Making Plans for a Vegetable Garden- By a. e. Wilkinson, 



CALL THE FAMILY IN CONSULTATION NOW SO AS TO PROVIDE ' FOR THE NEEDS 

 OF ALL — GET YOUR PLANS ON PAPER BEFORE ORDERING THE SEED SUPPLY 



New 

 York 



SOME gardens are not planned at all, 

 others are only half thought out, 

 and both of these groups show lack 

 of system. 

 The first things necessary are to find 

 out, (a) just what vegetables are desired 

 in the family, (b) just when these vege- 

 tables are wanted, and (c) in what amounts. 

 This means that the entire family should 

 enter into the work now. 



Ascertain the actual size of the garden, 

 taking measurements with a tape, yard- 

 stick, or ruler, and immediately putting 

 them on paper; drawing lines on paper to 

 serve as the boundaries of the plot. A 

 scale of one inch on paper, equalling a foot 

 in the garden, is quite a large one to use. 

 Find the points of the compass and mark 

 them on the plan. At the same time, find 

 out something about the garden's sur- 

 roundings, specifically: 



i. Are trees near? They shade and take 

 water and food from the garden. 



2. Are board fences too close? They may 

 injure by shading. 



3. Is water backing up on the land? If so, 

 it may be necessary to put in drains. 



4. Is the soil sandy, sandy loam, clay 

 loam, or stiff clay? 



5. Is there much organic matter, such as 

 roots, twigs, leaves, or straw in the soil? 



6. Has the soil been plowed and manured 

 in the last year or two? Most soils which 

 have been neglected will be greatly bene- 

 fited by heavy applications of manure. 

 A good two horse load of manure for a 

 garden 25 x 25 ft. is none too much. Plan 

 to get enough manure. Some soils that 

 have plenty of organic material would be 

 greatly benefited by the addition of lime — 

 about two bushels or one hundred pounds to 

 a garden 25 x 25 ft. Previous to liming, 

 the manure may be spaded in, followed by 

 spreading the lime upon the soil and raking. 



WHAT VARIETIES 



You are now ready to discuss varieties. 

 Your aim should be to grow only the highest 

 quality. In fact, the home grower will not 

 be satisfied with anything but the best. 

 There are a great many varieties listed by 

 the seedsmen and many are the same thing 

 under different names. Only a few 

 of each kind will be named here — 

 those I have actually tried. The 

 omission of any name is not to be 

 taken as having any reflection on 

 that name or variety. Some may 

 be even better than those I name. 

 The amateur from year to year 

 should test out varieties of vege- 

 tables and establish a list of his 

 own that will please his taste and 

 do well under his conditions. 



The Perennial Vegetables are 

 those that grow in the same spot 

 more than two years and include: 



Artichoke. Green Globe. A bush-like, thistle 

 growth cultivated for its flower bud. 



Asparagus. Argenteuil, Palmetto, or Colossal. 



Rhubarb. Linnaeus, Victoria. 



Two perennials that are grown as annuals are: 



Artichoke, Jerusalem. Cultivated for its roots. 



Horseradish. Use sets of Bohemian. 



All the following vegetables are grown as annuals, that is, 

 edible parts are raised from seed in one year. 



Beans: Green snap, dwarf. Bountiful, Extra Early String- 

 less, Red Valentine. 



— Green snap, pole. Old Homestead, White Creaseback. 



— Wax or yellow, dwarf. Black Wax, Golden Wax, Refugee 

 Wax, Wardwell's Kidney Wax. 



— Wax or yellow, pole. Golden Champion, Early Golden 

 Cluster. 



— Shell, dwarf. Goddard, Dwarf Horticultural. 



— Shell, pole. Horticultural, Scarlet Runner. 



— Bush Lima. White Marrowfat, Fordhook, Henderson's, 

 Kumerle's, Wood's Prolific, Burpee's. 



— Pole, Lima. Challenger, King of the Garden, Ideal, 

 Leviathan. 



Beets, early. Crosby Egyptian, Eclipse, Electric, Lentz. 



— late. Detroit Dark Red for deep, blood-red color, Ed- 

 mands Blood, standard. 



Brussels Sprouts. Danish or Long Island. 



These tools every gardener must have to do good work. 

 Buy really good tools, too: they work better and last longer 



Cabbage, early. Charleston Wakefield, Early Jersey Wake- 

 field, Early Winningstadt. 



— midseason. All Seasons, Copenhagen Market, Fottler's 

 Improved Brunswick, Succession. 



—late. Danish BaU Head, Flat Dutch, Volga. 



— red. Dutch, Erfurt, Rock. 



— Savoy. American Drumhead, Netted. 



Carrots, half long. Chantenay, One half Long Danvers, 

 Early Short Top, French Forcing, Scarlet Horn. 



— long. Danvers, Improved Orange, St. Valery. 



Cauliflower. Burpee's Best Early, Extra Early Paris, Large 

 Late Algiers, Snowball. 



Celeriac. Apple-shaped, Erfurt Giant, Prague. 



The gardener's bank. 



See that you get all the manure possible and stack it 

 ready for use when needed 



190 



Celery, early. Golden Rose, Golden Self-blanching. 



— late. Boston Market, Giant Pascal, Golden Self-blanching, 

 Kalamazoo, White Plume, Winter Queen. 



Corn, extra early. Aristocrat, Cory, Metropolitan. 



— early. Concord, Crosby, Golden Bantam. 



— midseason. Black Mexican, Country Gentleman, Quincy 

 Market. 



— late. Squantum, Stowell's Evergreen, and later plantings 

 of midseason varieties. 



Cucumbers. Arlington White Spine, Davis, Fordhook. 



Eggplant. Black Beauty, New York Improved. 



Endive. Batavian, White Curled. 



Kohl-rabi. Purple Vienna, White Vienna. 



Leek. American Flag, Carentan. 



Lettuce, forcing. Belmont Forcing, Glasshouse, Tennis 

 Ball, Tom Thumb. 



— outside growing. (Light yellow) Salamander; (Yellowish 

 green). All Reasons, Big Boston, Cos White Paris, Deacon; 

 ( Red or brown), Crisp as Ice, Brown Dutch, Mignonette. 



Muskmelons, green fleshed. Early Hackensack, Jenny 

 Lind, Netted Gem, Newport. 



— salmon fleshed. Emerald Gem, Osage, Paul Rose. 



Onion Sets. Potato; (Red), Red Wethersfield; (White), 

 from White Portugal; (Yellow), New York, Danvers. 



Onion Seed. (Red), Red Wethersfield, Red Southport; 

 (White), Adriatic, Barletta, Bermuda; (Yellow), Globe Danvers, 

 Southport. 



Parsnips. Early Round. Hollow Crown. 



Peas. Early dwarf and semi-dwarf. Alaska, Early Bird, 

 Eureka, Gem, Surprise. 



— midseason. Abundance, American Wonder, Early Morn, 

 Excelsior,. Little Marvel, Prosperity or Gradus, Thomas Laxton. 



— late. Dwarf. Alderman, Dwarf Champion, Dwarf Tele- 

 phone, Dwarf White Sugar. Tall Growing, Champion of 

 England. 



Peppers. Chinese Giant, Red Cayenne, Ruby King. 



Potatoes, early. Pink or red skin. Beauty of Hebron, Early 

 Northern, Early Ohio, Early Rose, Queen. 



— mid. Bliss Triumph, Eureka, Irish Cobbler. 



— late. White skin. Carmen 3, Gold Coin, Green Mountain, 

 Rural New Yorker, Sir Walter Raleigh, White Flyer. 



Pumpkin. Sugar, Quaker. 



Radishes, early. French Breakfast, Rapid Forcing, Red 1 

 and White Rocket. 



— summer. Chartier, Giant White Stuttgart, Icicle, Lady 

 Finger. 



— winter. Celestial, Long Black Spanish, Long White 

 Spanish, Scarlet China. 



Salsify. Long White, Sandwich Island. 



Spinach. Giant Thick Leaf, Long Season, Savoy, Victoria, 

 (prickly, grown differently from above.) New Zealand. 



Squash, early. Bush Crookneck, Vegetable Marrow Bush, 

 White Bush. 



— late. Delicious, Faxon, Hubbard, Marrow. 



Swiss Chard. Giant Lucullus. 



Tomatoes, early. (Red), Bonnie Best, Earliana, Sterling. 

 Castle; (Scarlet), Chalk's Jewel; (Pink), Acme, Beauty, 

 Globe, June Pink. 



— late, (Red), Earliana, Paragon; (Pink to red), Dwarf 

 Champion, Stone; (Yellow) Golden Dwarf Champion, Golden: 

 Queen, Golden Sunrise. 



— preserving. Cherry, Currant, Peach, Pear, Plum, Straw- 

 berry. 



Turnips, early. (Flat), Purple Top Milan, Strap Leaf, 

 White Milan; (Round), Snowball. 



— late. (Yellow flesh), Aberdeen, American Rutabaga, 

 Yellow Globe; (White flesh), Snowball, White Egg, .White 

 Rock. 



ARRANGING THE VEGETABLES IN THE PLAN 



Now for the arrangement of the garden 

 space. This is really the difficult part and 

 will probably require a reduction of the 

 number of vegetables that it is desired to> 

 grow. Especially if land is limited or com- 

 panion and succession cropping not followed. 

 The rows in the garden may run east 

 and west, or north and south; it makes little 

 or no difference to the plants which way the 

 rows go. East and west row plant- 

 ing has the advantage of permitting 

 the taller vegetables, such as corn 

 and pole beans, being planted to- 

 ward the north, thereby doing 

 away with any semblance of shad- 

 ing, and at the same time, they 

 may serve as a windbreak. In 

 order properly to space the rows 

 and plants, it is necessary to have 

 some idea of the habit of growth 

 of each variety. 



The accompanying plans will 

 help. Both Plan I and Plan II 

 are for the use of the" home garden 

 lover who has but little space to de- 

 vote to the growing of vegetables.. 



