Your First SY, teya4 
to garden success 
In preparing the soil, drive the spade or spading 
fork straight down full length with your foot. 
* Preparing the soil 
A rich sandy loam is well adapted to gardening. 
Other kinds of soil are suitable, but stiff clays need 
plenty of fibrous material and must be thoroughly 
broken up. Sandy soils generally need additional 
fertilizing. 
For general use, where well-rotted stable manure 
is not available, a commercial fertilizer containing 
4 per cent nitrates, 12 per cent phosphate, and 4 to 6 
per cent potash is usually best. Apply at the rate of 
about 4 pounds to the square rod (161% ft. x 16% ft.). 
Work the soil deeply and make the top 3 or 4inches 
as fine and loose as possible. Much weed killing can 
be done by hoeing or raking just before planting. 
Do not work clay soils when they are wet enough to 
stick to rake or hoe. 
* Planting 
At time of planting seed in the open ground, the 
soil should be moist but never wet, when avoidable. 
To retain moisture after planting, cover seed imme- 
diately with fine, freshly prepared earth and press it 
down firmly and smoothly. This firming of the soil 
brings the particles of earth into close contact with 
seeds, prevents drying out, and facilitates growth. 
Plant at a time when the atmospheric and soil 
temperatures are most favorable for germination of 
the kind of seed to be sown. The best temperature 
for each kind may be learned from study of the cul- 
tural directions and zonal charts found in this 
Guide. 
The proper depth for covering seed varies with the 
different kinds of seeds and conditions of soil. This 
can be learned best through practical experience. 
When planting seed, the soil must be loose and 
soft so that the tender stems of seedlings can easily 
push through, and the young roots quickly find plant 
food. This is usually secured by careful preparation 
of the soil and by not planting fine seeds when the 
ground is wet. 
Use the back of the rake to help break up clods; use 
the tooth-side to make the soil fine and smooth. 
* Starting plants indoors 
Seedling plants may be grown successfully in spring 
in shallow boxes of soil placed in south or east win- 
dows. The preparation of the seed box is simple but 
it needs care. Whether it is a cigar box or larger 
“flat,’’ holes should be bored in the bottom—about 
six inches apart in larger boxes and about three 
inches apart in one of cigar box size. Over the bot- 
tom of the box spread pieces of broken flower pots or 
crockery, or small pebbles, then coarser soil, and last 
of all finely sifted garden soil, or a mixture of build- 
ers’ sand and fine soil. 
Firm the soil and sow the seed thinly in rows. The 
general rule for depth of planting is about four times 
the diameter of the seed. Thin sowing is economy. 
The tiny plants crowd each other when planted too 
thickly. 
