176 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



April, 1914 



barberry, prairie roses and snowberry have 

 a certain similarity of arching branches 

 that make them very effective when 

 planted in a thick intermingled mass. 

 Snowberry and wild roses together give a 

 splendid effect with gray birches in the 

 background. 



Kerria is interesting planted with the 

 American yew (Taxus Canadensis), and 

 Harison Yellow rose placed against arbor- 

 vitas hedges. Wild cherries are effective 

 in front of white pines, pink dogwoods in 

 front of cedars and Halesia with hemlock. 

 White dogwoods combine well with mag- 

 nolias, and mountain ashes with white 

 birches. 



I have seen the horizontally branching 

 Regel's privet, the bushy willows and the 

 columnar Lombardy poplar used in a 

 boundary plantation. The grayish leaf- 

 age of the willows and the light, tremulous 

 foliage of the poplars is offset by the darker 

 tone of the privet foliage. In winter the 

 red-twigged willows or the yellow-stemmed 

 ones would be conspicuously effective 



with the black privet berries. Viburnum 

 dentatum, Japanese barberry, fragrant 

 sumac, Clethra and bayberry would make 

 a good foreground planting of varied 

 heights for a middle planting of small trees 

 like wild cherry or dogwood or some coarser 

 material like sumac, Rhus typhina or 

 glabra and a strong, high background of 

 hemlock or pine with red maple or liquid- 

 ambar. This planting of a wilder char- 

 acter will be of special interest in the 

 autumn. 



The shrubs may be selected for special 

 effects, for harmony of foliage, for color 

 contrast or color harmony, for similarity 

 of habit or for seasonal effects. 



As a general rule it is best to emphasize 

 the spring season in flowering shrub- 

 bery, to allow the green of midsummer 

 to form a quiet background for her- 

 baceous flowers and to lay stress again 

 on the autumn and winter season. This 

 is made possible through the changing 

 effects of the deciduous shrubs from sea- 



Using a single shrub for its own character (Fothergilla) son to Season. 



Efficiency in the Backyard Garden, IV.— By A. Kruhm, «. 



SOLVING THE PROBLEM OF THE REALLY SMALL GARDEN, WHAT TO GROW AND WHAT NOT TO GROW, WHERE 

 THE PROPER USE OF LIMITED SPACE IS AN IMPORTANT FACTOR — PLANNING FOR QUICK SUCCESSIONS 



AFTER all is said and done, after 

 you have studied how to dig, 

 rake and hoe, make plans and 

 sow seeds, there still remains one 

 important question that is apt to prove a 

 stumbling block. The question before 

 you to-day is: What shall I plant in my 

 garden to make it most efficient.- My an- 

 swer will point out which classes of vege- 

 tables are the most practical for the dif- 

 ferent types of home gardens. I shall also 

 suggest such varieties as experience has 

 proven to be as nearly infallible as any- 

 thing can be in the garden. 



Planting the backyard garden for 

 greatest efficiency is largely a matter of 

 eliminating the impractical. 

 What is fit for a large truck 

 patch, may hardly be suit- 

 able for a small home gar- 

 den. It may pay some people 

 to grow eggplants, but I ven- 

 ture to say that the same space 

 devoted to beans and toma- 

 toes will yield crops three 

 times as valuable and ten 

 times more nourishing. Be- 

 cause Brussels sprouts will 

 cost 25 cents a quart during 

 their season, it does not logi- 

 cally follow that you should 

 grow them instead of cab- 

 bages. One is a luxury, the 

 other a necessity. 



Let us get clearly before 

 us this division of all garden 

 vegetables into two classes for 

 the purpose of backyard gar- 

 dening. First of all, let us re- 



alize what kinds are necessary and then 

 place them in the space available in 

 order of their relative importance. Try 

 to apply the lessons of "efficiency" in con- 

 crete examples of typical city gardens. 

 Three types of backyard gardens are most 

 commonly found: There is "The Toy 

 Garden," usually 20x30 ft.; "The Aver- 

 age Garden," usually 30 x 50 ft.; and the 

 "Larger Garden," size 50 x 100 ft., repre- 

 senting a double lot in most cities. 



In judging the practical value of all crops 

 suggested, the following points (named in 

 order of their importance) have been used 

 as my guiding rules in recommending them 

 for the gardens of different size: 



Bea.ns s /i fa/towed iyCeleryvzo BowL \ 





V ffow A JBeefe */ts followed £y Beans € //s 



Bea.ns s /t 



" Celery 7 /io 



A 



f. 



B Beets «k ' " 



" Beans- b As 



Be e to -7/ 



" Lettuce 7's 



A 



v_ 



C Carrots *A$ 



"Endire 7 //s 



Beets *// 



" Lettuce wis 



o\ 



( . 



(Ootv w.th -Spinach ) 



I) Onion (Sets % " 



11 To/na toes s As 



Lettuce" 3 /! 



■' BaxJ.i'sJi Xs/oil J>y 



A 



tL 



1l> OniornSet$%s " 



'ToiruzToeis 4i$ 



Lettuce*/, 



Beets 'tis 

 •■ BadtsA&foll Ay 



A 



L 



J* 1 .Lett uc- e %s " 



"Tomatoes "%c 



Carrots 7i 



Beets 7 /is 

 " En dive ¥1 



A 



L, 



G Radishes v /s " 



"Tomatoes 't&o 



Lettuce rf>5 



Murr. -men/ , 



" If&diisAes 7 /is 



A 



L 



Id Beets %o " 



(Suonnt*) 



•ffa&sAes 7 // 



Been>s tf/o 



" Turnip's %s 



A 



l_ 



/ iSt^-j'ss CAoLrdtfto 



••(<g// oeasesi) 



Beano s /o 



• " Turnipc %is 



A 



L_ 



KParsleyVs 



(ell ■season oour) 





(jo*- with Spinach) 



Efficiency" plan for 20x30 ft. garden. Every foot is pushed to the utmost, 

 the record label as shown 



I Relative popularity of vegetable 



II Ease of cultivation 



III Returns for space and labor invested 



IV Practical usefulness of crop harvested 



Mustard would "pass" in the smallest 

 garden according to the last three points, 

 but it can hardly be called a popular vege- 

 table. Cucumbers are easily grown, but 

 point three makes them impossible in 

 even the "average" garden. Asparagus 

 fills the first three requirements admirably, 

 but since its usefulness as a crop is 

 limited to six weeks at the most, it is sug- 

 gested for large gardens only. 



Without going into further details here I 

 must ask you to abide by my decisions as to 

 the adaptability of the dif- 

 ferent kinds of vegetables for 

 gardens of different size. The 

 method of analysis is shown 

 and you can easily score up 

 any crop for yourself. Since 

 it is manifestly impossible to 

 cover the whole subject at 

 one time, let us concentrate 

 our attention on the smallest 

 garden, as being most in need 

 of aid. 



Calling the smallest gardens 

 "toy" gardens, must not be 

 taken to reflect on the sincere 

 purpose of their owners to 

 make them yield record crops. 

 Although I have in preceding 

 articles encouraged the mak- 

 ing of plans, I realize that 

 there are quite a number of 

 perfectly willing backyard gar- 

 deners who simply "didn't get 



Do not omit 



