Madison County Democrat. (London, Ohio) 19??-1958, 1952-03-04

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GI 2 col pix Good Planning .--,
It probably was not a Vege-
table garden to which the old
PHILOSOPHER referred as a "loVe-
some thing" but the average
weekend gardener is just as
proud Of his tomatoes, bush beans
or peas as he is of his roses,
dahliaS or peonieS.
Vegetable gardening, however,
is to be approached on a very
different level than flower gar
6cning. The first step, naturally,
is to determine how much land
is to be available for the plant
beds. It has been estimated that
an area of about 1,500 square
feet-a garden of so by 80
can produce enough for fresh use,
canning and storing to provide
for one person for year.
Obviously, few spare-time gar
deners have this kind of space,
and will use their vegetable gar
den as a supplement to store
purchased vegetables. Each fa-
mily must figure out whether
they want to use their vegetable
garden for the JOY of eating home
produced specialties, like Straw
berries or melons, or pat it to
strictly utilitarian crop.
Make a Plan
The second step is to make a
plan, with garden footage tran
slated translated on paper into
fractions in inches, and with no
tations about the number Of feet
required between the various
plant and between the various
rows.
Each vegetable garden is going
to be an Individual affairs, but
there arc some general rules
which apply to all vegetable gar
den if they are going to be salts
factory.
In the first place, pick spot
which, of your own knowledge
receives a minimum of six hours
of full sunshine daily. More than
that is even better. Secondly, be
as fussy as a spinster about max
ing a garden of straight edges
and meticulously straight rows.
This will make for later ease
of cultivation, and it will also
make for a prettier garden.
Select your seeds with care
being guided by your seedman's
recommendations lin lieu of your
own experience about satisfac-
tory types. Spend considerable
effort on the soil, for the best
vegetable are grown from porous
itch loan.
Put your garden within hosine
distance of a water source-somC
day a drought is bound to come
Try to save space wherever pos
sible by stringing vines on fences
trellises and other supports. BY
all means tie up the tomato
vines as a space saver. Utilize
the sunshine by putting the tall
growing plants at the back of the
garden tomatoes, corn and such
and the low-growing plants like
lettuce, parsely and the like way
up front.
Study up on crop rotation ever
in a small garden-peas, followed
by a root crop to keep balance
of nutrients in the soil. Plan
carefully to fill the spots emptieC
by early-naturing crops like tht
first planting of lettuce or spin
ach with a longer-to-harvest crol
for use in the fall.
Study Each Plant
Consult the hooks on habit
and appreciations of each plant
you'll reap larger harvests. Civ
! The birds ard the bees an assis
: in their pollinating job by plant
; ing the corn, for example, in
single area.
If it's fun to experiment, don
| be afraid TO try space-consuming
don't be afraid to try space-con
, Stunning. financially impractica
projects. Chances are that whel
: your crop is ready to harvest
| the market will be well stockef
; with that vegetable anyway, AM
: prices viii be low. Carrots. fo
7 instance, will cost SO little a
, your local store during the sum
: mer, it will hardly pay to grow
I them.
} More satisfactory for tn
/. hobby-g gardener would be to us