WAR GARDENING 



Fig. 1 — A community garden which produced excellent results. The ground was provided by a manufacturing 

 concern for its employes and the plowing and harrowing were done by the company. Expert supervisors directed 

 the work. This supervision is an important help to successful gardening. 



CORPORATION GARDENS 



Manufacturing concerns, and other enter- 

 prises which employ labor on a large scale, 

 may make valuable contribution to the 

 national food supply by encouraging their 

 employees to cultivate war gardens. Many 

 concerns furnish large tracts of land, which 

 are divided into individual garden plots. 

 These plots are allotted to such employes as 

 are willing to cultivate them. Each plot and 

 everything it produces are recognized as the 

 individual property of its cultivator. The 

 company bears the expense of plowing and 

 fertilizing these plots and employs an expert 

 to have charge. 



HOW TO HAVE A GOOD GARDEN 

 Garden Plan 



Have a plan for your garden — drawn to 

 scale on paper — before you start, to give 

 proper order in planting and enable you to 

 buy the right amount of seeds in advance 

 while the selection is good. 



Put in one general group small plants like 

 beets, onions, lettuce, carrots, radishes and 

 parsnips. In another general group put 

 larger plants like corn, tomatoes and pota- 

 toes. Spreading ground vines, like melons 

 and cucumbers, which need wider spacing, 

 should be put in another general group. The 

 reason for this grouping is that the various 

 plants in a group need similar general treat- 

 ment as well as spacing. 



In making a plan provide space in which 

 to enter costs and yield of the various crops. 

 This will give you a complete record which 

 will be useful another year. Another help- 

 ful use of the plan is that it will guide you in 

 the rotation of next year's crops. For this 

 purpose save your plan for next season. 



In planning your garden formulate some 

 definite plan as to what you will do with 

 surplus vegetables. Detailed instructions for 

 home storage of vegetables for winter use are 

 given in Part II of this booklet. Detailed 

 instructions for canning, drying, pickling and 



other forms of conservation are given in the 

 Home Manual on these subjects issued by 

 this Commission. 



Sunshine 



In the location of a garden it is not always 

 possible to choose conditions as to sunlight. 

 It is important, therefore, that in the ar- 

 rangement of the various varieties of vege- 

 tables which are to be planted, due care 

 should be given to providing the greatest 

 exposure to the sun for those crops which 

 need it most. Those plants which must ripen 

 their fruits, such as tomatoes and eggplant, 

 require the greatest amount of sunshine, 

 while lettuce, spinach, kale and other leaf 

 crops require relatively less. Foliage crops 

 must have at least 3 hours of sunlight a day 

 and plants which ripen fruits at least 5 hours 

 a day. This is important. 



Vary from Last Year's Plan 



It is important to remember that plant 

 diseases and insects are apt to thrive in a 

 spot in which they have become established. 

 For this reason those who make gardens 

 this year should take care not to place the 

 individual crops in the spot in which the 

 same crops grew last year. Varying the ar- 

 rangement of the garden in this way will reduce 

 the danger from disease and insects. The 

 same vegetables in the same place each year 

 exhaust certain food elements, and reduced 

 yields are sure to result. 



SURPLUS PRODUCTS 



At times, even with the best of planning, 

 a gardener will find that his garden has 

 matured more of some varieties of vegetables 

 than can be used immediately. None of this 

 excess should be wasted and there is no 

 occasion for waste. If there is no ready 

 market for the surplus it should be prepared 

 for winter by either canning or drying. By 

 modern methods either canning or drjdng 

 may be done with little expense of time, 

 trouble or financial outlay. By using the 



