STARTING SEEDS IN FLATS
When large enough to handle, transplant the seedlings into other flats, setting them one or two inches apart according to their growth. When the leaves again touch prick them out in two-inch pots of leaf-mould, placing a piece of crockery over the drainage hole and filling with earth to within half an inch of the top. Plunge the pots into a box of sand in a sunny window until large enough to go out of doors. As soon as the roots fill the pots shift to a size larger, using compost of two parts fibrous loam, four parts leaf-mould, one part old, well-rotted manure, and one part sharp white sand, all thoroughly sifted together. This is called fine compost, while soils that have not been sifted are known as rough compost. To remove sticks, stones, or hard bits of root put through a sand or coal-ash screen. A piece of wire netting slightly gathered up in the hand makes a convenient screen for a small quantity and a box with a netting bottom for larger quantities of earth.
By the time the plants again need shifting it should be warm enough to bed out all those that are to grow in the open ground, while those intended for the house must be shifted from pot to pot as they outgrow their quarters and be given such special treatment as the individual plants may require, always aiming at as thrifty a growth as possible. Plants intended for winter blooming must have all their buds removed and their branches pinched back according to their summer development.
Weak liquid manure may be given once a week during summer. Keep the sand in the sand-box wet at all times, but do not over-water. Water thoroughly and then allow the earth to become nearly dry before watering again; this alternate moisture and dryness allows the wood to ripen and make a stockier growth and one that will stand frequent changes of temperature better than the tender growth induced by over-watering.
Chapter SEVEN
Transplanting and Repotting
Tender annuals should not be planted out of doors until all danger of frost is past—usually about the twentieth of May in the latitude of Detroit and Chicago, and correspondingly earlier in the latitude of Philadelphia. Corn-planting time is safe in all latitudes. Even hardy annuals, if not too crowded, do better in hotbeds and boxes until the nights are warm. Vines especially suffer from cold nights and cold ground, and often receive a set-back from which they may not recover all summer.
It is best to prepare the beds a few days in advance that they may settle, as freshly dug soil is too loose for the roots of tender seedlings.
For solid beds of one flower make straight, parallel rows about nine inches apart for plants like Pansies, and from twelve to eighteen for Asters and their kind. A most convenient method is to use a board the length of the bed, or as long as convenient, with the distance between the plants marked on it. By using a board wide enough to stand or kneel on, stepping on the bed is avoided. On a round bed the lines may run straight across or they may radiate from the centre, in which case it will be necessary to skip a part of every other row, as the rows run together at the top.
It is better to transplant on a bright, warm day when the soil is dry than on a damp or wet one. Never transplant when the soil is wet. Many people take advantage of an approaching rain to set out plants, but this is a doubtful practice. If the rain is followed by several days of cloudy weather, it may do, but if followed by hot sunshine the plants will suffer more than if first planted in sunshine in hot, dry weather.
Only as many plants should be lifted from the hotbed at one time as may be transplanted before they wilt badly. The plants should be well watered the night before, that they may have a good supply of moisture stored, and that the soil may be moist and cling closely to their roots.