February: First Week 



MAKE A PLAN NOW AND FOLLOW IT THIS 

 SUMMER 



No single factor in garden management makes for greater 

 saving of time and work than a carefully-thought-out, 

 definite-to-the-foot garden plan. Such a one should be 

 prepared long before outdoor operations begin. Perhaps it 

 will take several hours' thoughtful and careful work to 

 make it, especially if you have never made one before, but 

 every hour spent now will save several hours in the garden 

 later on. The plan should show your actual garden, drawn 

 to scale, as you mean to make it; it should show just how 

 much space you intend to use for each crop, where you in- 

 tend to sow second crops, and, if you want to do really 

 intensive gardening, where you will grow companion crops. 

 It will help you not only with this year's gardening but 

 with next year's as well; without it you will be only guessing 

 at your crop rotations. 



First get the exact dimensions of the plot or plots of 

 ground that you expect to devote to gardening; then draw 

 an outline to scale. One-eighth of an inch to a foot for a 

 medium-sized garden, or one-quarter of an inch to a foot for 

 a small garden, will be found a convenient scale. When it is 

 possible to choose the garden site a rectangular plot that 

 can be plowed and harrowed the long way and planted the 

 short way will be found best. If the garden is large and 

 square it will generally be a good plan to divide it by a 

 permanent path; rows fifty feet long are ample for the 

 average garden. The aim should always be to keep the 

 rows short enough, in proportion to the size of the garden, 

 so the row will be a planting unit. Always figure your 

 plantings in rows not in seed quantities, 



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