96 Gardening 
of the season when they are ready for the table. By 
increasing the number of kinds of vegetables grown, 
greater variety is obtained. Fortunately the number 
of different vegetables that can readily be grown is 
large and affords a wide variety of vegetable foods. 
Avoiding overplanting. Probably the mistake most 
often made by the inexperienced gardener is the planting 
of too much of one variety at one time. If this is done 
the entire product is likely to be ready for table use at 
about the same time, and there may be more than can 
be used, especially if the product is perishable. This 
results in waste of food, waste of space in the garden, 
and waste of labor. 
To avoid overplanting, either (1) plant less of any one 
variety at a time, and make successive plantings of it on 
different dates; or (2) plant seed of several varieties 
which mature at different times. Seed of a’single early 
variety of corn, for example, may be planted at intervals 
of two weeks; or the seeds of early, medium, and late 
varieties may all be planted at about the same time in 
spring. 
The later plantings of a vegetable sometimes fail 
because the summer weather may be unfavorable for 
the proper growth of the young plants. In a hot, dry 
summer, late plantings of corn are likely to become 
dwarfed and yield poorly developed ears. As a rule, 
successive plantings are most successful on a rich soil 
that is well supplied with water. 
The planting of different varieties of the same vege- 
table is one of the best ways of obtaining successive 
crops. It is a good plan to grow a few plants of the 
