Evening star., 1909-05-08

90 ~ gardening instinct:
they want to plant to dig in the soil. to
see things grow and become beautiful:
and, further, to supply the family table
with vegetables as fresh and crisp as
those back home,' or to have at hand
plenty of flowers, blooming plants and
decorative shrubbery.
To such persons the average Washing
ton lot, either city or suburban. Is dis
couraging. Coming, perhaps. from places
where city lots are so to 100 feet front
and $50 feet deep. the city lot here. with
its % feet or so Of frontage and its re-
stricted depth. seems too ridiculously
small to permit even the most limited
OF gardening operations. The idea of
making such lots beautiful save by keep
ing them in grass appears a forlorn hope.
But there are q number OF just such
families, occupying homes where the lot
Is of the average Washington size. who
have made their places as handsome, on
limited scale, of course. as though the
lots were three or four times as large.
All about the city, in the suburbs, in the
neighboring villages-yes. even in Wash
ington proper-such places are to. be
found.
Gardening in Miniature.
The whole secret lies In adapting ones
self and ones ideas to the limitations of
| restricted space. Instead of planning for
vegetable garden to occupy a space as
large as the whole of an average WASH
ington building lot, with fruit, flowers,
ETC., to correspond, gardening under the
new conditions must be done in minia-
ture. Call the garden work an expert
ment in intensive farming; style 1t vest
pocket or q pocket-handkerchief garden,
and go to work on 1t along plans sug-
gested by the name. OF course, such gar
dening has its disadvantages. especially
to the man who has been used to making
his garden by the acre. but just bear in
mind that 1t has plenty of advantages.
too. To the man who has never tried, it
will be simply amazing to learn from
experience what and how much can be
produced on the average city lot, and
how handsome and attractive the lot can
be made in the process of cultivating 1t
intensively.'
Intensive Gardening.
Intensive gardening, or farming, simply
means the utilization of every foot Of
available space for the growing of some
crop: whether it be flowers or fruits. or
vegetables, something serviceable or or
namental. as the case may be. Is to be
produced on every single square foot of
tillable soil at hand. Along the division
fences, where usually there is nothing
but a tangie of weeds and grass, the
earth is 10 be made fruitful: borders to,
the necessary walks, etc, instead of be-
ing permitted to waste and grow up with
purslane or dandelions, are to be soWn
with flower seeds or planted with some
sort of vegetables; and in the whole gar
den not a single useless weed or spear
of grass Is to be permitted to draw from
the earth the nourishment that would
otherwise go to the perfecting Of fruit.
blossom or vegetable. Cultivate every
possible inch cultivate it frequently, and
cultivate 1t to some purpose; this Is what
is meant by intensive sardening-or farm
ing, either for that matter. There are
many, very many. amateur gardeners I'm
and about Washington who have found
this out, and who are gardening in minia-
ture. year after year. following inten-
sive cultivation methods. getting a large
portion Of the family's living out Of their
gardens. getting out of the work an in
calculable amount OF physical and men,
tai benefit. and making their property in
creasingly valuable. These are the ones
who have solved the problem Of the city
or suburban lot and its adaptability to
gardening.
For Small Gardens.
For a long. long time the seedmen
and the nurserymen have been busy
evolving new. compact. dwarf types of
practically everything. One may now
procure. at as;onishingy low prices. ap-
pie trees that at maturity do not measure
more than four or five feet from ground
to top; a dozen or more of the standard
varieties of apple trees have been thus
dwarfed and the trees bear from four
| to five bushels of fruit nearly every year.
Cherries and plums are also to be had in
this dwarf stock. while there are about
six varieties OF pears. including Bartletts
AMI Seckles, that come In the small, COM
pact, dwarf type of tree. A semi-suburban
lot that the writer knows of was meas
ured this spring for planting with these
dwarf apple, plum, cherry and pear
| trees. and It was found that, allowing
| six feet square per tree-an abundance
| Of space--thirty trees could be set out on
the lot without interfering with the flower
garden and a tolerably roomy chicken
yard.
| Blackberries and raspberries Of diff
ferent varieties are also produced nova
days In dwarf form. the vines being
low and close growing. and taking up
not more than a third the amount OF
space required by the old sorts; while,
IL one has ever so narrow a space, where
the sun has full play practically all the
day. strawberries may be grown sue
cessfully. The plants. set six inches
| apart In rows and rigidly confined to