Planning a Home Garden 



467 



tool tillage, either by horse or by man-power. The old 

 practice of growing vegetables in beds usually entails more 

 labor and expense than the crop is worth and it has had 

 the effect of driving more than one boy from the garden. 

 These beds always need weeding on Saturdays, holidays, 

 circus days, and the Fourth of July. 



Even if the available area is only twenty feet wide, the 

 rows should run lengthwise the plot and be far enough 

 apart (one to two feet for small stuff) to allow of the 

 use of the hand wheel-hoes, many of which are very 

 efficient. If land is available for horse-tillage, none of the 

 rows should be less than thirty inches apart, and for large- 

 growing things, as late cabbage, four feet is better. If the 

 rows are long, it may be necessary to grow two or three 

 kinds of vegetables in the same row; and in this case it 

 is important that vegetables requiring the same general 

 treatment and similar length of season be grown together. 

 A row containing parsnips and salsify, or parsnips, salsify 

 and late carrots, affords a good combination; but a row 

 containing parsnips, cabbage and lettuce would be a faulty 

 combination. 



One part of the area should be set aside for all similar 

 crops. For example, all root crops might be grown on 

 one side of the plantation, all cabbage crops in the adjoin- 

 ing space, all tomato and eggplant crops in the center, all 

 corn and other tall things on the opposite side. Perennial 

 crops, as asparagus and rhubarb, and gardening structures, 

 as hotbeds and frames, should be on the border, where they 

 will interfere least with the plowing and tilling. 



The best results in maintaining productiveness are to 

 be secured when it is possible to practice rotation of crops. 



