Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-05-21
WINDOW GARDENS USEFUL
They Help Make Home Brighter
and Can Be INDUCED in
Summer or Winter.
By PROFESSOR I. M. MONTGOMERY.

WAAooW gardening is or peculiar IN
terest In every household where the
neart beats faster at any suggestion of
lowers Every home may in some de-
Efse participate in this very satisfac-
Tory branch of gardening.
Where the home is surrounded by
more or less extensive ground there
wiz naturally be less interest in such
a Aetd than in those homes whose en-
vlrcnment forbids any attempt at flow
er gardening outside. For the latter
there is vast field Of possibility open
Tor development. While success is only
attained by patient and persistent eff
Tort, the results sought are worth the
effort
Window gardening may be INDUCED
IN both summer and winter. The lat
ter season affords the most desirable
opportunity, save in those homes where
space will not permit the cultivation Of
flower bed without the house during
the summer.
AS means, therefore, of offering
few suggestions we will consider the
topic under two general heads, of which
the first will be summer window gar
dens.
In this case the flowers are usually
grown in a box just outside the win
dow or suspended below the sill. While
the latter method is more laborious to
follow, it is superior, as opportunity is
more readily afforded for window wash
Ing. These boxes may also be placed
on the veranda with pleasing effect.
Such box should be at least ten
inches deep and ten inches wide and
as long as desirable. In construction
1t may be of such material as the
means afford.
After designing the box the next con-
sideration is the soil with which to fill
1t. This should be especially prepared
for the purpose by taking about three
parts Of ordinary garden loan and one
part of rich, well-pulverized COW ma
nure and one part of sand. This will
make rich compost that will be loose
and friable. We think it better to set
the plants directly in the soil, although
the plan of placing them in pots and
settling the pots in the box filled with
wet sphagnum moss has the advantage
Of permitting a shifting of plants at
any time without danger of loss The
ordinary householder is not usually
supplied with this accessory, so we
pass the method by. Now, with re-
gard to the plants, the individual taste
must to some extent guide in the selec-
ton along certain established lines.
Fer instance, some plants are adapted
to shady situations, while others are,
suited to bright, sunny conditions. Il
We also believe that for summer
gardening why plants should predom-
mate.
1t Is our purpose therefore, to sug-
gest some plants adapted to the sew
eral conditions presented. For erect
plants at the back of the box we may
use geraniums, scarlet sage, heliotrope
and towering maple or abutilon.
Some dropping plants (not viny)
would be Lobelia (blue flower), sweet
allysum (white), single petunias (vari-
ety.. For why plants we present mas
turtiums, kenilworth ivy, thunbergia,
potato vine (white potatolike blossom).
and maurandia vine (blue and white
fowers3. Any Of these are suita h1e
for sunny location. The vines NAV
be made to ascend or hang down from
the sides.
For shady places we depend princi-
pally upon foliage plants, such as
palms, ferns, coleus, Gala lilies with
spotted foliage, centauria and begonias.
Ihese are erect growing plants. For
why plants we suggest tradescantia.
*,
your box has been properly filed and
in position, it should be noticed each
day with reference to moisture, which
should be applied gently to the soil
surface and not dashed against the
plants in careless manner. Usually
1t is not necessary to afford much or
any drainage for the box situated in
the sunny place, as evaporation will be
quite rapid Do not apply enough
water to make the soil soggy or COM
pact.
When the plants have been in the
box sufficiently long to fill it with roots.
fertilizer must be applied either in the
form OF bonemeal or rotted manure, or
preferably, by the addition of weak
liquid manure. This should only be
applied when the plants indicate their
need by check in growth. Such a |
plan faithfully pursued should afford |
much satisfaction to the amateur gar
dener.
we now come to the subject of win
dow gardening, which is perhaps moro
attractive and more difficult than the
other. This may consist of an aspar.
agus fern (plumosus), placed in a lar
nlnlere or a sprengeri suspended from
! the ceiling near a window. Or more
slaporate plans may entail box con-
tanning number of Towering plants
N a sunny window in a room where
comparatively uniform Temperatures
gay pc obtained. Without question
potted plants are superior for indoor
gardening to any other.
The various bulbs such as hyacintbs
aarclssus, tulips, freesias, Easter lilies.
srocus and cyclamen, make most sat
sIactory towering plants, and all, ex-
sent the latter, require about the same
attention. The dutch bulbs require pot
ting in four-inch pots in the late fall
and, after being we'll watered. thew
should be placed outside in the soil and
covered to a depth of four to six inches
This affords them an opportunity to
form their roots before the tops start
They may be brought in at any time
after six or eight weeks and their fol-
iage and waXy blossoms developed
Give plenty of water after bringing in
The addition of a little manure water
he ctr - b,