PLANTING GUIDE FOR -THE PRACTICAL 



GARDENER 



Compiled by E. L. D. SEYMOUR 



A tabloid presentation of the basic facts that concern the several departments of the garden, from soil preparation to ornamental 



planting 



What is Your Soil Problem? 



The first step in all planting programmes is to put 

 the soil in the best possible condition. Here are the 

 needs of some common types of garden soil — especially 

 as they are found around newly built homes where 

 garden making is being started at the very bottom: 



1. Sandy soil. Add humus in the form of farm 

 manures, cover crops, muck from a swamp, or any 

 available form of commercial humus preparation. 

 Dress with lime. Keep a cover crop growing on it 

 over winter, plowing or spading up only in time for 

 spring planting. Reinforce with quick acting fertilizers 

 after the crops are actually under way. Potash is often 

 especially needed. Such a soil is early, easy to work, 

 well drained (sometimes too much so), and especially 

 suited to heat-loving crops such as beans, tomatoes 

 squash, melons, okra, peanuts, etc. 



2. Clay soil. Tile drain. Lighten by adding and 

 working in sand, sifted coal ashes and stable or green 

 manures and cover crops. Plow or spade up late in 

 the fall and, if the land is not sloping, leave in that 

 rough condition over winter so that the frost action 

 may help break it down. Lime generously immediately 

 after plowing. Never plow, cultivate or work in any 

 way when wet. Clay soils are usually rich, retentive 

 of moisture and plant food and consequently well suited 

 to the needs of pears, quinces, plums, grass, rhubarb, 

 cabbage, and other heavy feeders. 



3. Shallow soil. This may be the result of careless, 

 lazy handling — that is, shallow cultivation year after 

 year and the development of a sort of artificial subsoil 

 level. In such a case plow or dig a little deeper each 

 time, so as gradually to increase the top soil without 

 bringing up too much subsoil all at once. If due to 

 hardpan — an underlying layer of impervious clay or 

 cemented gravelly soil — consult a local blasting au- 

 thority as to the possibility of breaking up the hardpan 

 with dynamite. Where a rock ledge comes close to the 

 surface, the only thing to do is to bring in more good soil 

 and "deepen it upwards." 



4. Gravelly soil. Gradually remove large stones 

 as they come to the surface, using them to build walks 

 and fill in holes and ditches. Treat for any condition 

 already mentioned according as the soil itself tends 

 toward a sand or a clay. A gravelly soil is usually well 

 drained and not deficient in lime. Apples, small fruits, 

 shrubs and vegetables of which the roots are not har- 

 vested and which, like beets, carrots, parsnips, etc., do 

 .not insist on a deep, loose soil, do well on gravelly loam 

 if it is supplied with plant food in sufficient quantities 

 and is not too dry. 



5. . Muck soil. Being almost invariably sour, and 

 usually wet, this type for ordinary gardening purposes 

 calls first for drainage and liming. However for some 

 plants, including Rhododendrons, Azaleas, Ferns, Blue- 

 berry and spinach — its acidity is a desirable, even an 

 essential quality. It is generally lacking in potash and 

 sometimes in available nitrogen. Its strong point is, 

 of course, its abundant supply of humus or decomposed 

 organic matter which serves as a sponge to hold mois- 

 ture, as well as a reserve supply of nitrogen for future 

 use. When drained, muck soils are excellent for as- 

 paragus, lettuce, onions and other crops that are best 

 if forced to rapid, succulent growth by the use of fer- 

 tilizers. 



6. Loam. This is the ideal general purpose garden 

 soil, combining in its best form good depth, good drain- 

 age, good moisture holding capacity, easy working 

 qualities, freedom from a tendency to puddle and be- 

 come useless if worked when 

 a little too wet, a rapid 

 warming up early in the 

 spring, and moderate to high 

 fertility. For vegetable 

 growing it can well be a 

 little on the sandy side; for 

 fruits and ornamentals, es- 

 pecially perennials, it is bet- 

 ter if inclined toward the 

 silt or clay side. Of course 

 it must be maintained in 

 good tilth and fertility by 

 judicious feeding, liming 



SOIL 



HARDPAN 



SOIL 



kiJ 



A Simple hardpan forma- 

 tion that can be improved by 

 blasting. 



"Still planting— delightful toil! . . . Surely 

 one never fulfils his destiny of mirroring the image of 

 the Creator more truly than in the spring. For — re- 

 member — the Lord first made the Garden of Eden and 

 then created man, giving him as his prime obligation, 

 if we believe the Scripture, 'to dress it and to keep 

 it.' " — Agnes Edwards 



every few years, and the turning under once a year 

 or so of a cover crop or heavy application of ma- 

 nure. Tile drainage renders it even more reliable as 

 regards moisture supply. If legumes are to be grown — 

 clovers, beans, peas, etc. — it should be inoculated with 

 nitrogen -gathering bacteria, either by adding a little 

 soil from a field in which such a crop thrives, or by 

 treating the seed at planting time with a commercial 

 culture preparation. 



Fertilizer Facts for the Soil Builder 



A rule for fertilizing the garden: Most directions for 

 the feeding of crops are given in terms of pounds per 

 acre. To adapt these to the restricted limits of the 

 garden, allow one third of an ounce per square yard for 

 each one hundred pounds advised per acre. For instance: 



Relation of Lime to the Improvement of the Soil 



ALKALINE ACID 





EH 



■ ii.! ""- 



.IRABUI OCC*V OQCA>JiSM9 



The extension of the lines for the different plants on either 

 side of the neutral division indicates the probable range of 

 tolerance of that plant for bases and acids. 



If your experiment station says that potatoes in your 

 vicinity require 1,400 pounds of mixed fertilizer per 

 acre, and you are going to plant a piece 20 x 40 to that 

 crop, you will want to use 14 x 3 = 45 ounces per square 

 yard, or, for the whole plot, 20 x 40=800, or say, for 88 

 sq. yards about 255 pounds of fertilizer. 



In the case of manure, it is practically impossible to 

 use too much, and unnecessary to figure out to the 

 pound how much you will actually need. Moreover 

 it varies in weight according to the moisture and un- 

 rotted bedding that it contains. On the average soil a 

 dressing three or four inches thick would be none to 

 much, provided it is well rotted, and thoroughly mixed 

 with the soil. If it is desired to use a rule on the squate 

 yard basis, allow 5 pounds per square yard, for every 

 10 tons advised per acre. 



The value of manure results from its containing some 

 of the three essential plant foods, as well as its ability 

 to improve the texture of soil by adding humus, and to 

 prevent the growth of the potato scab organism. Re- 



70 



peated applications tend to cause acidity and should 

 be accompanied by applications of lime. 



Never mix lime and manure, or lime and any other 

 fertilizer containing nitrogen or the contact will result 

 in wasted nitrogen. The only safe practice is first to 

 dig or plow in the manure, then spread and harrow 

 in the lime. This caution applies also to the use of 

 any material relatively rich in lime, such as wood ashes, 

 bone meal, or ground shells. 



In the small garden the main reliance should be 

 placed on manure and lime. If their use can be sup- 

 plemented by a moderate application of a ready mixed 

 fertilizer just before planting time, and an occasional 

 dose of nitrate of soda for the growing leaf crops later 

 on, the problem of keeping the soil fertile will be prac- 

 tically solved. 



Planting Tools and Tips 



Before planting time comes around have on hand, 

 and in good, rustless condition, these tools: 



Spade These should not be of the cheap socket variety, 



SpadingFork but should have extensions of the shank up the front 

 and back of the handle and riveted to it. 



Spade Hoe For planting nothing is of more all-round use 



than the regular old fashioned type. The modern 

 heart-shaped hoe is good for opening and cover- 

 ing drills, and later in the season the flat scuffle 

 types are admirable cultivators. 



Steel Rake It is well to select one no wider than the space 



between the closest rows in your garden, or else to 

 have two or more of different widths. 



Planting Line Accuracy and uniformity in planting pay dividends 

 and Stakes, all summer. 



Trowel Some prefer the long, narrow "slim Jim," 



others the broader regular type, still others the 

 small, flat mason's trowel. Probably any of these 

 will serve until you find out just what you do most 

 and what you need for that sort of work. 



The above tools are essential. If, or when, possible, 

 add to the list a wheel-hoe for making and covering 

 drills and later for cultivating; a wheel-barrow; a hose 

 (or at least a watering pot); extra trowels and hoes of 

 different shapes as suggested above; and a planting 

 board (see page J$). If your vegetable rows are going 

 to be 100 feet or more in length a seeder attachment 

 for the w T heel-hoe will be a great time and back saver. 



Tip. 1. Never buy cheap tools. Select them carefully as to 

 weight, length of handle and adaptability to your strength, height 

 and mode of working, but in every case see that they are strong, 

 solid and of the best quality. 



Tip 2. In turning over light, sandy soil use a spade: in working 

 on heavy clay and in turning under a heavy dressing of manure, use 

 a spading fork. 



Tip 3. Never prepare a larger area than you can plant the same 

 day. If you have your garden plowed, leave it unharrowed and pre- 

 pare a seed bed for each crop with a rake when you are ready to 

 plant it. Otherwise rain on a smoothly raked surface will compact 

 it and require a second plowing or spading before it can be planted. 



Tip 4. In spading up a plot, first open a trench across one end, 

 piling the soil at one side. Then invert the next adjacent foot of 

 soil into this trench, burying all manure and litter carefully and thor- 

 oughly. Continue in this way across the plot until a trench is 

 opened at the far end, then fill this with the manure and soil taken out 

 at first. For a particularly good job, and one of which the results 

 will last a number of years, such trenching should be done two 

 "spits" or spade blades deep, the lower layers being similarly moved 

 successively to one side, inverted, and mixed with manure before 

 being covered with the upper spit from the next but one rank. 



Tip 5. Apply manure before plowing or spading and turn it 

 under deeply; apply lime and slow-acting fertilizers on the freshly 

 plowed or dug soil, working them in with harrow or rake (lime is 

 best applied the fall before planting time); apply quick-acting fer- 

 tilizers and soil for inoculating purposes on the harrowed or partly 

 raked seedbed, working it in with a final light raking. This of 

 course refers to those applications 

 made prior to planting when fur- 

 ther doses offertilizer are often put 

 in the drill, or furrow, or sprinkled 

 alongside the newly set plants. 



Tip 6. Turn under cover crops 

 before they become at all mature 

 or woody — when they are from 

 eight to ten inches tall is a good 

 rule. 



Tip 7. In filling trenches after 

 tile draining, put the subsoil back 

 in the trench first, keeping the 

 good topsoil at the surface where 

 the roots of the young plants can 

 reach it. But in planting a tree, 

 put most of the topsoil in the 

 bottom of the hole around the 

 roots, mixing the remainder with 

 the subsoil and a little manure if 

 possible as the hole is filled. 



f£\ 



