CHAPTER V. 

 GARDEN IRRIGATION. 



It has already been intimated that the irrigated garden should 

 be the aim of all who desire to attain the fullest satisfaction in 

 vegetable growing. 



What Can Be Done Without Irrigation? But while it is true 

 that the California gardener must have irrigation to do his best 

 and to give him a solid year of rotations and successions in his 

 garden, due emphasis must be laid upon the fact that in suitable 

 locations the unirrigated garden in California is a greater treasure 

 than at the East. This fact is due to the character of our winter 

 climate, which, as has already been shown in a previous chapter, 

 is actually a growing season for all but the vegetables which will 

 endure no frost. By using to their fullest capacity our six rainy 

 months, by early cultivation and planting, which will be fully 

 explained later, midwinter and spring vegetables can be produced 

 in great variety; and by proper cultivation for the retention of 

 moisture, tender vegetables, planted toward the end of the rainy 

 season, will find moisture enough stored in the soil to carry them 

 to perfection in midsummer and autumn, although not a drop of 

 rain may fall, from the sowing of the seed to the gathering of 

 the crop. For this reason owners of fairly deep and retentive soil 

 in regions of ample rainfall can attain splendid results without 

 irrigation, if they will only be alert for prompt work and persist- 

 ent in summer cultivation. 



What can be done in California with the unirrigated garden 

 depends upon conditions existing in each locality. Character and 

 depth of soil, amount of rainfall, degree of heat and percentage 

 of relative humidity in the air, the lay of the land all these are 

 determining factors, in addition to the dates of frost occurrence 

 which fix the opening and closing of the season for tender plants 

 in the open ground. The significance of variations in these fac- 

 tors, and the regions where they usually occur in widest extremes, 



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