Evening star., 1943-05-04
Does 1t Pay?
Are Gardens Worth Expense and Labor?
Read One Mans Story-and judge
By Jeff Davis

DJ wv D~SSS
Many persons, starting their Vic
tory garden, can profit by the re-
port OF one who writes from hard
experience, not book lore.
Having lived the better part of my
life In the heart of big city, the
first thing that entered my mind
after securing a position in Wash
tngton was to purchase home
with plenty of space for vegetables
and flowers.
In early spring trip vs. made
with a real estate agent. We looked
over a dozen properties, and then
cash was paid down on the place
the story concerns.
It Is In a small town about l mile
from the District line. The bunga-
low is on a lot 200 feet by 78 feet,
and the realty man assured us, This
soil will grow anything"
After moving in, many garden
tools were purchased, and then with
all the hope. pride and JOY of a
small-town farmer the first spadeful
was turned over To my utter dis
gust up came nothing but hard,
yellow clay. This lifeless soil that
undoubtedly could hardly grow
weeds was all we had!
No newspaper would print what
could have been said, and the writer
could have been arrested for what
he was thinking!
But now, today, this same piece
OF land, five years later. is bring
ing in over $500 worth of good, fresh
vegetables that are consumed daily
or put up in glass jars and stored
In the cool cellar Considering pres
ent prices of fresh and canned veg
etables and berries, one could safely
say 500 worth are grown, not men
tioning the 200 different varieties
of flowers in the front and side
yards. Nothing whatever is sold; all
used on the premises or given to
friends. BY the statistics OF Prof.
r. G. Helyar of Rutgers University,
this yield Is rated as worth over
10000 points on ones ration card.
BY improving our knowledge by
reading all the garden stories IN
the newspapers, subscribing to
couple of home farmer magazines
and making friends with numerous
garden growers. soon the hard clay
was transformed into friable dark
soil that finally brought truth to
the real estate salesman's state
ment that it could grow anything"
A clay soil. worked up properly,
soon can produce the finest crops;
1t holds the moisture better and
does not allow the rains to wash
the fertilizer through below the
roots.
The garden was laid out in plots
5 feet by 20 feet, running north and
south to insure even summing. A
path was kept the width OF a rake
between each plot. so one can plant,
cultivate or weed without tread
ing down and packing the soil.
Each plot was dug up in the fall,
trench style, the hole being filled
with leaves, weeds, lawn clippings,
cornstalks and little manure. The
dirt from the next trench was
broken up fine and used to fill up
the first trench and rot under
ground through the winter. Clover
was planted on the freshly turned
over ground and when about 10
inches high in the spring was all
turned under, putting nitrogen IN
the soil. At the same time that
the clover was turned under the
following was dug in with it: The
well-rotted mulch from the winter
mulch pile, sand which was
wheeled in from the nearby brook,
many bushels of leaf mould from
the nearby woods (but not from
under evergreen trees} and sifted
ashes from the furnace with few
handfuls of lime in each trench.
The mulch pile was the greatest
asset to the garden and was made
from all the leaves raked in the fall
adding some of the garbage from
the table. also some rabbit and
chicken manure mixed with lot of
straw, which came from the neigh
bors. Through this pile was sprin-
killed. a weak solution of potassium
permanganate. The heap was turned
over many times.
No time off from work, but morn
ings and evenings and the regular
day off soon gave us soil that
raised two or three crops each year.
The soil is so enriched that crops
can be planted much closer than
a farmer does and cultivated with
q pointed hoe.
Now. does it pay? Many a person
said. How foolish he is for doing
all this!' But with perfectly fresh
vegetables on the table and hun
dreds of glass jars of delicacies in
the cellars-well, DOES it pay?
No sweet corn, long on the market
shelf. can half compare or taste
nearly as sweet as Cross Bantam
that has just been picked, husked
and dropped into boiling water for
six minutes. The seven paintings
OF corn. alone, make the garden
worthwhile. And when late fall
comes there are plenty of soy beans,
carrots, beets, onions. squash. etc,
in the cellar. Does it pay? A meal
of squash from the market costs IS
cents. the same for bunch of as
paragus, while our asparagus bed
gives us about so punches a year.
Rhubarb, we have more than we
C Ta IL