HOW TO MAKE AND CROP A KITCHEN 



GARDEN 



IT is proposed to explain, as concisely as possible, how a 

 kitchen garden should be formed, and also how it may be 

 cropped to the best advantage. To refer first to the forma- 

 tion, one can but describe the details of an ideal kitchen 

 garden, and each reader must, as far as his particular circum- 

 stances will allow, endeavour to approach the conditions set 

 out. The kitchen garden should be considerably longer one 

 way than it is the other, say in the proportion of two to three, 

 and the greatest length should be from east to west, not from 

 north to south. The greater portion of the garden will then 

 face the south, thus giving a more extensive surface of southern 

 borders, and these are a most important item in the kitchen 

 garden. Shelter from the north and east is essential. The 

 cold, cutting winds that prevail in the spring, even if they do 

 nothing worse, considerably check early vegetables. Although 

 shelter is so necessary, one must remember that shade is not, 

 and whilst better shelter than that afforded by fairly tall trees 

 could not be wished for, these must not be too close, or they 

 would shade some portion of the garden also. The greater 

 part of the kitchen garden should be as nearly as possible on 

 the level, although it is wise to have a south border upon a 



entle slope. It is here that the early vegetables will be grown, 

 hould the whole kitchen garden be sloping ground, it is 

 probable that, during the summer, the vegetables would suffer 

 from want of moisture at the roots the water would be apt 

 to drain to the base of the slope, and there disappear. 



Walls are of the greatest value in a kitchen garden. 

 They are expensive to build, but if properly and effectually 

 covered with fruit trees, the cost will eventually be more than 

 repaid. One must also take into account the great help that 

 vegetable crops derive from the shelter of walls. The kitchen 

 garden must, of course, be enclosed either by walls or hedges, 

 and if the former are erected they will, in the end, prove more 

 satisfactory. We will suppose that the kitchen garden is 



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