306 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



June, 1913 



my first two rows of beans. The first 

 planting of the beans consists of a pint 

 or perhaps more, as I do not believe in 

 being too economical with seed, especially 

 in planting peas, beans and such things 

 which do not need to be thinned out. 

 The beans are also planted in a trench 

 about six inches deep, but need to be 

 covered with only a couple of inches of 

 earth. I always plant bush beans, so as 

 not to bother with poles and usually use 

 "stringless," early, bush string beans. 

 Next year I shall also plant some bush 

 shell beans to please Mrs. Babson, but as 

 yet I have not experimented with both 

 string and shell beans. I also take a 

 chance and do my first planting of early 

 corn about the first of May, but in only 

 the driest portion of the garden ; and some- 

 times I lose my crop. Squashes, however, 

 cannot be planted until after the first of 

 May. 



AFTER FROST DANGER 



After all possibility of frost has passed, 

 I plant cucumbers. This usually means 

 that cucumbers are not planted until after 

 the middle of May. I have experimented 

 with various forms of cucumbers — little 

 ones and big ones, fancy ones and old- 

 fashioned ones — but I find that the best 

 results come from what are called Long 

 Green cucumbers. Small cucumbers for 

 pickling purposes are rather difficult to 

 raise unless the soil is perfectly satisfactory, 

 and I have not had good luck with them. 

 As stated in a previous article, my land is 

 only ordinary and is probably below the 

 average fertility of the reader's backyard. 

 As shown by the sketch in my previous 

 article, I usually plant cucumbers in the bot- 

 tom of the garden, as they require a large 

 amount of moisture, or, to state it another 

 way, I plant them in the lowest and 

 dampest part of the garden. I always 

 plant twenty to twenty-five seeds in a hill, 

 with the hills about four feet apart in all 

 directions, and after the cucumbers get 

 about six inches high and too large to 

 tempt the bugs I thin them out to about 

 six vines per hill. I confine the dressing 

 to the hills, but dig a deep hole before 

 putting in the dressing so that after the 

 dressing is put in, covered with a few 

 inches of soil, the cucumbers planted and 

 in turn covered with about two inches of 

 soil, the surface of the hill is still about 

 three inches below the surface of the garden, 

 so as to collect moisture. As stated above, 

 all hills and rows should be left in the 

 form of valleys to collect moisture rather 

 than in the form of hills to shed the 

 moisture. 



I have a neighbor who does not wish 

 to use space in his vegetable garden for 

 tomatoes and cucumbers, and so he digs 

 holes about one foot deep and three feet 

 in diameter in his lawn, putting in the 

 dressing and planting his cucumbers and 

 letting them run over the grass. I was 

 brought up to believe that vines must run 

 on plowed soil; but the good luck which 



this man has had makes me believe that 

 this can not be true. If the vines can 

 grow just as well in grass as in plowed soil, 

 this means a distinct saving in space. Of 

 course, cucumbers must be protected from 

 bugs either by sprinkling lime on the leaves 

 or by covering with netting. At the same 

 time when planting , cucumbers, I also 

 plant winter squashes. Summer squashes 

 can be planted about the first of May, but 

 winter squashes should not be planted 

 until all possibility of frost is past. The 

 same rules apply to planting winter 

 squashes as I have outlined above rela- 

 tive to cucumbers. It is very important 

 to have the hills and valleys about four 

 feet from one another. I plant squashes 

 also in the lowest part of the garden with 

 the cucumbers, so that when the cucumber 

 vines die off, the squashes may run over 

 the space allotted for the cucumbers. A 

 great many people plant their squashes 

 among the early peas and beans, or ven 

 among the early corn, and this is an ex- 

 cellent idea for one who has very little land. 

 The early peas and beans are out of the 

 way by the middle of July or just about 

 the time the squashes begin to run. Next 

 year I shall use this system of planting 

 myself. It is, however, very necessary 

 that plenty of room be given to squashes 

 even in the earliest stage, and that they 

 should not be crowded by the peas, beans, 

 or tomatoes. Squashes need an early 

 start and it is false economy to try to stint 

 them on space. 



Immediately after planting the cucum- 

 bers and squashes, I look around for some 

 tomato plants. Now, if there is any- 

 thing in which one should be liberal when 

 buying, it is in the purchase of tomato 

 plants. Because a dozen good plants cost 

 fifty cents and a dozen others cost twenty- 

 five or thirty-five cents, don't buy the 

 cheap ones. The highest priced plants 

 are usually the cheapest in the end. I buy 

 a dozen plants for my backyard garden, 

 and set them out in hills about four feet 

 apart with the ground well fertilized under 

 the plants. I aLo leave a hollow about 

 each plant to collect moisture. A great 

 enemy to the tomato plant in my section 

 of the country is the cutworm, and con- 

 sequently, I prepare strips of cardboard 

 about six inches long and four inches wide 

 and wind these around the stem of each 

 plant, so that when they are set out, about 

 two inches is below the surface and two 

 inches above the surface of the ground. 

 With this system I have not lost a single 

 tomato plant, while neighbors who do not 

 use these "card-board collars" lose one 

 third to one half of their plants every 

 season. 



I also cut off certain shoots of the tomato 

 plant. It is not easy to tell in an article 

 how this is done; but after the plants 

 begin to blossom, one can easily see off- 

 shoots appear without blossoms, and these 

 can be cut off from the main shoots. Of 

 course, I do not give this treatment to all 

 plants but simply to about one third of 



them which I want to force along early. 

 The great trouble with tomato plants is 

 that they do not usually bear ripe tomatoes 

 till late, and then bear great quantities 

 all at once. This can be obviated by 

 forcing one third of them, holding back 

 about one third and allowing the remaining 

 one third to ripen naturally. Tomatoes 

 are very profitable, and, in fact, one of the 

 greatest cost-of-living reducers. Not only 

 are they splendid for the table, both raw 

 and cooked, but they can be picked green 

 and allowed to ripen in the cellar until 

 Thanksgiving. Moreover, they can be 

 pickled, preserved and treated in various 

 other ways. By all means buy good 

 tomatoes; set out enough of them; watch 

 them and care for them, as tomatoes are a 

 source of great economic value. 



The chart given last month shows prac- 

 tically the arrangement of the backyard 

 garden which has yielded me such profit 

 in health, pleasure and money. Against 

 the various lines are marked the dates when 

 I have done the planting, and it will be 

 noticed that these came on Saturdays. A 

 great many people make the mistake of 

 planting their garden all at once under 

 the pressure of enthusiasm. Not only 

 does this make more work, but it is far 

 less useful and less profitable. Each 

 Saturday one should do a little work 

 and one should only do it at about this 

 rate. 



SUMMARY OF WORK 



To briefly summarize the above, it will 

 be seen that I order my seed about the first 

 of March, buying good seed — the best 

 I can obtain. About April first I lay out 

 my garden, buying the fertilizer and pre- 

 paring to do the first planting. This first 

 planting is done as soon as the ground is 

 workable — say the first or second Saturday 

 in April, and it includes lettuce, radishes, 

 beets, spinach, peas, and other hardy 

 vegetables such as cabbage, Swiss chard, 

 cauliflower, etc. The second planting 

 comes about two Saturdays later and in- 

 cludes the first early beans and summer 

 squashes. The third planting comes the 

 next to the last Saturday in May and in- 

 cludes the medium beans and medium peas, 

 and also early corn. The fourth plant- 

 ing comes the following Saturday, when 

 medium corn, early cucumbers, winter 

 squashes and other more tender vegetables 

 are planted. Soon after this the tomato 

 plants can be set out and it is safe to plant 

 anything including melons. 



It is unnecessary to hold off any plant- 

 ing after May 20th except for the purpose 

 of getting later crops, second crops, etc. 

 In short, this briefly tells the story of 

 how a busy man planted a backyard 

 garden and the same process can be 

 followed by every reader of this paper. 

 Moreover, those who do thus plant a 

 backyard garden this year will at one 

 time reduce the cost of living, increase 

 the family health and perform an economic 

 service to the whole community. 



