236 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



January, 1913 



The last half of June was not hot as the 

 earlier part and there were frequent show- 

 ers, so the garden was in fair shape at the 

 beginning of July. But peas had made 

 a very poor showing, cucumbers and 

 melons were unsatisfactory and early 

 cauliflower had been badly injured by the 

 torrid weather. The pole lima beans had 

 made good growth but were set back by 

 a heavy hailstorm June 17th, that cut off 

 the ends of the vines, causing branches 

 to start from the lower joints and so making 

 the beans somewhat later. The dwarf 

 limas were not injured and by June 26th 

 were laden with young pods and blossoms. 

 After a heavy shower June 27th I went 

 over the entire garden with the wheel hoe 

 as soon as the soil was workable, then hoed 

 tomatoes, melons, cucumbers, eggplant, 

 etc., with the hand hoe, and replanted some 

 melons and cucumbers. 



Of the 50 cauliflower plants set out only 

 19 made marketable heads. The first was 

 cut July 2nd, and by the 12th, all were 

 removed. The early cabbage did much 

 better and from 150 plants we cut 128 

 good heads. The remainder were loose 

 heads and were fed to the chickens. 



A few tomatoes were picked July nth, 

 but it was a week later before many were 

 ripe. Corn was first gathered that day 

 and cucumbers two days later. Dwarf 

 limas came in on the 14th, but it was ten 

 days later before pole limas were large 

 enough to gather, and then only a few. 

 While the main planting season was now 

 over there was some planting done through- 

 out the month. Cabbageand cauliflower were 

 set out on July 18th, succeeding early beans. 



The first ten days of July were hot and 

 dry but relief came on the 13th, when we 

 had a heavy thunderstorm. The ground 



soon dried enough to be workable and on 

 the 14th and 15th, I hoed everything, and 

 on the 26th cultivated with a wheel hoe. 

 Beets (Crimson Globe) were sown on the 

 26th, wax beans (Ward well's Kidney), 

 Stringless Green Pod and Valentine beans 

 on the 30th. 



Rain the first few days of August kept 

 us out of the garden except for gathering 

 vegetables, and sowing cress, lettuce, radish, 

 late peas (Maud S.) and setting celery 

 (White Plume), August 2nd, before the 

 ground became too wet. Muskmelons 

 were now added to our list and we had 

 a wide variety to supply our customers. 

 Few plantings were made in August — 

 Valentine beans, kale, spinach and Purple 

 Top Strap Leaf turnip. 



The principal work was gathering veg- 

 etables and marketing them. We hoed 

 everything that needed it twice a week, 

 just running through with the wheel hoe 

 for most vegetables. This kept the garden 

 clear of weeds and the soil in good tilth 

 all the time. 



During September little cultivation was 

 necessary and scarcely any planting was 

 done. Radish, lettuce, and spinach were 

 sowed where earlier crops had grown. 

 We were too busy with other work to give 

 the garden the attention it deserved, so 

 missed considerable profit. Much of the 

 ground that had been cleared of early 

 vegetables was allowed to grow up in grass 

 for want of time to attend to it. It could 

 have been used to grow lettuce, spinach 

 or some other short season crop. Toward 

 the last of the month frost threatened and 

 we prepared for it by covering all tender 

 vegetables with canvas, burlap and old 

 carpet. For most of them we used thin 

 canvas in long strips 3 feet wide. This we 



bought by the bolt at 4 cents a yard. For 

 protecting the lima beans two strips were 

 sewed together, making it six feet wide. 

 After a few cool nights the weather turned 

 warmer and it began to rain. We then had 

 rain for the greater part of three weeks. 

 The sky cleared October 19th, and the 

 weather turned much cooler. As it was 

 so near November and frost was imminent 

 we gathered all tender vegetables October 

 19th and 20th. Carrots, celery and other 

 hardy vegetables were left out, to be stored 

 later. The first frost came the night of 

 October 22nd, and killed tomato, bean and 

 other tender plants. 



Considering the kind of season we had 

 to contend with and the time we expended 

 on the garden the results were better than 

 we expected. While we made no record 

 yields and some vegetables yielded very 

 poorly, we made a pretty good profit and 

 I submit my report as showing what can 

 be done even by one who is not equipped 

 with hotbeds, etc., and who can give only 

 an hour or two a day to his garden. I can 

 see now where I should have done many 

 things differently, in the arrangement 

 of the garden, its successional plantings, 

 growing more of some crops and less of 

 others. I believe the experience gained 

 this year is worth much more than the 

 vegetables grown and I am confident that 

 with better facilities and more intelligent 

 planning I can grow at least twice as much 

 produce on the plot another year. The 

 only feature of this year's plan that I would 

 not change is the continuous rows. Prac- 

 tically everything else I would rearrange. 

 But what may appear to be haphazard 

 planting was made necessary by weather 

 and soil conditions and lack of time to 

 plan the various plantings. 



A Prize Home Garden in Kentucky— By J. Wesley Griffin, Ess,. 



A FEW days before I received my first 

 copy of The Garden Magazine 

 and the book " Garden Profits, " I 

 rented a vacant lot just across the 

 street from the house in which I live. I had 

 had a garden there the previous season, but 

 did not get much out of it, as it was a poor 

 season, and I did not give it the attention 

 that it required. My first number of the 

 magazine was the April one in which the 

 $500 offer for the best home gardens was 

 made. After reading over Mr. Seymour's 

 book, "Garden Profits," and The Garden 

 Magazine several times, I concluded that I 

 could grow a much better garden than I 

 ever had. So I set to work. 



I bought a pile of stable manure (esti- 

 mated at four tons) from one of our doctors 

 who kept two horses. For this I paid $6. 

 From one of the neighbors I bought three 

 barrels of poultry droppings, for sixty cents 

 and one bag (125 pounds) of commercial 

 fertilizer, 3 per cent ammonia, 8 per cent. 



phosphoric acid, and 3 per cent potash. 

 Our soil is wanting in potash, so a fertilizer 

 with a larger per cent, of potash would have 

 given better results. The lot on which I 

 made my garden is 60 x 180 ft., the long 

 way of it running Northeast and Southwest. 

 On the Southeast side there is a heavy 

 growth of shade trees in the adjoining lot. 

 This shade made about one-fifth of the lot 

 unfit for growing vegetables or any other 

 crop, but it was planted and cultivated just 

 the same. 



After consulting Mr. Seymour's planting 

 table for a vegetable garden 60 x 120 ft., I 

 made the plan Number 1 (see page 238). 

 I had already planted in a hotbed seed of 

 cabbage, cauliflower, tomatoes, eggplant 

 and peppers. I bought the very best seed 

 that I could find, knowing that the best 

 was none too good, and that the outcome 

 depended a great deal on the seed. 



The month of April was cold and rainy 

 until the 25th. The pile of stable manure 



was scattered evenly over the garden, and 

 then disked in thoroughly, before breaking 

 with the turning plow. 



After laying a few days for the sun and 

 air to warm up the top soil, I had it broken 

 about ten inches deep. I would have 

 broken deeper, but it had not been plowed 

 deeper than seven or eight inches the pre- 

 vious season, and I did not want too much 

 subsoil turned up at once. 



The garden was broken May 5th, and 

 planting begun on the 8th. As I am a car- 

 penter by profession, and have several hours 

 each day during the summer outside of my 

 regular work, I set aside two hours each 

 day for my garden. I also hired man and 

 horse labor to the amount of $8 during 

 the season. 



I have tried to make things plain and 

 easily understood by photographs taken at 

 intervals of five or six weeks during the sum- 

 mer and the drawings and plans of the gar- 

 den. 



