A Vest-pocket System of Garden Records-By J. l. Kayan, 



Phila- 

 delphia 



THE SIMPLE SCHEME WHICH HAS GIVEN A PERFECT SUCCESSION OF VEGETABLES WITHOUT LOSING A DAY, 

 AND HAS INCREASED THE YIELD UNTIL A 60x68 FT. GARDEN PRODUCES ENOUGH FOR A FAMILY OF FIVE 





[All the record systems for garden use we 

 have ever seen were of no real good. They in- 

 volve too much work and don't get the residts. 

 What everybody wants is to raise enough veg- 

 etables for his own family on a space of a few 

 square feet without hiring outside labor or 

 turning play into work. The author of this 

 article attains these residts because of a little 

 vest-pocket note-book that omits the red tape 

 and "gets there" by a short cut. — Editor.] 



THE reasons why ordinary systems fail 

 are two. (i) You can't get a big yield 

 without fertilizing and there is no way to 

 learn how to fertilize except by experimenting. 

 (2) You can't economize space unless your 

 crops follow one another without the loss of 

 a day and there is no way to get the necessary 

 dates except by experimenting. 



My garden contains about one-tenth of an 

 acre and it grows all the vegetables (excepting 

 late potatoes) needed for a family of five adult 

 persons. Last year was the fourth of its 

 existence, and each year has shown an in- 

 creased yield which was made possible only 

 by keeping a record of each year's work and 

 making use of this in planning the succeeding 

 year's garden. 



The garden's daily progress is recorded in 

 a small book (2^ x 4^ inches) that can be 

 carried in the vest pocket, and is always 

 handy. The pages are arranged in the form 

 of a table, usually with only one kind of a 

 vegetable on a page, yet so arranged that the 

 same book can be used three years. The 

 entries are made in pencil and at the end 

 of the year they are copied in ink into a much 

 larger book — one that will last for a number 

 of years, so that the records for a series of 

 years may be seen at a glance. Both books 

 are indexed. 



The sample pages are reproduced in part 

 herewith: The first is the record of an early 

 tomato. The page number appears in the 

 upper left hand corner. In the first column 

 the variety of the vegetable is placed. Ab- 

 breviations are used to mark the columns 

 as follows: 



Sow — Meaning the date seed was sown. 



Sp. — The date seed sprouted. 



3. Pot — The date plants were taken from 

 flat and put into 3-inch pots. 



4. Pot — Date of shifting into 4-inch pots. 

 Pit. — The date of planting outdoors. 

 Bios. — The date of first blossoms. 



T. — The time elapsed from seed sowing 

 to blossom. 



Ripen. — The date of ripening. 



T. Bios. — The time from blossom to 

 ripening. 



T. Seed — The time from seed to ripening. 



Done — The date of last picking. 



No. Pits. — The number of plants of the 

 variety. 



A space on the extreme right is left for 

 remarks. 



Immediately below the line on which these 

 records are kept is one for the yield. The 

 mark, four upright strokes crossed by 

 another, represents five tomatoes picked; the 

 fraction 7-25 is the date placed in the row, 

 July 25th, and is inserted to show how the 

 crop came on. After September 10th 

 tomatoes were measured. In the record of 

 the peas the last column is marked L 

 and gives the length of the row in feet. In 

 recording vegetables by measure the X is 

 used to represent one peck, each leg being 

 one-quarter of a peck. Each vegetable has 

 a table arranged on this general basis to 

 suit its needs. 



bushes planted last year and set eighteen 

 inches from the fence; also a shallow gutter 

 fifteen inches wide used as a path, which 

 also gives room in which to turn, but may be 

 shortened if necessary. 



At the rear there is a row of rhubarb 

 plants set eighteen inches from the fence. 

 Two and a half feet in front of this is a row 

 of asparagus (planted last year), the roots set 

 eighteen inches apart; this year another row 

 of asparagus will be planted two and a half 

 feet from the present one. The remaining 

 sixty-two feet is divided into two unequal 

 portions. All vegetables of the same family 

 are grown in the same portion, the position 



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Two sample pages from Ihe record booK by which closer cropping was made possible 



By keeping a record I am able to estimate, 

 almost to a day, when anything planted will 

 be ready for use, and also — and this is very 

 important — when it can be cleared away to 

 make room for a succession crop. Although 

 some things planted may be almost failures, 

 yet the total value of the yield from a small 

 garden may still be large by careful planning, 

 planting another crop as soon as one is cleared 

 away. In other words do not let the ground 

 remain idle. By this means, too, the garden 

 is always presentably neat and in order, 

 never an eyesore with old plants, vines, etc., 

 disfiguring it. 



An almost perfect succession is the total 

 result of my three years' records. The plan on 

 page 22 shows that the larger part of the 

 garden yielded two crops. A 4-foot space 

 along each fence line contains a row of berry 

 21 



of these portions being changed each year, 

 so as to get a rotation. 



In deciding on the distances between both 

 rows and plants the effort has been to give 

 the plants room to properly develop, yet to 

 have them so that when grown the foliage 

 will completely shade the ground, and thus 

 lessen the labor necessary for their care. 

 Paths one foot wide are left between the beds 

 of small vegetables, so that the beds can be 

 seen to and crops gathered without un- 

 necessary trampling of the ground. 



Several changes from the plan are con- 

 templated for this year as a result of the 

 winter's study of the records. Cabbage is to 

 be omitted, making room for another row 

 of asparagus; celery can therefore follow 

 early potatoes. When cabbage is again 

 grown it will be tried planted among the corn 



