Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial. (Wilmington, Del.) 1878-1928, 1918-04-02
PREPA3AT |ON FOR
HOME GARDENING
The Hard Ground Should be
Broken Up and
Fertilized.

The home gardener in the city, unlike
the gardener on the farm, has not variety
of land for cultivation He Is restricted
ia the limits of his back yard or lawn,
and therefore must solve his individual
problems of preparing the soil for garden
production. No matter how bad the
soil in the yard may be. IT must be used.
More ingenuity therefore. is often neccs-
sarv to supply the proper conditions IN
the city garden. but the task is simpllfied
by the fact that the same principles
apply IN the town as III the country, and
that only one kind OF soil usually Is met
with In the back yard food plot
Stable manure, always valuable III the
preparation OF garden soil. often Is hard
TO get and thus year every cfort should
he made 40 lessen the extraordinary
demand for commercial fertilizers. Sub
stitutPs tor manure, however, are easily
available to the horne gardener. He
should save every hit Of vegetable refuse,
lawn clippings. shrubbcry trimmings,
fallen leaves, kitchen waste, etc, and
make compost heap. \ dirt covering
will keep thus material from blowing away
and Will prevent objectionable odorS.
In the spring this decayIng humus-iorm-
ing material should bc mixed deeply into
the soil with digging fork. Heavy
clay soils arc made more porous n suited
coal ashes arc thoroughly mixed with
them but there Is no plant TODD or humus
in the ashes. Lime makes clay soils
more granular and less lumpy After
being treated with ono or more of these
methods. If the soil Is worked thoroughly
with digging fork or rake until II Is
finc and level aud without clods. II Is
ready for fcrtllizlng and planting.
HOW FERTILIZERS WORN.
Unless applied in too large amounts at
one time. dCcavcd manure holds moisture
like sponge. and 80 its presence greatly
increases the moisture capacity OF the
soil and greatly lessons the danger from
drought ON SOILS that are too heavy,
nanurr, hccausc Of IFS spongy character.
holds tho tinc clay particles apart SO that
they can not become masSed together and
form clods, while on sandy soils II fills
the spaces between the coarscr particles,
IF sand. Thus it is evident that manure,
hv giving sandy soils more body in
filling the large intCrSpaces. and clay soils
les body bv making them more porous
greatly improves the condition of both
for the fine roots of garden plants. De
caVcd vegetable matter OF any kind works
on all soils in Just the same WAY as manure.
So far rs the effects described are concerned
hut the manure contains much more
plant food Even tho loans and sandy
loans. those best for gardening, can not
~ kept in good physical condition without
manure or vegetation plowed down.
Commercial fertilizers can never serve
A. a successful substitute for this pre-
lminary treatment hut they arc >upp'-
mcnt 10 it. and when organic matter IN
a e, to- nd
also lime if necessary. has been added.
the soil is in condition 10 make the best
,lsc Of commercial fertilizers. ii they are
needed.
BREAK UP HARD GROUND.
The kind Of preparation that must be
gwen to the homo garden and the amount
az work that will be required will depend
largely on the condition of the plot and
1t, previous use. If the garden ground
has been made hard by much tramping
~ Is often the case IN back yards, consider
able labor will hc needed 10 get il into
proper condition. When blowing with
team can bc practlccd that Is the best
method for giving the initial breaking
In cases where the ground Is not 10 be
planted 81 once and hard freezing Is likely
To occur after Spading. II may be advisable
10 leave the ground rough, preparing II
for planting as needed The freezing
tends To break up the clods and make the
soil lighter and II also DESTROYS insects
Ground left in he rough will dry ont more
quickly than smoothcd soil. II the plot
can not be plowed, the gardener must
resort to the use Of a grader fork or spade
or. in the case OF very hard spots, a mattock
II i not sufficient that the surface be
made fine The soil should be well pull
verified To the depth OF the spade or fork
Then if the supply Of organic matter has
hcon provided - suggested, and the lin
inc taken care Of, the soil can be kept
in good condition during the summer
After this portion OF the work Is done
the fining OF the soil. planting and Guilt
walton are not arduou> In case one is
not equal 10 so much exercise 1t MAY be
well 10 employ some one TO break the
ground whether this be done with pillow.
spade. or fork. Tor AT all events II must be
done.