QJ23^S3 HOME GARDENING GUIDE 



Where? Why? 



Poor Soil 



DON'T plant in water-logged or poorly- 

 drained soil. If your garden doesn't 

 drain readily, find another plot or pro- 

 vide tile drainage. No soil will grow 

 good root crops that dries out hard and 

 compact. If the cost of conditioning such 

 soil is too high, as in plots to be used 

 only one year, omit carrots, beets, etc., 

 and concentrate on leafy vegetables and 

 those that produce above ground, such 

 as tomatoes, peppers, etc. You can re- 

 make such soil by adding well-rotted 

 organic matter. This may be old manure, 

 spent mushroom manure, peat moss, 

 rotted compost, etc. If ashes have weather- 

 ed for at least a year, they will help break 

 up clay also. So will an application of 

 lime or gypsun. Light sands can also 

 be improved by adding liberal amounts of 

 organic matter. 



Extra Feeding 



DON'T DEPEND on organic matter only 

 for feeding your vegetables. While it 

 has some fertility value, it won't provide 

 enough. Remember that vegetables grow- 

 ing in a garden are in an artificial en- 

 vironment. You don't want natural 

 growth; you want crops to mature as 

 soon as possible, and this means extra 

 feeding with suitable fertilizers. Properly 

 used, chemical fertilizers furnish plant 

 food at lowest cost in most readily avail- 

 able form. 



Make provisions for extra feedings 

 through the summer. 



Correcting Acid or Alkaline Soils 



Acid soil conditions may be corrected by 



the use of lime, preferably as ground lime- 

 stone, which has a longer effect. However, 

 do not apply lime unless it is really need- 

 ed. A good check on the need for lime 

 is the way your beets grow. Usually a 

 soil that will grow good beets contains 

 enough lime. If you have trouble with 

 beets, and clovers do not grow well in 

 your vicinity, it will pay you to have 

 your soil tested. (We have soil test kits 

 that will show you the right amount of 

 lime to apply.) 



Alkaline soil conditions may cause bleach- 

 ing and stunting of plants. This can be 

 remedied by using soil sulphur or gypsum 

 Here, again, caution should be used to 

 find out, by soil tests, the right amount to 

 use for your particular soil and crops. 

 Most garden plants do best in a soil that 

 is neither strongly alkaline or acid but 

 nearly neutral. A soil test of pH 6.0 to 

 7.0 is ideal, for most crops. 



Spading the Garden 



The average home garden can be dug 

 easily in five or six days, if done in 

 stages. Usually a hand-dug garden is 

 in better condition than one that has 

 been plowed. Start by digging a trench 

 the depth and width of a spade. Wheel 

 the dirt from this trench around to 

 the other side of the garden, where you 

 plan to finish digging. Throw the dirt 

 from succeeding rows into the trench 

 made by the the previous spade cut. The 

 last cut is then filled with the earth 

 wheeled from the first. 



Spading vs. Plowing 



Many a garden plot has been ruined by 

 a heavy tractor that worked it too wet. 



Be sure your soil passes the mud pie 

 test before you allow a plowman to touch 

 it. Too often, regular farm equipment 

 is too heavy for working garden soils. 

 DON'T work your soil too much. Re- 

 member that after you finish digging 

 or plowing your soil has been fluffed 

 up and loosened, so plant roots can grow 

 through it easily. Every time you go over 

 it you are packing it down, making it 

 less suitable for growing plants. Most 

 inexperienced gardeners overdo surface 

 preparation by trying to work the surface 

 into a fine dust. Clods should be broken 

 up, stones raked off and trash removed, 

 in sensible limits. If the soil was dug 

 at the right mud pie point, most lumps 

 should break up without too much addi- 

 tional cultivation. 



Use a cord or garden line stretched across 

 the garden in laying out rows. Crooked 

 rows increase the work needed. Also, 

 they waste space. Open furrows fcr sow- 

 ing seed by running the end of a hoe 

 handle along a taut cord. For most seeds 

 this should not be more than 1/2" deep; 

 1" deep for peas, beans, corn, etc. Fine 

 seeds should not be covered more than 

 W in the furrow. If your soil cakes or 

 crusts badly, use clean sand, or a mixture 

 of 50-50 sand and leaf mold, or peat moss, 

 to cover the seed. This loose mixture 

 does not cake and allows the tender 

 seedlings to break through readily. 

 Where it is important to catch light 

 rainfall, corn, peas, beans, etc. can be 

 sown at the bottom of a 3" to 4" fur- 

 row, but should not be covered with 

 more than 1" of soil. 



CUCUMBER, Straight Eight 



SQUASH, 

 Table Queen 



KOHLRABI, ^ 

 Early White Vienna 



BEANS LIMA, 

 Burpee's Improved Bush" 



