A Garden for Three— By W. F. Fairbrother 



New 

 Jersey 



HOW A SUBURBAN GARDEN 22X34 FEET WAS MADE TO SUPPLY ALL THE VEGETABLES NECESSARY FOR A 

 FAMILY OF THREE— EVERY BIT OF EARTH YIELDING AT THE RATE OF THREE CENTS A SQUARE FOOT— SHOWING 

 WHAT BEGINNERS MAY ACCOMPLISH BY FORETHOUGHT— AN IRRESISTIBLE ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF PLANNING 



IT WAS our first effort at a real garden, 

 but we knew the initial move was to 

 send for the catalogues, which we did last 

 January. The first number of The Garden 

 Magazine had just appeared and had stirred 

 us up to do things. After deciding upon 

 what we needed most, a planting plan was 

 made, embodying suggestions from the mag- 

 azine. 



Here is the plan, with dates of planting, 

 which were followed religiously, any devia- 



The cucumber beetle was Kept off by encircling 

 each hill with a strip of tin, 6x50 inches, stucK two 

 inches in the ground and supporting a cover of mos- 

 quito wire. Lifting the lid for examination 



tion therefrom being for a few days at most. 

 Twelve patches in all, exclusive of the 

 tomatoes, which were planted along the west 

 and north fences. 



The fence was of 3-foot poultry wire 

 fastened to 2 x 4 chestnut posts driven about 

 fifteen inches into the ground; that part of 

 the posts that was under the ground was 

 given a thick coating of liquid tar, 

 which will preserve them for a number of 

 years. 



The various patches are all ten feet long, 

 and the rows were planted eighteen inches 

 apart, except patch No. 5, beets (rows 

 twelve inches apart) ; patch No. 6, onions 

 (rows eight inches apart) ; patch No. 7, 

 radishes (rows eight inches apart). 



For these things the space given has proven 

 ample. For the other things eighteen inches 

 between the rows was quite sufficient, except 

 in the case of the dwarf limas, which require 

 at least twenty-four inches unless you want 

 to prop up each plant, which is a most 

 tedious job for small returns. I will not 

 grow them again, deciding rather to buy my 

 limas from the grocer next season, for, 

 besides the care required, they take up a great 

 deal of room from May to September and 

 the crop is comparatively small. 



Of the green string beans, wax beans, 

 beets, cucumbers and tomatoes we have had 

 all that a family of three could comfortably 

 use in an ordinary way. 



Photographs by the author 



The following is a conservative summary 

 of the outlay and revenue: 



Manure, I double load $2.50 



Fertilizer, 50 pounds 75 



Poultry wire, 50 yards 2.50 



Posts, 12 at 12J cts 1.50 



Tin strips, 4 25 



Seeds 1.55 



Tomato and pepper plants 40 



Total $9-45 



CREDIT 



Lima beans, 7 quarts at 12 cts. per quart $0.84 



Brussels sprouts, 12 quarts at 25 cts. per quart 3.00 



Onions (white), 15 quarts at 15 cts. per quart 2.25 



Peas, 3 quarts at 10 cts. per quart 30 



Beans. 38 quarts at 10 cts. per quart 3.80 



Cucumbers, 200, at 1 ct. each 2.00 



Peppers, 1 50 at 1 J cts. each 2.25 



Muskmelons, 19 at 8 cts. each 1.52 



Turnips, 96 at 1 5 cts. each 1.44 



Beets (425), 106 bunches at 3 cts. per bunch 3.18 



Radishes, 75 bunches at I j cts. per bunch 1. 13 



Lettuce, 81 heads at 5 cts. per head 4.05 



Tomatoes, 6 bushels at 50 cts. per bushel 3.00 



Parsley, estimated at 75 



Total $29.51 



The cost of the poultry wire and posts 

 used for the fence, amounting to four dollars, 

 is an expense which will not have to be 

 reckoned again for several years, and with this 

 credited a balance of $24.06 is shown in 

 favor of a home garden. 



Now, to take each patch separately, ex- 

 plaining in detail how it was handled:' 



PLANT BUSH LIMA BEANS LATE 



Four rows, eighteen inches apart (should 

 have been at least twenty-four), planted 

 respectively May 1st, May 15th, June 1st 

 and June 15th. Seeds were dropped about 

 four inches apart in the rows. Lima beans 

 require a rich soil, and should not be planted 

 until the soil is quite warm — not before the 

 end of May. My first two plantings rotted 

 in the ground because it was not thoroughly 

 warmed. These two rows Were re-sown on 

 June 5th and did well, as was the case with 

 the other June plantings. The entire crop 

 of limas was about seven quarts. 



SUCCESS WITH BRUSSELS SPROUTS 



Sowed four rows May 15th, sprinkling the 

 seeds thinly. When about two inches high 

 they were thinned so that the plants stood 

 about six inches apart, and on July 15th each 

 alternate plant was transplanted to patch 

 No. 10, from which the peas were all gone. 

 Thus we had two patches of Brussels sprouts, 

 each of four rows, with the plants standing 

 a foot apart. These thrived well, and on 

 October 20th (after a couple of heavy frosts) 

 we ate our first mess of them. The balance 

 was left in the ground until November 1st, 

 when they were withdrawn by the roots and 

 hung head down in the cellar. 

 2G8 



Cucumbers require a rich, sandy, well- 

 drained soil, and, as is the case with lima 

 beans, do not do well until the ground is warm. 

 The plantings of May 1st and May 15th pro- 

 duced much weaker and less productive vines 

 than the plantings a couple of weeks later. 



Holes fifteen inches in diameter were dug 

 to a depth of eight inches, and below that the 

 soil was well loosened with a spade. Then a 

 fork of well-rotted stable manure was put in 

 each opening, and on top of this four or 

 five inches of good light soil, making a mound 

 with a flat top about two inches higher than 

 the ground about; on this flat surface was 

 sown a dozen seeds. 



BEATING THE CUCUMBER BUGS 



Having heard how the beetle attacked the 

 cucumber plants in their youngest days, and 

 how later the cut-worm got in his deadly 

 work, I contrived a scheme which baffled 

 both of these nasty enemies of the cucumber. 

 I obtained a strip of heavy tin, six inches 

 wide and fifty inches long, for each hill, of 

 which I formed a little circular fence around 

 the plants by pushing the tin two inches into 

 the ground; over the top of this I laid a piece 

 of fine wire screen. After the plants were 

 an inch high I thinned them out, leaving 

 just six in each hill, and put away the screens 

 until next year, for the beetles do not trouble 

 the plants after they get the third leaf. The 



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This garden, 22x34 feet, made by a beginner, sup- 

 plied a family of three with all its vegetables 



