Evening star., 1919-04-06
MAKING A VICTORY GARDEN


Tomorrow should be celebrated as
| national garden day. Today is the
anniversary of the date on which the
| United States entered the war. Ihe
victory gardeners of 1919 should make
! it a cause for rejoicing-a sort OF a
second Independence day-and sno"
that they intend to carry on in the
great home food production campaign
which is so important in the hght
against General Hunger and those
other world enemies that accompany
Ihim-bolshevism and anarchy. Ihe
| gardeners. therefore. can do notnlns
better tomorrow than to start OH IN
| earnest on the drive into the nome
| food trenches, for which they nave
been preparing and studying for some
| time past.
! This is the month for real activities
! to begin in the garden. The work
| which has been done up to this time
has been preparatory to the real az
tack. Now is the time to begin to PVT
| into practice some of the lessons
which have been learned. The ground
will be warm enough now. or IN
very short time, to make it safe to
plant out in the open some of the mt
| tie plants which have been started IN
the seed boxes and the hotbeds; and
also to sow seeds in the open garden:
Among the vegetables which should
be set out now are asparagus. beets'
brussels sprouts, cabbage. carrots.
| caulif1ower. celery. Swiss chard, sweet
corn, kohl-rabf, both head and leaf
| parsley, parsnip. peas, white potatoes,
| satisfy, spinach, turnip and rhubarb.
Are you taking advantage of the
daylight saving hour every afternoon,
victory gardeners? Home food pro-
duction was one of the big factors
which Congress had in mind when 1t
passed the law.
Plant the big seven" victory
crops. No matter what other vege-
tables you raise-and the number will
depend on the amount of space at
your disposal-you should by all
means have the following staple and
backbone crops: Irish potatoes. lima
beans. snap beans, sweet corn, toma-
toes, cabbage and onions. These are
the big seven in the victory gar
den league. They will help you to
bat over 800 on the road to a full
home plate.
Keep your weather eye on Jack
Frost and do not let him get any of
| the tender plantlets which are COM
| too much by early planting unless
you are prepared to cover the tender
plants on frosty nights. Remember
| that some plants are not killed by
| light frost. while others are easily
| nipped. Smooth peas, onion sets.
spinach. turnips, mustard, radish,
| kale. potatoes and cabbage can be
! transpianted from the seed box or
hotbed as soon as the ground can be
| prepared. even if some of the nights
are still frosty.
| Spring onions are not only a tonic,
| but an aid to digestion, and the sys-
! tenn Graves them when the weather
begins to warm up. Onions may be
grown either from sets or seeds. but
sets are best because they are easily
| handled. Use bottom" sets, those
| that were grown last year from seed.
| A quart will plant 100 feet of row.
Plant them two or three inches apart
in rows fifteen or more inches apart.
They will soon be large enough to
| be pulled for green onions. Those
not pulled for green onions will grow
into large bulbs by fall and may be
stored for winter. If they are grown
from seeds, SOW the seeds in the gar
i den (unless they have been started
in boxes) about half an inch deep.
using one ounce to 100 feet of row.
If the seeds are started in this way,
plant about two weeks after the sets
are planted. They should be thinned