92 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



March, 1914 



Several years ago, I worked out this 

 type of successive cropping in an experi- 

 mental way with a piece of ground 15 x 20 

 ft. The vegetables which this patch 

 yielded, almost supplied a family of three 

 constantly and the work in that "toy 

 garden" required only a few hours a week. 

 Why go without fresh vegetables at that 

 price? 



A garden planted as suggested, a few 

 rows at a time, will naturally mature its 

 products in succession. If, in addition, 

 some judgment is exercised in the selection 

 of proper sorts of vegetables for different 

 seasons, there need never be a gap in the 

 constant supply of fresh vegetables from 

 early spring till fall. 



PLANTING FOR A SUCCESSION FROM ONE 

 PLANTING 



A great deal more space is required to 

 lay out a garden along these lines. Be- 

 sides, a thorough knowledge of the relative 

 time of maturity of the different vegetables 

 is essential. You must also make up your 

 mind to put up with some vegetables of 

 rather indifferent quality between seasons. 

 But — it can be accomplished and here 

 is how. 



When making out the seed order, select, 

 in every kind possible, sorts of extra early, 

 midseason and late maturity. With few 

 exceptions, this can be done in every 

 class and most catalogues prove dependable 

 guides in this task. With corn, for ex- 

 ample, select Golden Bantam for an extra 

 early, Kendel's Giant for a good second, and 

 Country Gentleman as your late sort. 

 Few classes of vegetables offer, by the way, 

 as good a choice of real choice sorts in 

 every class as sweet corn. 



If you plan for a garden with one plant- 

 ing it will be well to refer back to the spring 

 issues of The Garden Magazine for 191 2 

 and 1 91 3 where the reader will find articles 

 dealing with the important vegetables, 



with special reference to their "season" 

 or time of maturity. 



It only remains to repeat the planting 

 operations once or twice, about two weeks 

 apart, between April 15th and May 30th, 

 to have a succession of crops right up to 

 cold weather. This type of a garden is 

 especially suitable for the man whose busi- 

 ness takes him away from his garden for 

 a week or two at a time. 



INTENSIVE CULTIVATION 



Garden efficiency means making every 

 row yield as many crops as possible in the 

 course of a season. Keeping in mind 

 always the necessity of crop rotation. Let 

 us assume, for example, that you plant 

 five rows of early peas on April 10th. 

 Your selection may be Pedigree Extra 

 Early or Little Marvel. In sixty days from 

 date of planting their vines will have borne 

 the bulk of the crop of pods and the vines 

 should be promptly removed from the 

 ground, and beets sown, selecting, say 

 Detroit Dark Red. By the middle of 

 July these beets will be past their prime, 

 and what few are left, should be taken up 

 anyway to make room for either celery, 

 cabbage or endive plants. 



Another example may be cited: spin- 

 ach, sown the last of March is followed 

 by lettuce about May 15th, which gives 

 place to beans by June 15 th. If for 

 example the bean be Burpee's New Kidney 

 Wax (maturing in 60 days from date of 

 planting) the row is available by August 

 15 th for fall spinach or may be let alone 

 to bear itself out. Any number of com- 

 binations similar to these may be worked 

 out by the backyard gardener who will 

 keep accurate records for a year or so. 



Considerable scheming is necessary to 

 make the best use of limited space. As in 

 all things, experience is the best teacher. 



One man of my acquaintance, makes a 

 specialty of sowing the seeds of two kinds 



of vegetables in one row at the start. 

 Though some experience is necessary, it is 

 not difficult for any one to score good results 

 by this method, if enough "common 

 sense" be exercised. Combine, for in- 

 stance, vegetable seeds of about the same 

 coarseness, but of different character of 

 growth and different season of maturity — 

 spinach and carrots, for instance. The 

 spinach will make a quick top growth at 

 the start, breaking the crust for the more 

 delicate carrot seedlings, when sprouting. 

 Carrots, naturally, make a strong root 

 growth first and so after the spinach is 

 taken up are ready to expand their tops 

 rapidly. 



It is an old rule among seasoned gar- 

 deners always to sow a quick growing 

 vegetable with parsley seed, which latter is 

 of notoriously slow germination. Early 

 radishes and mid-season lettuce go well 

 together. 



To utilize properly every square foot of 

 ground, consider the growth made by the 

 different vegetables and so keep together 

 vegetables with small tops. This will 

 enable you to place your rows closer to- 

 gether in that section of the garden. Tall 

 vegetables, like peas, tomatoes and pole 

 beans, should by all means be trained to 

 stakes. This not only permits closer 

 planting, but also facilitates cultivation and 

 the gathering of the crops. 



As mentioned before, the really "tender" 

 vegetables like tomatoes, peppers and egg- 

 plants do not seriously shade the ground 

 between rows 2\ feet apart, until early 

 in July. Lettuce plants set out between 

 such rows the last week in May, will be 

 greatly benefited by the partial shade 

 and so make fine, large heads. Beets, 

 lettuce, carrots, parsley and even cabbage 

 thrive well in partly shaded positions, 

 while beans, corn, onions, etc., require all 

 the sunshine they can get. And never for- 

 get the part played by good seeds. 



J-lo'v my efficient backyard garden looks in early August. Note the crop rotation — celery has taken the places of beans, beets, radishes; succession corn on the left; the Swiss 



chard in the centre followed green onions 



