178 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



April, 1914 



raise the seedlings. Be sure to sow both 

 endive and lettuce rather thinly, since the 

 seeds of both are usually of good vitality 

 and it will make the "thinning out" easier. 



Plant white onion sets for the mild, 

 green onions that furnish the "scullions" 

 liked by many during the early spring. 

 If later on you find room to plant out some 

 onion sets for making large onions, choose 

 either yellow or red sets, since they keep 

 better than the white, although they are 

 considerably stronger in flavor. There 

 really is no need for placing the rows of 

 onions more than one foot apart. The 

 space marked out in the plan will accom- 

 modate four rows. If you are pinched for 

 room, the same applies to early radishes 

 and beets, although personally, I prefer to 

 have the rows at least eighteen to twenty- 

 four inches apart, since it is very much 

 easier to work a garden that is laid out with 

 wider paths between the rows. 



For your first sowing of radishes, use 

 Rapid Red. In twenty-one days from 

 planting, that remarkable "cherry stone" 

 variety will grow solid little bulbs three- 

 fourths to one inch in diameter. They 

 will remain in good condition for the best 

 part of a week, when you should either 

 have Early Scarlet Short Top or White 

 Icicle coming along for a succession. 

 This lastly named variety is my choice of 

 a radish to plant during June, since it will 

 resist July heat admirably. If I had to 

 confine myself to just one variety of radish 

 it would be White Icicle. 



For a summer radish, I recommend White 



Stuttgart, which has flesh of very solid 

 texture and will keep as well as a turnip. 



Finally, we come to the third most im- 

 portant of all backyard garden crops — 

 tomatoes. I believe if I had room for 

 only four rows in my backyard, I would 

 plant two of them to tomatoes. If you 

 follow my suggestions and set out a dozen 

 plants on May 25th, and another dozen on 

 Decoration Day, let the first dozen be 

 Chalk's Early Jewel and the second dozen 

 Stone. 



If you are fonder of the purple to- 

 matoes than of those two bright red sorts, 

 plant June Pink and Beauty. In some 

 sections, Globe does better than June 

 Pink, although it is not quite as early. 

 In filling the four rows in the garden, I 

 have figured on training the tomatoes to 

 stakes and pruning them. Treated in 

 that fashion, a 15-foot row will easily 

 accommodate six plants and there need 

 not be more than two feet space between 

 the rows. 



If you do not care particularly about 

 turnips suggested for a second crop, sow 

 spinach in these two rows. The best 

 turnips I know for the backyard garden 

 are Purple Top Milan and Purple Top 

 White Globe. Rutabagas, which are a 

 kind of turnip, have solid flesh of firmer 

 texture, and are preferable for winter use. 

 Should you decide to add to your garden a 

 row of rutabagas, let your choice be Amer- 

 ican Purple Top. 



Now for a short review of the garden as 

 a whole. With the exception of rows I 



and K, every row bears two crops, while 

 rows P and Q bear three crops. Perhaps 

 by starting gardening extra early, and by 

 watching your chances closely, a few 

 additional rows may be made to yield 

 three crops. In the case of beans planted 

 May 1 st, and followed by celery in July, 

 I figure that, after bearing three weeks, the 

 row of beans may just as well be pulled 

 up to make room for the second crop, 

 since it has borne the cream of its crop. 

 The rows of beans that were planted the 

 middle of June will provide pods clear up 

 to frost. 



WHAT RETURNS TO EXPECT 



The final question will be: What 

 have I a right to expect from a garden of 

 this kind if suggestions and plans are 

 followed? Off hand, and based on many 

 years of close observation, I should say 

 that on an investment of $3 for seeds and 

 plants and a few hours' work in the garden 

 several times a week, you should be able to 

 produce at least $50 worth of vegetables. 

 It is not safe to mention what particular 

 quantities of vegetables any given row 

 will yield, although it would be easy to 

 figure out how many dozen beets you can 

 grow in a 15-foot row, with the beets four 

 inches apart in the row. 



The biggest reward, by far, will be in the 

 quality of vegetables your garden will 

 yield, the joy and pleasure you will get 

 out of tending it, and from the fact that 

 you have helped by your own effort to 

 reduce the high cost of living. 



The really efficient backyard garden on a small lot. It supplied all the vegetable needs of the author-owner's family last year. Early preparation of the ground and careful 



planning how to use the space to the utmost are the keynotes to success 



