Money in Backyard Gardening— By Adolph Kmhm, o hio 



W/E hear much about " the high cost of 

 ** living " these days. True, it costs 

 to live. But there are a number of chances 

 to save ; we managed to save nearly thirty 

 dollars on vegetables last summer from a 

 garden 40 x 50 ft. 



In May, 19 10, we moved into a house 

 surrounded with ample room to have such 

 a garden. One evening I mapped it all out 

 and during the spring did the digging be- 

 fore breakfast and the hoeing after supper. 



I now know the soil needs lime, what veg- 

 etables do best in heavy clay soil, and a 

 number of other things I could not have 

 learned except from actual trials. I also 

 expect to save about ten dollars more this 

 season from very early vegetables, by start- 

 ing in March and April. There are just a 

 few things which stand out boldly in my 

 memory as being especially noteworthy. 



One of them was Swiss chard Lucullus, 

 a row of which was planted between the 

 tomatoes and beans and radish beds. I 

 never thought it possible to get so much 

 from a 15-foot row. Planted and treated 

 exactly like beets, the plants stood five 

 inches apart in the row. From thirty- 

 five plants we had fine greens nearly every 

 week from July till October. 



Another one of my "leaders" was the 

 green-podded bush bean, Bountiful. Flat, 

 fleshy pods, stringless at all stages of 

 growth, and of delicate flavor, even when 

 old. Bountiful only "fell down" in the 

 late fall when Stringless Refugee came to 

 perfection. But for early spring and sum- 

 mer work in stiff clay soil and dry seasons 

 give me Bountiful. 



Earliest Catawba corn has been called 

 "the only rival of the famous Golden Ban- 

 tam," but I cannot quite agree. Earliest 

 Catawba showed tassel earlier than Golden 

 Bantam and we pulled very young ears 

 about three days sooner, but Golden Ban- 



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SRowsEai-liest Catawba 



Sweet Co>fl 





3 Pows 



Swe« 



3oiden Bantam 

 tCom 

 10 ft Bed 



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Beauty 



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Globe „ „ 

 OOOOOOO 



Hummer 

 OO OOO OO 



Sto-ne 

 OOOOOOO 



Coreloss 



OOOOOOO 



Dwarf St o-ne „ „ 



OOOOOOO 



Owe*. - "/ Chamoioia „ 

 00 



X 



11 



StT,r,gless 

 * White Wax 

 ^Bountiful 

 Hardy Wax 

 Longfellow 



X Rows Endive 



Radish 



Ciricm+iati 



MarKef^'cicle 



Beans 



Bountiful 



WaJentme 



*"x S u cc e s S 1 on 



Beets 



EovHy 



Radishes 



Green 

 On 1 on s 



3 Rows 

 Sweat Ffctatoes 



CD j? 

 « 



-> s 



<: f» 



_ J 







Early Lettuce Winter Fad., s h 



foilowod by Booms Pa.rmr 



Icebero _ 



= Beets 

 Lettuce 



3> g 



■ 7 

 r 



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5 5 



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fcer 5 V DiTnorphotheca 

 aura-n 1 1 a ca 



tam has a flavor all its own! Earliest 

 Catawba has handsome ears and the qual- 

 ity is tip-top, but I think Golden Ban- 

 tam is best for backyards. 



I grew a few plants of the Giant Podded 

 pole Lima. They were whoppers. I can 

 still see Baby stand in the garden beside 

 me and say: "Daddy, that are beans." I 

 took her picture with the beans (page 158). 

 I guess you'll agree with the baby. Sixty- 

 five pods on one plant, forty on another and 

 all were large, many seven inches long with 

 six beans to the pod. Shelled beans were 

 large, green, thin skinned, of finest flavor. 



A final word about some of the tomatoes. 

 I think Coreless took the prize for large, 

 handsome, perfectly round fruits of un- 

 surpassed "slicing" qualities, while Im- 

 proved Dwarf Champion yielded the largest 

 number of fruits per plant. This may seem 

 strange. But staking and pruning put 

 the dwarfs on the level with the tall sorts, 

 and clay soil must have agreed particularly 

 with Dwarf Champion. It made immense 

 bushes, some four feet tall and was less 

 affected by blight (on account of its 

 heavy foliage) than any other sort ex- 

 cept Dwarf Stone. 



Plan of the 40 x 50 ft. garden 





cost 



DATE 



SPACE 









SORTS OF VEGETABLES 



OF SEED 



PLANTED 



DEVOTED 



YIELD 



VALUE 



NOTES 



Beans, Stringless Green Pod 



$ .10 



5-17 



IO ft. 



3 qts. 



$ .is 



Blighted badly 



" Valentine Red 



. 10 



5-17 



IO ft. 



2 qts. 



.10 



Gets stringy 



" Longfellow 



. 10 



5-17 



20 ft. 



4 qts. 



.20 



Gets stringy 



" Bountiful 



•25 



5-18, 6-1, is 



7-i, IS 



7-i 



60 ft. 



1 bu. 



2.50 



Best on trial 



" Stringless Refugee 



. 10 



20ft. 



3 qts. 



•30 



Good late sort. Prolific 



" Hardy Wax 



• 25 



5-18,6-15, 

 7-12, 8-1 



40 ft. 



18 qts. 



1-25 



Does well in spring 

 and fall 



Limas, Fordhook (bush) 



. 10 



5-i9 



2oft. 



2 qts. sh'd. 



•30 



Had to replant twice; 

 cold, wet spring 



" Burpee Improved 



. 10 



5-21 



10 ft. 



1 qt. sh'd. 



•iS 



Replanted one-half 

 on June 10th 



" Giant Podded (pole) 





5-20 



6 hills 



2 qts. sh'd. 



•30 



Secured only 2 plants 



Beets, Detroit Dark Red 



. 10 



6-2 



20 ft. 



6 doz. 



.60 



Extra fine and sweet 



" Crimson Globe 



•05 



6-20 



10 ft. 



2 doz. 



•25 



Good, early and round 



Swiss Chard, Lucullus 



. IC 



6-2 



15 ft. 



10 meals 



1 .00 



Finest ever, crisp and 



Carrot, Danvers 



•05 



6-10 



30 ft. 



10 doz. 



1 .00 



tender 



Corn, Golden Bantam 



. 10 



6-5 



35 ft. 



3 doz. 



•75 



Superb backyard gar- 

 den sort 



" Catawba 



• 15 



6-5 



50 ft. 



4.14 doz. 



1 .00 



Very early 



Endive, White Curled 



■ 05 



S-21 



10 ft. 



12 plants 



•So 



We cooked both to- 



Mustard, Giant Curled 



• 05 



S-21 



10 ft. 



20 plants 



■25 



gether like spinach 



Lettuce, May King 



■ 05 



5-17 



10 ft. 



8 heads 



.40 



Best early head let- 



" Wayahead 



. TO 



S-i7 



10 ft. 



7 heads 



* -35 



tuces 



Iceberg 



• 05 



.6-5 



20 ft. 



16 heads 



.80 



We prefer it to all 

 others 



Onion Sets, white 



. 10 



5-10 



20 ft. 



S doz. 



■50 



Gave us the green 

 "scullions" 



Peas, Prolific Market 



. 10 



6-1 



50 ft. 



4 qts. 



• 40 



Very free-bearing 



" Gradus 



•15 



6-2 



20 ft. 



2 qts. 



•30 



Excellent pods, but shy 

 yielder 



Potatoes, white 



.20 



6-1 



80 ft. 



1 bu. 



•75 



Poor yield; were neg- 



sweet 





6-5 



10 hills 



1 peck 



• 25 



lected; bugs ate vines 



Radish, Rosy Gem 



■05 



5-i7 



20 ft. 



10 doz. 



1 .00 





Cin. Market 



. 10 



5-19 



40 ft. 



15 doz. 



1 -So 



Good all round sort 



" Livingston's Pearl 



• 05 



5-17, 30 



20 ft. 



10 doz. 



1 .00 



Best of the White Icicle 

 type 



" Scarlet Pamir 



•OS 



6-5 



is ft. 



3 doz. 



•30 



Planted too early for a 

 summer sort 



" Cal. Mammoth 



•05 



7-17 



10 ft. 



10 roots 



. 20 



Much under size. Neg- 

 lected to thin 



" Black Spanish 



. 10 



7-17 



20 ft. 



H bu. 



■50 



Best winter keeper 



" Sakurajima 





6-15 



10 ft. 



6 roots 



•30 



Averaged 10 lbs. apiece 



Spinach, Victoria 



•OS 



5- 1 ?, 23 



20 ft. 



4 meals 



.40 



Good; does not stand 

 hot weather 



" New Zealand 



■OS 



7-3 



10 ft. 



3 plants 



. 10 



Finest summer spinach 



Tomatoes, Globe 









80 fruits 



1 -So 



All tall sorts were 



Hummer 









40 fruits 



•75 



more or less dam- 



Coreless 







6 plants 

 of each 



65 fruits 



i-5° 



aged by blight. 



Beauty 



> .80 



5-24 



50 fruits 



1 .00 



► Pruning and stak- 



Stone 







45 fruits 



1 .00 



ing was done. Plants 



Dw. Stone 









35 fru'ts 



•75 



stood 2}/2 feet apart 



Dw. Champion 



^ 







85 fruits 



1 So 



each way 



Peanuts, Mammoth 



. 10 



7-3 



10 hills 



1 qt. 





Not good for stiff clay 

 soil 





$3-90 



$27.65 



Seed left over, about ]A, 



1 .00 













Actual Cost 



$2.90 





170 



