The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1916-03-15
PLAN YOUR GARDEN ON PAPER
indoor Gardening viii Enable You
TO Raise TWO or Three Crops.

S. Department of Agriculture. A little
indoor gardening OF this sort will en-
able you to have fresh vegetables
throughout the season and will make
the same ground, with little extra la
Dor and expense, yield two or three
crops instead of the single crop com.
" raised in small gardens. Where
two three crops are grown instead
OF one, comparatively small garden
will supply the average family with
fresh vegetables all season. Moreover
such planning in advance will enable
you to get the ground ready in time
for planting and to secure your seeds
and plant them at the dates which
give each variety its best growing con-
ditions. For example, if you will
thus plan the plot to be devoted to
peas, by the time your first crop is
harvested. the second crop will be in
bearing, and the plants of the third
well advanced.
All the tools that are necessary for
indoor gardening, which can be made
an interesting recreation for the
whole household, are a large sheet Of
wrapping paper, ruler and pencil.
After looking over the garden and Sc
lecting the plot of soil best suited for
your purpose, measure this and out
line it on paper on a scale of Ia or
is inch to the foot.
Next, study your garden bulletins or
books on horticulture and the seed
catalogues to determine what can be
grown in your climate under the con-
ditions of exposure, soil and drainage
in your back yard. This study may
lead you to plan bitches to improve
drainage, show you that your soil
needs finely sifted ashes to break up
its sticky character, or that you must
add rotten manure. dried blood, bone
meal, wood ashes, lime, or other fer.
tilizsrs to make it suitable for veget-
able.
In general, the aim of the backyard
gardener should be to raise those veg
etables which are either expensive or
in which the flavor or quality depends
Importantly ON absolute freshness.
Peas and string or lima beans, to be at
their best. should be cooked almost
Immediately after they are gathered
Peas kept even for day lose their
delicate bloom and sweetness Conse
quently as much space as possible
should be devoted TO such vegetables,
and other vegetables in which fresh
ness does not count so Importantly
should largely be used as filters TO
keep the ground at work Effort also
should be made in garden to have
special vegetables. such as okra, OF
which the family is fond and which
are difficult to obtain in local markets
or are commonly high priced. The
housewife probably Will want little
bed OF parsley, chives, or other herbs,
not because they are expensive to buy
but because of the convenience of be-
ing able to pick a sprig just when it is
needed.
The profit from gardening, however
comes not alone from the vegetable
that are produced. The healthy out
door recreation and exercise and the
educational value of a garden in train
ing children manually, and in lnculcat
ing in them habits of order and in
dustry must not be overlooked
Fathers and mothers will find that the
preliminary planning OF garden viii
do much to arouse the interest Of the
young people and encourage them to
do their share in cultivating and weed
ing it. This will be particularly true
If the owner hires laborer to do the
first heavy disheartening drudgery
but on a patch ready for the lighter
work of making the seed bed.
Having decided what is to be plant,
ed the indoor gardener draws lines OF
symbols on his outlined plan to indi
cate the different crops, inserting the
date when each is to be planted
Where a second or third crop is to
follow the same row or occupy the
same ground, this may be written in
red or blue, which indicates that it is
to be planted when an earlier crop is
over In laying out the plan the own
er should consider the amount of each
vegetable necessary for serving for
his family. He also should bear il
mind the habits of the plants. so as to
allow space enough between the rows
for their proper growth, for the inter
planting or later crops, and for easy
cultivation. The cultivation, o.
course, is easiest WNeU lne rows are
IL to feet apart, as this permits
the use of wheel cultivators. Plants
which make high growth and cause
heavy shade naturally should not be
located where they will interfere with
sun-loving small plants. Perennials
such as rhubarb and asparagus, which
are not cultivated, should not be grown
among plants which call for tilling
The planning may be extended also to
the planting of small fruits such AZ
currants, raspberries, and grapes, an
even to the location of apple or otter
fruit trees.
A successful garden can De had in q
city back yard 25x70 feet IN dimen
sions. The plan also can be used in
laying out plot of a larger yard or
with changes in quantity planted, car
be adapted to small yards or plots OF
other shapes.
Rows of low-growing, quickmatur.
ing early vegetables should be plant
ed so that at proper intervals between
them later-maturing sorts can be dis
persed. The early paintings consists
of rows of radishes, early 0eets, let
tuce, carrots and few parsrips, pars
nips being placed so that they could
L.. Al. Il, lf-A At.rr