The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-03-07
TIME TO PLANT
 ANNUAL PIONEERING
 PLANTS IN HOT BEDS

Many garden lovers who are en-
 vious of their neighbors' earlier
 blooms fail to realize that they can
 some of their plants an earlier start.
 Those who own hotbeds or cold
 frames, the specialists of the U. S.
 Department of Agriculture, say,
 should see to it that their annual
 towering plants are started at once.
 This advice applies to those flowers
 to be used later in beds and to those
 grown for cut flowers
 Some of the flowers which give par
 ticularly good results if started in
 hotbeds1 or cold grames, are: Agertum,
 Alyssum, Aster, Calendula or Pot
 Marigold, CalHopsis, Campanula. Cas- tor Bean, Chrysanthemum. Cocks comb Cosmos. Four-O' clock, Godetda, N1arigold, Petunia, Sweet William, Scotch Pink, Scarlet Sage, and Yer bena.
 The seed of some of the flowers listed below need not be started in hotbeds but can be sown later in the season In the open ground and then transplanted to their permanent loca- tions. The seed of these flowers should not be sown until the ground is in condition for making g. good seed bed and until there is no long CT likelihood of a heavy frost in the locality A good test to determine whether the garden soil can be work ed we'll is to take up a mass of it in the hand and compact it into a ball. If this ball readily falls apart, the ground is dry enough to be work ed. It is particularly important in planting flowers to spade up the ground. fine it thoroughly with hoe and rake and remove the stones and Jumps from it. The actual surface 1-1I Tr-l planting each kind of seed the direc- tions as to depth of planting should be carefully followed. Flowers that can be sown in this way are: Agera tunn, A1yssum, Aster. Pot Marigold, CaIliopsis. CampanuIa. Clarkia (shadea, Cocksconfb, Dahlias-single Godetia, Gail1ardi, Mignonette, Pansy, Pinks, Rudbeckia- Snapdragon, Stocks, zinndas.
 Most of these may be sown earlier in a 9rotbed or cold frame and thus be made ito bloom earlier
 Certain other flowers die or do not do we'll if they are transpIanted. in the open ground or beds where the plants are to grow. The varieties which it is best to sow in 9 perman- ent location are: California. poppy, Candytuft, Corn flower, Forget-me- not, Lobe1ia. emophila (shade), l Phlox drummondii, Sunhawer, Sweet peas.
 Sweet peas should be in the ground as soon as 1t is dry enough to work. The soil should be spaded up and well prepared and then a trench should be dug four inches deep; in the bottom of this the peas should be planted about two inches apart. When the peas are to be grown over chick | en wire or brush stuck in the ground it is customary to sow tn enl in two parallel rows six or eight inches apart. Tn this way on the samei amount of trellis double the number | ofzplants can be grown with satisfac- tory results. Sweet peas thrive best ! in a cool, moist climate. Because of this it is especially desirable to SOW very early in the spring.
 Topples may be sown directly on 1 the surface of ground that was pre- pared last fall. If the bed was not prepared at that time, it should bel shaded tip as soon as the ground is 1 dry enough, and the poppy seed | sown evenly over the surface. The seed should be slightly covered by drawing the back of the rake over the 1 bed. Topples do not stand trans planting, and must be sown where 1 they are to bloom. Care should be and not in punches for if there is l much disturbance of the roots at the 1 time of thinning, the plants will not do so we'll as when left undisturbed. | The Shirley poppy. a very showy and attractive variety, may be obtained | in many colora. The Individual bloss- oIns, however, are very short lived, l and as compared with many other plants it's blooming season is short. | The plants are so attractive when in | bloom, however. that they are well worth planting. A succession of sow son.
 The California poppy should also be sown early, but does not require as early sowing as the other poppies. It is handsome and will bloom during a | longer period than the Shirley pop py-
 The other plants in the list may be sown in a seed bed and be trans | planted from there to the perman- ent location, and it is usually better | to sow the seed in the permanent To- cation.
 Balsams or lady's slippers castor beans and Partulaca also are best sown where they are to grow but they should not be put in the ground until 1 it is warm enough to grow beans and tomatoes weII-that is, about the time l corn is coming up or oak leaves are half grown. These plants could be grown in a cold frame previous to this date, but there is little to be | gained from this method. Farmers l Bulletin 195 treats fully of these plants.