Askov American., 1942-02-05
Gardeners Nook
By GARDEN CLUB EDITOR
MAKING ROOM FOR VICTORY
VEGETABLES
BY Haydn S. Pearson.

This year home gardeners prom
ise themselves that they will raise
all the food possible. To do so,
most of us will reduce the space
formerly given to flowers. We will
want to do our share to make GER
tain there will be foods enough for
our allies as well as our own ma
ton. We can grow our flowers in
rows closer together; we can set
ANIMALS among the perennials in the
border.
In this article we will discuss
practical ways of raising vegetables
and fruits so as to get the maximum
crops from a small area. Naturally,
we shall make doubly sure of thor
ough preparation of the soil; we shall
buy only good seeds; we shall culti-
vate and weed faithfully.
First of all, most of us can grow
carrots, beets, turnips, and parsnips
in rows that are closer together than
we usually have. One efficient meth
cd is to plant three rows 10 inches
apart and then leave path approxi-
mately Is inches in width. One can
hoe easily when rows are 10 inches
apart while the plants are young, and
as they mature, less cultivation is
needed.
Tomatoes in Demand.
Tomatoes are justly popular and
valuable product, and this year we
shall need many of them, because
the Government presumably will send
huge quantities to our allies and
forces because of their high vita
min content. If one has been grow
ing them in square or circular frames,
space can be saved by tying them to
stakes, or by tying the main stem of
each plant to string or wire trellis.
For the latter method, the writer
sets posts eight or 10 feet apart
and runs No. 9 wire along the tops
of the posts, pulled as taut as possible.
Plants are set 20 to "a inches apart,
and sturdy string is tied around the
main stem of the tomato plant and to
the wire. Two or three dozen plants
will yield an amazing amount of fruit.
If water can be applied to the soil
just as the green fruit is forming,
and applications of water continued
until ripening, it increases the size
of the fruit, and hence the total crop.
Green peas are favorite and not
space-consuming if you plant some
thing else beside them, so that when
the vines have finished beaning an
other crop is ready for the space.
The writer uses spinach, lettuce, and
Swiss chard on one row of the dwarf
type peas, and plants row of cab
bage beside the telephone peas which
run on a bent wire trellis.
There's one little secret here. Take
a rake and as the bush or dwarf
type peas grow, 60 along the row and
gently press the pea vines in one
direction. Thus, if you push the
vines toward the west, for instance,
another crop can be planted on the
east side, four of five inches from the
roots of the peas.
Working Plan Needed.
If space is at a premium, raise
string beans on poles instead of
the usual rows of bush types. Many
people think nothing surpasses the
old favorite, Kentucky Wonder. If
you plant two hills each two weeks
in June there will be long beam
ing season with enough for a good
sized family, plus plenty to can.
Sweet corn? No, we don't need to
eliminate this unless space is very,
very small. There are two or three
things we can do to get more ears
from the area devoted to it. Make
the hills two feet apart this year,
two feet each way, and permit only
the three largest and most vigor-
our stalks to grow. This is asum-
ing that one plants the small size
Golden Bantam variety.
At the edge of the corn rows, on
opposite sides of the patch, one can
grow cucumbers and squash. 1t
makes no difference if the vines
ramble off into the grass or hedge,
provided one makes a good, mellow
seed bed so that the roots will find
all the food and moisture needed to
mature the crop. Some of the vines
will wander in among the corn hills;
this is an advantage, especially with
cucumbers because it means the fruit
natures more slowly and thus we
have longer season. If the squash
is not planted until July 1, in the
northern half of the country, it large
ly eliminates the danger of the squash
bores
Finally, it should be stressed that
this year as never before, we need
working plan for our gardens. We
need to be garden architects and
make our blueprints so that before
the season starts we shall know just
how to use our available space.
Not All the Fluttering Things