February 1st—Cabbage, cauliflower.
February 15th—Cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, beets, lettuce, onions for plants.
March 1st—Lettuce, celery (early), tomato (early), beets.
March 15th—Lettuce, tomato (main), egg-plant, pepper. For one's own use or special orders, cucumbers, squash, lima beans, potatoes sprouted in flats of sand, may also be started, but there is no market demand for them.
April 1st—Celery (late), cauliflower; (in sods or paper pots), muskmelon, watermelon, corn, for special use.
After being started and pricked off into flats, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, beets, lettuce, and celery are kept inside just long enough to get well established, and then put outside in a tight frame. Harden off as well as possible before putting out, as a freeze the first night might injure them. After that slight frost on the leaves will not injure them, but if they freeze stiff, apply cold water in the morning—ice-cold is just as good—and shade until they are thawed out. If very cold it will be necessary to protect the frames with shutters. Beets and lettuce will not stand quite so low a temperature as the cabbage group. By the time the plants are pretty well grown, cloth-covered frames may be substituted for the glass ones, and these may be used elsewhere to cover the tenderer plants such as tomato and egg-plant. After the first of April they will not need any protection. Last spring I had several thousand cabbages covered twice with several inches of snow, and hardly a one was lost.
Tomatoes, peppers and egg-plants require different treatment. They are heat-loving plants, and not only succumb to even a slight freeze, but will be so checked by a low temperature, even if not touched by frost, that they will amount to little. They should be kept growing as rapidly as possible. They will also require a second transplanting. Those wanted for the retail trade are put a dozen in a box, three or four inches deep and 7 x 9 inches. Care must be taken not to let these plants run up tall. Always give all the air possible while keeping up the temperature, which should be from fifty to fifty-five at night. Get them outdoors as soon as the weather becomes settled, where they could be protected in case of a sudden late frost.
BEDDING PLANTS
Most of the plants used for flower gardens and lawn beds come under the three following classes: (1) Those grown from seed; (2) those grown from cuttings; (3) those of a bulbous nature.
Almost all of the first group are sown in the spring in flats in the greenhouse. Two important exceptions, however, are pansies and English daisies (Bellis perennis). They are sown early in the fall, as already described, and the plants wintered over in a frame or protected outdoors. For the retail trade they are put up in small boxes or "pansy baskets" made for the purpose. While small plants, just beginning to bloom, are the best, it seems very hard to convince a customer of it and they will often choose a basket with four or five old plants loaded with bloom in preference to a dozen small ones.