Planning the Garden 95 



from the paths, for all parts of the bed are within easy 

 reach. Walking in the beds among the plants is thus 

 avoided ; therefore the soil is not compacted by tram- 

 pling and it remains much more uniformly loose. When 

 the seeds are planted, one should use a board to walk on. 



At planting time the beds should be level with the 

 paths or only slightly rounded above. Walking in the 

 paths soon makes them lower than the beds, and then 

 water will run through them. If the garden is poorly 

 drained, the paths may be arranged to lead to a shallow 

 ditch, dug along one side of the garden so as to lead to 

 lower levels. Excess water is thus carried away after 

 each rain. The garden shown in Figure 55 was laid out 

 in beds chiefly because it needed the drainage that the 

 paths gave. 



Special points to plan for. In planning a vegetable 

 garden, one should have especially the three following 

 aims in mind : 



(1) To grow different sorts of vegetables which give 

 pleasing variety and a continued and adequate supply 

 of vegetables for the table. 



(2) To avoid overplanting of any one crop at one time. 



(3) To keep the soil fully occupied and busy in pro- 

 ducing crops. 



What is meant by these three aims and how the 

 gardener may plan for them will now be discussed briefly. 



Planting for variety. The home gardener grows at 

 least several kinds of vegetables. Such standard vege- 

 tables as corn, beans, cabbage, and tomatoes are all 

 quite different in the food products that they yield, 

 in their appeal to the taste, in their uses, and in the time 



