Garden Operations 



'T'HERE are certain points in garden 

 -*- work to be gone over each season. 

 Follow this summary and see if it helps. 

 Cut out each section and paste in your 

 garden diary. Leave spaces between and 

 fill in from your own experiences. 



Time to Garden — Do not begin too 

 soon, for nothing is gained. If soil, when 

 taken in the hand, sticks together this 

 means it is not yet time to garden. If 

 it falls apart then the soil is mellow enough 

 for work to begin. 



Tools — Have your tools all ready. Do 

 not use play tools. You will need a spad- 

 ing fork, rake, hoe, trowel and weeder. The 

 total cost is $2.90, as follows: 



Spading fork $1 75 



Rake (10 teeth) .50 



Dutch hoe .40 



Transplanting trowel .15 



Weeder .10 



In a school or community garden plan 

 for a trowel and weeder for each child, one 

 rake and one hoe for each group of six 

 children, and three or four spading forks for 

 the entire garden. 



Garden Accessories — Make a dibble to 

 use in transplanting and cultivating. Cut 

 off a twelve-inch piece from an old rake, 

 hoe or spade handle. Point the end. 

 Make plenty of small wooden labels. 

 Whittle them out of any soft wood. Six 

 inches is a good length. 



HP". 



The rake handle used as a measuring rod 



5 GMDENS 



STEPS IN THE MAKING OF A CHILD'S 

 GARDEN — COST OF TOOLS — COLOR 

 SCHEMES FOR BOYS AND GIRLS TO TRY 

 OUT — LISTS OF VINES AND SHRUBS 

 FOR THE PLAYGROUND BEAUTIFUL 



Conducted by 



ELLEN EDDY SHAW 



New York 



Some large garden stakes will be needed. 

 These may be twelve inches long and one 

 inch thick. Point one end; make a notch 

 near the other end for a cord to pass about. 

 The foot length gives a foot measure for 

 work. Two of these stakes with a cord be- 

 tween is the line for drill making. 



Mark off foot lengths on the rake handle. 

 One foot may be divided into inches. Use 

 black paint or wax crayon for this work of 

 marking. The rake handle now becomes 

 the measuring stick for the garden. 



Make a wooden garden reel. If this is 

 made from hard wood it will last through 

 numberless garden seasons. 



The Plan — Main paths should be four 

 feet wide. Make other paths either 

 eighteen inches or two feet in width. Have 

 a narrow path all around the garden. 



Garden plots ought to be just wide 

 enough to work over comfortably. 



Run the garden rows north and south, 

 although this is modified by the general 

 lay-out of the entire garden. Plan to 

 have the sunlight as evenly distributed as 

 possible throughout the day. 



Put tall plants in the background so as 

 not to shade the other plants. Use the 

 low-growing plants as border plants. 



Preparation — Settle on the place for 

 the garden. Stake it off. Clean up rub- 

 bish. Burn or cart away. Pick up stone, 

 putting it in piles to carry off. 



Spade the plot if it is small, plow it if it 

 is large. Work in old, rotted manure. 

 Rake over until the soil is quite fine. 

 String off the garden beds and paths. Then 

 sow from paths on to the beds; then roll 

 the paths. 



Planting Seed — Seeds are planted in 

 one of three ways, broadcast, hill or drill 

 planting. Very small seeds, like petunia, 

 poppy, grass seed and parsley, may be 

 sprinkled on the surface of the seed bed 

 and lightly covered with soil. This is 

 broadcasting. Large seeds, like corn, beans 

 and squash, are planted in hills. A hill 

 in this sense does not mean a heaped-up 

 mound, but means planting in isolated 

 spots as distinguished from a continuous 

 row. The surface might be quite level. 

 Several seeds, usually five, are planted in 

 each hill. Medium-sized seeds, like radish, 

 lettuce, beet and carrot, are sown in drills. 

 If much soil is taken out and cast to one 



241 



side in this operation the resulting trench 

 is called a furrow. 



Make drills with the hoe and the line as 

 a director or guide for straight courses. 

 When the seed is planted, cover with soil 



Firm the onion sets carefully in place, pointed 

 ends up 



and firm by means of the hoe blade or your 

 hand. Put a marker at the ends of the 

 drills. 



outdoor planting table 





For 



Furrow 



Seed 



Planting 



Time to 



Seed 



ZOO ft. 



Distance 



Distance 



Depth 



Maturity 





Row 



in feel 



in feet 



(inches) 



in days 



Beans (bush) 



ipt. 



3 



2 



2 



40-65 



Beets 



2 0Z. 



1 



'A 



I 



60-80 



Carrot 



I OZ. 



iV?. 



V?. 



Vi 



75-no 



Corn 



K pt. 



3 



3 



lA 



60 



Lettuce 



J^OZ. 



1 



A. 



M 



60-90 



Onion 



I OZ. 



1 



y?. 



I 



130-150 



" (set) 



iqt. 



1 



A 



1-2 



90-120 



Parsley 



l 4oz. 



1 



l A 



l A 



90-120 



Pepper 



y% oz. 



i l A 



i¥t. 



A 



IOO-140 



Pumpkin 



MJoz. 



8-12 



8-12 



1-2 



IOO-140 



Radish 



I OZ. 



1 



Vt. 



A 



20-40 



Tomato 



y% oz. 



3 



3 



'A 



IOO-140 



Turnips 



Moz. 



iV 2 



V2 



Vi 



60-80 



Cultivation — Keep constantly stirring 

 the soil, so that the top surface will always 

 be a loose dust, called a mulch. Mulching 

 is better than watering, as it keeps the 

 moisture in the soil. 



