May, 1918 
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE 
131 
Our Garden. 
Jennie Lindauer. 
It is almost six years since our 
garden was first plowed. It is a 
little plot eighty-eight by one hun- 
dred and twenty feet commonly 
called a poor man’s farm. Am 
sure any of you seeing it at that 
time would not have offered us 
much for our prospects. 
To the soil already heavy with 
clay was added a generous amount 
from the basement. Three or four 
old rotted tree roots were dug up, 
all of w'hicli detracted from the 
appearance. But we, who were 
so blissfully ignorant of what all 
this meant, were perfectly happy, 
in the thought that in the spring 
everything could be arranged just 
as we wanted it. So during the 
winter we talked and planned 
much but studied seed catalogues 
more. When spring finally came 
we were ready to put in our whole 
garden the first fine day. 
We planted pie plant roots, 3 
gooseberry bushes, 10 red and 2 
white currants, about 40 rasp- 
berries and 100 strawberry plants. 
This took about one-third of the 
ground allotted to garden pur- 
poses. Being very fond of vege- 
tables of all kinds, we used over 
half of the remainder for that 
purpose. Then we must save 
space for nursery stock that had 
been purchased from agents who 
had camped with us at various 
times during the winter. This 
did not prove to be as much as 
as Ave had expected. 
Of course all the flowers Ave had 
the .first year Avere annuals and 
then only those which survived af- 
ter the neighbors’ cows, horses, 
ducks and chickens used them as 
a grazing field. IIoAveverpve did 
have quite a showing that year in 
spite of all our tribulations and 
had made quite a start in our per- 
manent bed. 
. One old gentleman who suav our 
vegetables in the fall told us that 
in the spring he would not have 
offered us ten cents for all Ave 
could raise on that garden. But 
Ave had all we could use during 
the summer and abundance to put 
iu the cellar after giving away 
several baskets full. 
Since then Ave have improved 
our soil very much by adding a 
generous amount of fertilizer and 
coal ashes. Nearly every year it 
has been dug up tAvice, in spring 
and fall, so that now it is much 
easier to work. 
The last two years besides using 
all the berries we could in season 
Ave have canned about 20 quarts 
of strawberries, about the same of 
raspberries, and several quarts 
each of currants and gooseberries, 
besides making jelly. We have 
filled 100 quart cans, each of the 
last tAvo years from our garden ex- 
cept about 20 cents spent for crab 
apples. 
In spite of the fact that our 
strawberries were almost a fail- 
ure this year, Ave have about 50 
quarts of jam, jellies and sauce 
from our other berries, with a 
splendid prospect for late A'ege- 
tables. 
Perhaps many people Avould not 
consider it Avise to plant so many 
floAvers, but they have been a 
source of so much pleasure to us 
that avc do not regret the space 
given them, are only sorry Ave 
have not room for more. Some 
of our friends seeing our love for 
floAvers 'have made many valuable 
contributions until every inch is 
just about full. 
After living in the city for so 
many years where we must buy all 
our eggs, Ave concluded to try 
keeping a few chickens. A space 
30 x 40 feet Avas goven over to 
this purpose. Each year we 
raise from one to three dozen 
chicks. 
Some time after Ave had been 
keeping them my mother said we 
paid dear for every chicken and 
egg we used. To make sure she 
was mistaken I kept a book ac- 
count and found that avc sold eggs 
enough to pay for all the feed, 
thus giving us our eggs and all 
the chickens Ave ate. This may 
seem a small item, but Ave feel re- 
paid in having all the fresh eggs 
and chickens Ave want. 
It may not mean so much in 
dollars and cents to have your 
own garden and chickens , but 
surely there is satisfaction in go- 
ing to the garden for vegetables 
and berries and knowing they are 
fresh. And in these days of the 
high cost of living I belie\ T e it pays 
financially. To be sure, it means 
Avork and plenty of it, but most of 
us are better off for doing some- 
thing. 
We have had plenty of failures, 
some due to inexperience and 
some to weather conditions. From 
flie former we have profited some- 
Avhat — but after six years of la- 
bor and some success Ave see just 
as much ahead that Ave Avant to do 
as Ave did the first year, and have 
come to realize that it Avill never 
come up to our expectations. But 
even Avith our failures it is home 
in. the fullest sense of the Avord. 
‘‘To own a bit of ground, to 
scratch it with a hoe, to plant 
seeds and watch the reneAval of 
life — this is the commonest delight 
of the race. The most satisfac- 
tory thing a man can do.” 
