Gardening Indoors and Under Glass Part 14

Total of items listed above $46.50 240 ft. rough 1-in. boards 7.50 6 posts, 4 in. thick, 6 ft. long, planed on one side} 3.00 2 posts. 4 in. thick, 8 ft. long, planed on one side} 1000 shingles 4.00 ------ Total cost of materials $61.00 Estimate of labor 20.00 ------ Total cost of greenhouse $81.00

Level off a place about 22 x 12 feet, and set in the posts as indicated in the plan on page 158, taking care to get the lines for the ends of the house perfectly square with the wall, and exact in length. This is best done by laying out your lines first with stout string, and making your measurements accurately on these. Then put in the posts for sides and ends, setting these about three feet into the ground, or, better still, in concrete. Put in the two corner posts, which should be square first. Next saw off all posts level at the proper height, and put in place the 2 x 4 in. eaves plate on top of these and the 2 x 6 in. sill just far enough below to take a 16 x 24 in. light of gla.s.s, with its upper edge snug in the groove in lower side of plate, as shown in detail of section on page 159. Fit the 2 x 6 in. sill about the posts so that the mortice on same will just clear the outside of posts. Then put on the siding on sides and ends--first a layer of rough inch-boards, running vertically, a layer, single or double, of tar paper, and a second layer of boards, laid horizontally, covering on the outside with shingles, clapboards or roofing paper. The five 7 ft. x 1-1/4 in. pipe posts may now be placed loose in their holes, and a walk dug out of sufficient depth to allow pa.s.sage through the middle of the house. Rough boards nailed to stakes driven into the ground, will hold the earth sides of this in place.

Next, after having it sawed in two vertically (thus making 20 ft), screw the ridge securely to side of house at proper height, giving a thick coat of white lead at top to insure a tight joint with house. Now put one of the end bars in place, taking care to get it exactly at right angles with ridge, and then lay down the sash-bars, enough more than 16 in. apart to allow the gla.s.s to slip into place readily. Take a light of gla.s.s and try it between every fourth or fifth bar put into position, _at both ridge and eave_, as this is much easier than trying to remedy an error when half the gla.s.s is laid. Use "finishing" nails for securing the sash-bars, as they are easily split. Next, with chalk line mark the middle of the roof sash-bars, and secure to them the one-inch pipe purlin, which will then be ready to fasten to the uprights already in place. Next, make concrete by mixing two parts Portland cement, two of sand and four of gravel or crushed stone with sufficient water to make a mixture that will pour like thick mud, and put the iron pipe posts in their permanent positions, seeing that the purlin is level and the posts upright. (If necessary, the purlin can be weighted down until the concrete sets.) Then put into place the ventilators, glazed, and the headers for the same--short pieces of wood, cut to go in between the sash-bars,--and fit these up snugly against the lower edge of the ventilator sash.

When laying the gla.s.s in the roof, which will now be ready, use _plenty_ of putty, worked sufficiently soft for the gla.s.s to be thoroughly bedded in it, and leaving no air-s.p.a.ces or crevices for the rain to leak through later. If this work is carefully done, it will not be necessary to putty again on the outside of the gla.s.s, but it should be gone over with white lead and linseed oil. Be sure to place the _convex_ surface of every light up. The panes should be lapped from 1/6 to 1/4 of an inch, and held securely in place with greenhouse glazing points, the double-pointed _bent_ ones being generally used. The lights for the ends of the house may be "b.u.t.ted," that is, placed edge to edge, if you happen to strike good edges, but as a general thing, it will be more satisfactory to lap them a little. The woodwork, before being put together, should all receive a good priming coat of linseed oil in which a little ochre has been mixed, and a second coat after erection. I have suggested putting the gla.s.s in roof and sides before touching the benches, because this work can then be done under shelter in case bad weather is encountered. The benches can be arranged in any way that will be convenient, but should be about waist-high, and not over four or four and a half feet across, to insure easy handling of plants, watering, etc. Rough boards will do for their construction, and they should not be made so tight as to prevent the ready drainage of water. The doors may be bought, or made of boards covered with tar paper and shingles or roofing paper.

The house suggested above is used only by way of ill.u.s.tration. It may be either too large or too small for the purposes of some of the readers of this book, and I shall therefore give very briefly descriptions of several other types of small houses, some of which may be put up even more cheaply than the above. The plainest is the sash lean-to somewhat like Fig. 3, which is made by simply securing to a suitable wall a ridge-piece to hold one end of the sashes for the roof, and erecting a wall, similar to the one described above, but without gla.s.s, and with a plain, 2 x 4 in. piece for a sill, to support the other ends. Either a single or double row of sashes may be used, of the ordinary 3 x 6 foot size. In the latter case, of course, a purlin and supporting posts, as shown in diagram, must be supplied. Every second or third top sash should be hinged, to open for ventilation, and by tacking strips over the edges of the sash where they come together, a very tight and roomy little house can be put up quickly, easily and very cheaply. New sash, glazed and painted one coat, can be bought for $3 to $3.50 each. Ten of these would make a very practical little house, fifteen feet long, and over ten feet wide.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Sash and frames for a coldframe or hotbed cost only about $3.00 per frame, 3 x 6 ft., and will serve to raise thousands of young plants for setting out in the spring]

[Ill.u.s.tration: A simple and ingenious type of window greenhouse made from a single coldframe sash with side glazing and a shelf]

[Ill.u.s.tration: An inside view of the same. Three shelves are available for plants in addition to the main shelf at the bottom]

Another form of lean-to where there are windows is shown in another diagram. The even-span house, of which type there are more erected than of any other, is also shown. The cost of such a house, say 21 feet wide, can be easily computed from the figures given in the first part of this chapter, the north wall, and purlin braces from the ridge posts, being the only details of construction not included there.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 4--A simple form of lean-to greenhouse where there is an available sheltering wall but with first-story windows. The inner slope or valley should be drained]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 5--The simplest of all "greenhouses," which is in reality little more than a deep coldframe with an opening into the cellar]

A simple way of greatly increasing the capacity of the ordinary hotbed or coldframe, is to build it next to a cellar window, so that it will receive some artificial heat, and can be got at, from the inside, in any weather. Several sashes can be used, and the window extend to include as many of them as desired.

By all means get a little gla.s.s to use in connection with your garden this coming year. Put up one of these small greenhouses, if you can: if not, get a few sash, at least. Don't put it off till next year; do it now!

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 6--The regular even-span type. A indicates a row of pipe standards; BB, braces from these to the purlins. There is a fitting made for the junction C.]

In the next chapter we will take up the handling of vegetables and flowers in the small greenhouse. But don't be content to _read_ about it. It's the pleasantest kind of _work_--try it yourself!

CHAPTER XXII

METHODS OF HEATING

In the foregoing chapter on homemade greenhouses very brief reference was made to the various methods of heating. It will be well to understand a little more in detail how to heat gla.s.s structures, as temperature is, next to moisture, the most important factor of success.

If steam or hot water is used in the dwelling house and a greenhouse of the lean-to type is used, the problem becomes a very simple one, as additional pipes can be run through the greenhouse. But as this advantage is not always ready to hand, we will consider the heating of an isolated house, and the principles involved may be adapted to individual needs. There are three systems of heating: flues (hot air), hot water, and steam--the latter we need not take up as it is economical only for larger structures than the amateur is likely to have.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 7--The best arrangement for heating a greenhouse by hot air, is to run a brick or cement flue from the furnace around under the benches and into the chimney over the fire. AA--storages s.p.a.ce; B--furnace; C--chimney; DDD--benches; E--furnace door.]

Heating by hot air carried through brick or tile flues is the simplest and cheapest method for very small houses. The best way of constructing such a system is ill.u.s.trated in the diagram adjoining, which shows the flue returning into the chimney (after traveling the length of the house and back). This method does away with the greatest trouble with flue heating--a poor draft; for immediately the fire is started, the air in the chimney becomes heated, and rising, draws the hot air from the furnace around through the flue with a forced draft. This forced draft accomplishes three other good things: it does away with the escape of noxious gases into the greenhouses, lessens the acc.u.mulation of moisture and dust from wood smoke, and distributes the heat much more evenly throughout the house. The furnace may be built of solid brick, with doors and grates and an arched dome, and the flue should be of brick for at least one-third the length from the furnace into the house; for the rest of the way cement or vitrified drain pipe will be cheaper and better. The flue should have a gradual upward slope for its whole length and will vary in size with the house to be heated, from five to eight or nine inches in diameter, the latter being sufficient for a house 60 by 21 feet. The flue should be raised a little from the ground, and at no point should any woodwork be nearer than six inches to it. Very small houses, especially if not started up until January, may be heated by an ordinary wood stove with the stove pipe run the length of the house, but such an arrangement will give off a very drying and uneven heat, and require a lot of attention, to say nothing of its danger.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 8--Hot water is undoubtedly the most satisfactory method of heating the small greenhouse. The diagram shows a 1-1/2-inch supply pipe leading out from the boiler, with 1-inch returns under the benches, making a satisfactory system for the lean-to type described in detail in the previous chapter.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 9--For the larger greenhouse of the isolated double-slope type, 21 x 50 feet in size, a 2-inch supply pipe, with five 1-1/2-inch returns under the outer benches, will secure a temperature of 55 degrees.]

By far the most satisfactory way will be to use hot water. If the size of the house will not justify the purchase of a small heater--a second-hand one may often be had at a very reasonable figure--a subst.i.tute may be had by inserting a hot-water coil in a stove or in the house furnace. In one of the diagrams is shown an arrangement of pipes for heating a house 21 x 50 feet, and in another piping for lean-to described in the preceding chapter. With the small pipe sufficient for such a house as that ill.u.s.trated in the latter diagram, the work can be done by anyone at all acquainted with the use of pipe tools; if possible, the pipes should be given a slight downward slope, say one inch in ten feet, from as near the heater as practical. For all this work second-hand piping, newly threaded, will answer very well, and it may be bought for about four cents per foot for one-inch pipe; six cents for one and one-half inch, and eight cents for two-inch. In putting the stove or heater in place, it should be sunk below the level upon which the pipes will run, and attention should also be given to the matter of caring for the fire, removing ashes, etc., making the management of these things as convenient as possible.

CHAPTER XXIII

MANAGEMENT

Experience only can teach the beginner just how to manage his vegetables and plants in this new winter garden. But at the outset he must remember one thing: If it is true that he has control of his miniature world of growing things it is also true that he can leave nothing, as he does with his outside garden, to the treatment of nature. The control is in his hands--the warmth, the moisture, the fresh air, the soil--none can be left to chance; he must think of them all. And before going into details, which might at first be confusing, let us take up the elements of this little world over which we are to reign, and try to elucidate first a few general rules to guide us. The house, after countless little delays and unforeseen problems conquered by personal interest and ingenuity, is at last ready, and the bare board benches look ugly enough in the bright, hot sunlight. How are they to be converted into a small Garden of Eden, when all outdoors is chained in the silent desolation of drifted snow? Here is a new task. No longer Nature's a.s.sistant, the gardener has been given entire management of this new sort of garden. It is almost a factory, where he must take his raw materials--earth, water, heat, light, and the wonderful thread of life, and mold these all into a hundred marvelous forms of beauty and utility. Something of art, something of science, something of business, must all be brought to his interesting work.

Let us begin then at the bottom. What is the best kind of dirt to use?

It should be friable, so that it will not bake and cake in the pots; rich, that the little plants may readily find ample nourishment; porous, that water may be soaked up readily, and any surplus drained off freely.

A soil answering all these requirements is made as follows: cut from an old ditch or fence-side, thick sods, and stack them with the gra.s.s sides together to rot. This heap should be forked over several times, when it has begun to decompose. In dry weather, if within reach of the hose, a good soaking occasionally will help the process along. The sods should be cut during spring or summer. To this pile of sod, when well rotted (or at time of using), add one-third in bulk of _thoroughly rotted manure_--cow and horse mixed, and a year old, if it can be obtained--and mix thoroughly. If the soil is clayey or heavy, add enough coa.r.s.e sand and make it fine and friable, or use a larger proportion of the manure.

Leaf-mould, from the woods, will also be good to lighten it with. This one mixture will do for all your potting. Keep enough of it under cover, or where it will not freeze, to last you during the winter and early spring. Store some of it in old barrels, or in boxes under the greenhouse bench, if there is not a more convenient place. For very small pots, run it through a half-inch sieve. For the larger sizes, three inches and up, this will not be necessary--just be sure the ingredients are well mixed.

Proper temperature is more likely to be the beginner's stumbling block than any other one thing. Different plants, of course, require different treatment in this respect; and just as your corn and beans will not come up if planted too early in the spring, or carrot or pansy seed in the heat of July, so the temperature in which a coleus will thrive would be fatal to the success of verbenas or lettuce under gla.s.s. It will often pay, where a variety of things are to be grown in the small greenhouse, to have a gla.s.s part.i.tion separating it into two sections, one of which may be kept, either by additional piping or less ventilation, several degrees warmer than the other. So, while a general collection of many plants can be grown successfully in the same temperature, it is foolish to try everything. Only actual experiment can show the operator just what he can and cannot do with his small house. Even where no gla.s.s part.i.tion is used, there will probably be some variation in temperature in different parts of the house, and this condition may be turned to advantage. The beginner, however, is more likely to keep his house too hot than too cool. He may seem at first to be getting a fine quick growth, and then wonders why things begin to be lanky, and yellow, forgetting that his plants can get no air to breathe, except what he is careful enough to give to them. For the majority of those plants which the beginner is likely to try--geraniums, petunias, begonias, fuchsias, abutilon, heliotrope, ferns, etc., a night temperature of 45 to 55 degrees, with 10 to 20 degrees higher during the day, will keep them in good growing condition during the winter, providing they are neglected in no other respect. So long as they are not chilled, they cannot have too much fresh air during sunny days. Make it your aim to keep the temperature as _steady_ as possible--the damage done to plants is as often the result of sudden changes in temperature as of too high or too low a temperature.

If it is easy to overdo in the matter of temperature, it is even more so in watering. A soil such as described above, when watered, will absorb the water rapidly, and leave none of it standing upon the surface of the pots after a few moments. Practice, and practice only, can teach just when the soil has been sufficiently saturated. It should be watered until wet clear through, but never until it becomes muddy. And when watered it should not be watered again until dry--not baked and hard, but a condition indicated by a whitening of the surface, and the rapidity with which it will again soak up water, a condition hard to describe exactly, but at once recognizable after a little practice.

During the dull winter months, it will be sufficient for most plants in the greenhouse to receive water twice a week, or even less often, but on the coming of warm spring days, more frequently, until care is needed daily. There are some old fogy ideas about soft and tepid water, which may help confuse the beginner: they accomplish nothing more. Recent experiments, made by one of the State experiment stations, have confirmed the experience of practical florists, that the temperature of water used, even to ice water, has almost absolutely no effect--the reason being that the water applied changes to the temperature of the soil almost before it can reach the roots of the plant at all. And hard and soft, spring and cistern water, have likewise been used without difference in results. The main thing is to attend to your watering regularly, never letting the plants get dried out or baked.

Not the least important of the "arts" which the worker under gla.s.s has to acquire is that of potting. From the time the cuttings in the sand bench are rooted, until the plants are ready to go outdoors in the spring, they have to be potted and repotted. The operation is a very simple one when once acquired. To begin with the cutting: Take a two-inch pot (a few of the geranium cuttings may require a 2-1/2 inch pot), fill it level with the sifted soil and with the forefinger make a hole large enough to receive the roots of the cutting and half its length, without bending the roots up. With the thumbs press down the dirt firmly on either side of the cutting, and give the pot a clean, short rap, either with the hand or by striking its bottom against the bench (which should be about waist-high) to firm and level the earth in it. With a little practice this operation becomes a very easy and quick one. Place the pots side by side and give a thorough watering. Keep in a shaded place, or shade with newspapers, for four or six days, and as soon as growth begins, move the pots apart, to allow the free circulation of air before the plants crowd. The time for repotting in a larger size pot is shown by the condition of the roots; they should have formed a network about the side of the pot, but not have remained there long enough to become tough or hard. They should still be white "working" roots. To repot, remove the ball of earth from the old pot, by inverting, striking the rim of the pot against the edge of the bench (a light tap should be sufficient), taking care to have the index and middle finger on either side of the plant stem, to hold it readily. Put in the bottom of the new pot sufficient earth to bring the top of the ball of roots, when placed upon it, a little below the rim of the pot.

Hold this ball firmly in the center of the new pot, and fill in the s.p.a.ce about it with fresh earth, packing it in firmly, using either the fingers or a bit of wood of convenient size. As a usual thing it is best when shifting to use a pot only one size larger. For pots above four inches in diameter, provide drainage by "crocking." This is accomplished by putting irregular shaped bits of stone, charcoal, cinders or pieces of broken pots in the bottom, being careful not to cover or plug up the hole.

If the pots are placed directly on the bottom of the bench--board, slate, tile or whatever it is--they will dry out so quickly that it is next to impossible to keep them properly watered. To overcome this difficulty, an inch or two of sand, or two or three inches of earth, is placed on the benches. When placing the pots upon this covering, work them down into it, just a little, instead of setting them loosely on top of it.

There are several insect pests which are likely to prove quite troublesome if given a start and the proper conditions in which to develop--crowded plants, too much heat, lack of ventilation, too little moisture. Prevention is the best cure. Burn tobacco stems or tobacco dust, used according to directions, every week (or oftener if required), and see that no bugs appear. One or two of the strongest brands of tobacco dust for sprinkling are also used successfully applied directly to the insects _on_ the plants, but my experience with most of these has proved them next to worthless. (See also Chapter XVII.)

It is not nearly so interesting to read about the various greenhouse operations as it is to _do them_. It is work of an entrancing nature, and no one who had never taken a little slip of some new or rare plant and nursed it through the cutting stage and watched its growth till the first bud opened, can have an idea of the pleasure to be had. In the next chapter I shall attempt to explain just how to handle some of the most satisfactory flowers and vegetables, but the inexperienced owner of a small greenhouse who wishes to make rapid progress should _practice_ with every plant and seed that comes his, or her, way, until all the ordinary operations have become as easy as falling off a street car with him. Mistakes will be made, and disappointments occur, of course, but only through these can skill and efficiency be obtained.

CHAPTER XXIV

FLOWERS

There are a number of greenhouse crops which are easily within the reach of the amateur who has at his disposal a small gla.s.s structure. One is apt to feel that something much more elaborate than the simple means at his hands are required to produce the handsome flowers or beautiful ferns which may be seen in the florist's window. It is true that many things are beyond his achievement. He cannot grow gigantic American Beauties on stems several feet long, nor present his friends at Christmas with the most delicate orchids; but he can very easily have carnations more beautiful, because they will be fresher if not quite so large, than any which can be had at the gla.s.s-fronted shops; and cyclamen as beautiful, and much more serviceable, than any orchid that ever hung from a precarious basket. To accomplish such results requires not so much elaborate equipment as unremitting care--and not eternal fussing but regular thought and attention.

There is, for instance, no more well beloved flower than the carnation, which entirely deserves the place it has won in flower-lovers' hearts beside, if not actually ahead of, the rose. As a plant it will stand all kinds of abuse, and yet, under the care which any amateur can give it, will produce an abundance of most beautiful bloom. Within a comparatively few years the carnation, as indeed a number of other flowers, has been developed to nearly twice its former size, and the number of beautiful shades obtainable has also increased many times.

To be grown at its best the carnation should have a rather cool temperature and plenty of ventilation, and these two requirements help to place it within reach of the small greenhouse operator. If only a few plants are to be grown, they may be purchased from a local florist, or obtained by mail from a seed house. If as few as two or three dozen plants are to be kept--and a surprising number of blooms may be had from a single dozen--they may be kept in pots. Use five-or six-inch pots and rich earth, with frequent applications of liquid manure, as described later. If, however, part of a bench can be given to them, the results will be more satisfactory. The bench should be well drained and contain four or five inches of rich soil, such as already described. If it is too late to compose a soil of this kind, use any rich garden loam and well rotted manure, in the proportions of five or six to one. For plants to begin blooming in the early winter, they should be put in during August, but for one's own use a later planting will do. For this year, if you are too late, get a few plants and keep them in pots. Next year buy before March a hundred or so rooted cuttings, or in April small plants, and set them out before the middle of May. Cultivate well during the summer, being sure to keep all flower buds pinched off, and have a nice supply of your own plants ready for next fall.

In putting the plants into the bench (or pots) select a cloudy day, and then keep them shaded for a few days, with frequent syringing of the foliage, until they become established. Keep the night temperature very little above fifty degrees, and not above seventy-five in the daytime, while sixty will do in cloudy weather. As to the watering, they should be well soaked when put in, and thereafter only as the ground becomes dry, when it should again be wet, care being taken to wet the foliage as little as possible. In the mornings, and on bright days, syringing the foliage will be beneficial, but never in dull weather, as the leaves should never be wet over night.

As the flower stems begin to shoot up they will need support. If you can get one of the many forms of wire supports used by commercial florists, so much the better; but if these are not obtainable the old method of stakes and strings (or preferably raffia) will do very well. To obtain large flowers the flower stems must be "disbudded"--that is all but the end bud on each stalk should be pinched off, thus throwing all the strength into one large flower. If, on the other hand, the terminal bud is taken off, and several of the side buds left, the result will be a beautiful cl.u.s.ter of blooms, more pleasing, to my mind, than the single large flowers, though not so valuable commercially.