January, 1909 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
Economizing Garden Space 
By Craig S. Thoms 
WELL-PLANNED garden has three ad- 
vantages. First, one secures a _ larger 
amount of vegetables from a given space; 
second, it is not more than half the work 
to keep it free from weeds; and, third, 
there is a distinct pleasure in planning it 
and seeing the plan realized during the sea- 
My garden space is about fifty by one hundred feet, 
but the amount of vegetables that I take from this space to 
my table between early May and the last of October is a 
constant surprise. 
My garden is in the city, and two sides lie to the street. 
These two sides I surround with two rows of sweet corn, 
which make a pretty border, give some privacy when the 
corn is grown, and furnish me with plenty of roasting ears. 
I am always away during August, and so I plant an early 
variety about May 1, which gives me its harvest during the 
last two weeks in July; and a late variety about June 1, 
which holds its harvest over until my return in September. 
Between the hills of the inner row of corn I plant hills of 
pumpkins and _ late 
squash, and let them 
run between the 
rows and out over 
the three rows of 
early potatoes that 
I plant beside the 
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my pumpkin and 
squash vines that 
particular corner of 
my potato rows from which I am to dig my early potatoes; 
and then, about August 1, I work this ground over and plant 
it to radishes and lettuce for fall use. 
From my early radish bed I take two crops of radishes 
and one of late beets. In order to do this, when the radishes 
are ready for use, I pull up all the plants in each row as I 
go, not waiting for the more tardy ones to mature, and plant 
new seed for the second crop. This sacrifices a little on the 
first crop, but seed is cheap, and those plants that develop 
slowly never furnish choice bulbs, while there are always 
plants that will not develop bulbs at all, and for which one 
waits in vain. 
The set onion bed I treat in the same way, cleaning the 
row of big and little alike, then working over the ground 
and putting in new sets. As in the case of radishes, only 
the onion that develops quickly is really choice. A small set, 
if given time, will grow a good sized bulb, but it will be 
strong in flavor; and not size but flavor is the prime con- 
sideration for the table. When the second sets are off I plant 
to turnips. 
Tomatoes take lots of room, which I can not well spare, 
and so I have made a league between my tomatoes and my 
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early peas and string beans. The tomato seeds are planted 
early, in the ordinary way, in boxes in the house, and when 
danger of frost is past I set the plants in a little plot of 
ground, which I have carefully prepared, in rows eighteen 
inches apart, and twelve inches apart in the rows. By the 
time I am picking my early peas and string beans these plants 
have attained considerable size; but there is no danger in 
transplanting if the work be done carefully with a spade 
after rain, and if a large spadeful of soil be taken up with 
each plant so that the roots are not disturbed. In this way 
I transplant from my crowded tomato bed to hills which | 
have prepared between the rows of peas and beans. I take 
out every alternate row of tomatoes, and two out of every 
three plants in the remaining rows. ‘This leaves the plants 
that are not disturbed three feet apart each way. Then | 
am careful to push the pea and bean vines as far as possible 
from the newly set plants in order to provide them with 
plenty of sunlight. As soon as the pea and bean crop is har- 
vested I pull up the vines, and thereafter the tomatoes have 
full possession of the ground, ready for vigorous growing. 
My early. lettuce 
I sow thickly in 
broad rows. As 
soon as the plants 
have leaves two 
inches long I pull 
them up by handfuls 
from the middle of 
the row, and_ use 
roots and all. This 
furnishes the table 
with a very delicate 
early lettuce and 
leaves plenty in the 
rows for larger 
growth. When the 
plants have become 
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An economical garden plan 
large enough I cut 
off the outside leaves 
for the table, and 
leave the plant to continually reproduce leaves from the cen- 
ter. My head lettuce are not allowed to head until mid- 
summer. In this way, from a single planting early in the 
season, I have had lettuce, delicate and crisp, from the 
earliest growth until late in July. 
My early beets I plant three times as thick as I want 
them to stand, and thin out when they are tender for use as 
greens. And those that [ want to mature I leave standing 
three times as thick as the books allow, because beets are 
better, either fresh or pickled, when they are not allowed to 
grow to more than half their normal size. 
Cucumbers for late pickling may be planted in July where 
early potatoes have been dug, or early peas or stringbeans 
grown; and cauliflower or cabbage plants for winter use may 
be set on any vacant ground in July, but the plants should be 
strong and healthy to insure vigorous growth. 
To secure the best results the arrangement of one’s garden 
should be planned carefully beforehand, so that the shape 
of the first beds will be suitable in form for the vegetables 
of the second planting. A good way is to make a plan of 
the garden on paper with every bed or row lettered, and the 
different plantings indicated, as in the accompanying cut. 
