318 
The Garden Magazine, February, 1921 
as a salad, the Dandelions with which our small lawn has been 
infested. Heretofore, I have dug these out and thrown them 
away, but from now on they are to have a prominent place on 
our table during each April and early May. Another year, 1 
think 1 will set Dandelions in the garden in the fall for spring use 
instead of Corn-salad, which has little to commend it except 
the season of its harvest. The seedsmen offer selected salad 
strains, and spring sowing will give good plants.” 
‘‘Some drain on the fertility of your soil, this growing of two 
or more crops each yearon the 
same ground,” 1 suggested. 
“Yes, but rotted manure, 
straw, and leaves are dug in 
generously each spring, a little 
commercial fertilizer used 
throughout the growing sea- 
son, and a heavy application 
of lime added every two or 
three years. The manure is 
left by the street cleaner or 
secured from a near-bv stable, 
and the lime is largely made 
up of the sweepings of new 
houses after the plastering is 
finished. Sometimes 1 buy a 
bale of straw, and, of course, 
the commercial fertilizer is 
rather expensive when bought 
in small quantities. Leaves 
may be had for the raking 
and carrying.” 
Looking around the garden 
1 saw many other vegetables 
which would be stored for 
winter use, including Beets, 
Turnips, Carrots, and Cab- 
bage. 1 commented on these. 
“Yes, these Cabbages are growing in the 
ground where the spring crop of Peas was 
planted. I ncidentally, the latter were pretty 
much of a failure this year, due, I believe, to 
the fact that seed kept over from last season 
was used. With some vegetables the seed is good for several 
years, while with others it must be new seed each season. 1 had 
thought that Peas were in the former class, but know better 
now, and, anyway, the cost of seed is really but a small factor. 
For my part 1 am saving seeds of Tomatoes, Beans, and Corn 
each year just for the fun of selection, but 1 don’t believe it 
would pay me to produce my own seeds. 
“The problem with Beets, Turnips, Cabbages, and Carrots is 
to store them so they will keep well through the winter. 1 pit or 
box them under the side veranda, thus securing a double pro- 
tection from the weather. Packing them in earth in the cellar 
is just as good. We don’t care much about Turnips, but they 
can be planted in August following Beans, which in turn follow 
a crop of early Lettuce, the plants of which are started in the 
hotbed. Most of the Beets are fed to the hens during the 
winter. It is much easier than sprouting Oats, and the hens 
seem to do as well on them.” 
“You certainly have this all-year garden down to a real sci- 
ence,” I suggested after several minutes of deep thought, during 
which the gardener was collecting his tools, evidently having 
finished the morning’s work, or else despairing of accomplishing 
anything more under the handicap of my questioning. 
“ You think so? Well you have scarcely discovered half of it 
yet.” 
“Tell me some more,” 1 returned. “1 have a prodigious 
appetite and would like to learn all about it.” 
“It’s the middle of the fall and you see there is still some 
more Corn to be harvested in that patch. Also I picked a mess of 
Beans this morning, the last of the year, 1 ’m afraid, as we’ll get a 
frost any night now. The Tomatoes are done as far as the 
garden is concerned, but there are a half dozen vines, with lots of 
partly grown and ripe Tomatoes, hanging in the cellar, the roots 
covered with dirt and bagging. The largest Tomatoes from the 
other vines are also in the cellar, wrapped separately in paper. 
Between the two we have ripe Tomatoes until Christmas at 
least. 
There is also in the cellar three quarters of a barrel of Potatoes 
which we grew this year. Ordinarily it doesn’t pay to raise them 
in a small garden. They take up too much room and in very 
rich soil you are more apt to get a big crop of tops than you are 
of tubers, and it is only the latter that count. You can’t see 
where they were grown because other crops now occupy the 
ground. This short row of Leeks, covered with enough manure 
to keep the ground from freezing so that they can be dug all 
winter, will flavor soups for many months to come. And these 
Brussels-sprouts over here will be in prime 
condition for eating around Thanksgiving, and 
they should last until the middle of December, 
when the stored Cabbage will take its place. 
If I had a larger garden there would also 
be Squash and Pumpkins for winter eating and 
Melons and Cucumbers during the summer 
and fall. Also, with more room and the pres- 
ent cost of dried Beans, it would be 
well worth while to plant enough of 
these to give a peck or so of the dried pro- 
duct, so that the famous Boston baked 
dish might be enjoyed the year round. 
“ You will notice that I have trans- 
planted a short row of Parsley 
along side of that Spinach, so 
that it, too, will be under glass 
in a coldframe when the 
weather gets colder. The 
other Parsley over there will 
be covered with straw and 
earth so that it will start up 
early in the spring, by which 
time the Parsley under glass 
will be all gone. Thus, with 
a new planting of seed each 
spring, we manage to have fresh green Parsley all year. 
“This Kohl-rabi is from the third planting of this fine veg- 
etable. It was started in the seedbed and set out when large 
enough, or rather when room could be found for it in the garden 
itself. The seedbed, and its forerunner of late winter and 
early spring, the hotbed, are indispensable in our plan for in- 
tensive gardening. Without them it would be impossible to 
grow two or three crops on the same ground each season. As 
far as practical, all seeds are started in the beds, where they 
occupy barely ten per cent, of the space they later need in the 
garden. The hotbed, which 1 start about the first of March, 
provides large plants of Lettuce, Beets, Tomatoes, and Peppers 
by the time they can be set out, which is early April for the first 
two, and late May for the Tomatoes and Peppers. The seedbed 
which follows is the same three bv six foot frame, without glass 
or the heat-supplying manure beneath, which formed the hotbed. 
This seedbed is partially shaded, and seeds for late Cabbage, 
Kohl-rabi, Celery, late Lettuce, Kale, etc., are started in it. 
“The row of Rhubarb over by the fence beyond the clothes 
posts has been picked right along since early spring. About the 
time the ground freezes I will dig up several of the roots, place 
them in a large tub of dirt, and put the latter in a warm corner 
in the cellar. The tender, delicious shoots which will be forced 
from these roots during the winter will make a score or more of 
wonderful rhubarb pies. Makes your mouth water, doesn’t it? 
‘‘Now, last and best of all comes our principal winter cellar 
crop. Back of the chicken house, protected with boards and 
wire netting, there is a fair sized pile, made up of sifted earth 
from sod land and fresh manure, equal parts by weight, or one 
thought you didn’t dig parsnips,” I remarked 
