichokes throughout the en-
tire summer
If the redemption of the back yard is
seriously considered, by all means have a
good gardener to put the soil in condition
at the start. This Is the foundation of sue
cess, and should not be undertaken by an
amateur This done, the novice should pro
vide herself with seedsmen's catalogues and
a good gardening book. Reading such
things simply means learning the alphabet
of gardening. knowledge and success come
only with practice and through failure.
A good idea is to the center plot for
the sort of combination garden one so often
sees in France, where onions and poDpies
green peas and roses with lettuce and raS-
turtiums grow in haDpy unity
But whether the garden is to be devoted
to flowers or to vegetables a bed of cavol-v
herbs such as thyme sage parsley mint
etc is absolutely tndtspeusab These
plants are at home in any COMPANY and
the cook will love these cheerful gi,-erS
MANY owners of town houses close them
for two or three months in the summer
putting out of the question the vegetable or
annual flower garden. which REQUIRES ocn-
stant attention. Such ward owners nav.
however go in for the most delightful of
all the. sturdy self-reliant hardy peren-
nial garden so planned from the catalogues
that lilac and dogwood, with clumpS Of