April, 1916. 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



Growing Vegetables for a Family of Seven 



»i 



HAT to do with a vacant lot 

 that had been used for two 

 seasons to keep chickens in 



as the problem that faced me in the 

 spring of 1915. The soil needed some 

 refreshing and how to provide it and 

 obtain a return for the trouble was 

 the question. 



Owing to the war and probable hig*h 

 prices for food stuflfs, campaigns were 

 !arried on last spring recommending 

 nore production and suggesting the 

 utilizing of all available land to grow 

 some useful crop. This, coupled with 

 a desire to practise greater economy, 

 prompted the idea of working this lot 

 of about fifty feet by one hundred and 

 twenty feet in vegetable crops suit- 

 able for a table where young but 

 hungry mouths let nothing go to 

 waste and are ready to tuck away a 

 good healthy quantity of all that's 

 good at every meal. 



Since part of this yard must keep the 

 few breeding hens, a small part was 

 yarded for them, leaving all of the 

 balance free to be used for garden pur- 

 poses. Owing to the nature of the land 

 it looked like a difficult matter to ac- 

 complish anything, and as the neigh- 

 bors said as soon as dry weather start- 

 ed the ground would bake hard and 

 everything would dry up. It was 

 natural to almost lean to their view, 

 but if the land was to be refreshed in 

 any ease, it was worth a trial. 



A. P. Marshall, Niagara Falls, Ont. 



Not having developed the idea until 

 well along toward spring the land did 

 not get any fall preparation. We ob- 

 tained a little stable manure, used 

 what hen manure was available, and 

 sprinkled the soil with a little air- 

 slacked lime and had a man plow and 

 harrow the land well. If we could 

 have had a disc harrow, better prepara- 

 tion could have been made of the land, 

 making less work afterwards, but the 

 harrow was too big to get through the 

 gateway. The manner in which the 

 household appreciated the big variety 

 of fresh, crisp vegetables was ample re- 

 payment for the effort, and as we were 

 able to have crops as early as the 

 market growers and earlier than our 

 fieighbors, in spite of poor first con- 

 ditions, great satisfaction was felt with 

 the effort. 



In the meantime, before planting, 

 time was spent in carefully selecting a 

 good variety of seeds to give a steady 

 supply, once the crops started to bear. 

 When these were finally selected there 

 was just $3.00 worth to order, besides 

 a peck of local potatoes, thirty-five 

 cents, and two dozen tomato plants, 

 twenty-five cents, making three dol- 

 lars and sixty cents in all. The team- 

 ing, manure, plowing, and harrowing 

 cost two dollars and seventy-five cents, 

 so that the total cost was six dollars 

 and thirty-five cents. When we con- 

 sider the healthful occupation it gave. 



the satisfaction of being able to pick 

 our own supply as we wanted it, and 

 the saving effected, the experiment was 

 a huge success. 



In dividing up the land, thre« long 

 paths were made the full length of the 

 garden. Each bed was about six feet 

 square, except where small, round, 

 tapering beds were formed to let vines 

 run. With a late start and no time to 

 lose, plantings were begun as fast as 

 the beds were got ready, and plantings 

 made each week-end until all the seeds 

 were used. With each kind of seed, 

 however, only a small portion was used 

 at each planting so that new lots were 

 coming up to give continuous supply 

 throughout the season. In some cases, 

 where frost got the first plantings, 

 later sowings came rig*ht along and fol- 

 lowed so close as to get in as early as 

 it was possible and avoid the frost. 



Our varieties consisted of three 

 varieties of peas, four of beans, two 

 beets, one turnip, two carrots, two let- 

 tuce, two radishes, three corn, two 

 parsnips, one parsley, one cabbage, 

 two tomatoes, one summer squash, 

 two squash, two pumpkins, one 

 muskmelon, one watermelon, two 

 cucumbers and potatoes, with sun- 

 flower and mangels for the chickens. 

 Our potatoes were used as soon as pro- 

 duced, without waiting for quantity, 

 and supplied seven of us from early 

 July until the end of August, when 



victoria Park. Peterboro. Ont., the flower beds In which are planted and the grounds cared for by the local horticultural society. 



