Evening star., 1932-09-14

fun out of mulling over the pros and
cons Of gardening. Their tax does
nobody any harm, although at times 1t
may tend to worry the individual gar
dener himself
| Mostly amateur gardeners want
schedules. They are not content TO
follow the lead of Nature, which scarce
ly ever operates on schedule; Even ven
ours, it seldom arrives at the same n0ur,
upon the same days, every week.
The amateur gardener, however.
seems to desire an appointed time for
an appointed task. Seeing that human
nature is what it Is, perhaps 1t is best,
after all
No doubt he knows his own failings
even better than Nature knows them.
Therefore, a set time, say once every
three or four days, after the sun has
gone down, may be the proper prescrip-
ton for watering the new grass seed
beds, whether in completely seeded
areas or in old lawns, where just the
thin spots have been re-seeded.
1t should be needless to say that the
spray should be light, so broken up
that the water puts little force, upon
the growing grass plants. We prefer
! to saw grass plants" very formally, be-
cause that Is what they are, rather than
to use the mere term grass" which
seems too much the proper term for
older grass plants.
The, extremely fine spray, however,
which most nozzles provide is not at all
necessary If a rain were to fall upon
the young grass plants, they would
stand up under 1t very we'll; they
would not be washed out (unless on a
terrace) and would benefit from the
water.
The same holds true Of sprtnkling
The main thing to see to, in artificially
watering new grass. is that the force OF
the water is not held in exactly one
place for more than few seconds at q
time.
For this reason, holding the hose in
the hand-personally attended, as II
were-will be found to be the best way
to avoid too much force upon any one
| spot at any one time.
Those particularly interested in lawns
which get a great deal OF sunshine
will do well to put great deal more
work upon them much later this year.
Just how long this attention should be
! continued will depend, of course, upon
! the period before freezing weather sets
in. Then lawns must be turned over to
the mercies of Nature, but before freez-
| ing sets in the home owner may do a
great deal to insure the health Of his
grass.
| Plenty Of food, in the shape Of ground
bone meal raw, and plenty Of water.
II rains do not fall plentifully. are the
main prescriptions. The time-honored
powwow over the removal of leaves does
| not make so much difference What
! does count is water, and. after that.
food Regular cutting of the grass
should 60 on as II Winter were not at
hand
There seems to be little truth in the
old advice about letting the grass go
/ into Winter long. Neither the longnes5
/ thereof. or the shortness. has much TO
do with It, but the condition of the
grass roots.
The real necessity is to keep the roots
in good growing condition until Nature
| herself tells them TO rest. Every one
knows that grass will grow all Winter.
given warmth and some rainfall Many
lawns were greener last Winter than
they were during the Summer. This
came about because rains were more
plentiful. Only lawns which were
built up were harmed by the lack of
Autumnal rains.
No one should fear that a program
OF keeping the grass growing is going
! to hurt it. Father the opposite Is the
truth If it is not kept going, but is
allowed to become dormant too soon,
harm will come to it. While it is grow
ine,Eit has the vigor of growth and It
possesses this vigor to resist the first
and later freezes.
Hsgrass plants are entirely dormant
by the time cold weather arrives, they
! will meet the onslaughtS of Jack Frost
with no reserve force. and no real
ability to come through the Winter
successfully. They should be kept
| growing