Book of Gardens 
95 
Above is the other half of the garden, adjoining that on the opposite page. Two and a half feet is the space represented between 
the Swiss chard row on that page and the line of tall late peas. The scale of feet is the same throughout both halves of the 
chart —1' to each of the vertical divisions 
be out of the way before this shade becomes 
too dense. 
Certain of the plants shown are, of course, 
started in “flats” or seed boxes, and trans¬ 
planted later to the places they occupy on the 
plan. Among these are the tomatoes, radishes, 
cabbage, cauliflower and lettuce. The melons 
and squash particularly should have well en¬ 
riched soil. A good method of handling them 
is to plant the seeds late in April where they 
are to grow, and cover them with portable 
glass-topped frames which will give them a 
higher temperature and can be removed as the 
weather grows warmer and the need for them 
gradually ceases. 
The July 15th stage finds the garden yield¬ 
ing crops while at the same time twenty-odd 
feet are devoted to newly planted vegetables. 
These latter occupy the space which has been 
vacated by the cabbage, cauliflower, peas, early 
beets and carrots, lettuce and kohlrabi. Here 
is an example of succession planting, a prin¬ 
ciple whose intelligent application is essential 
to the garden of 100 per cent productiveness. 
“Keeping the ground at work” connotes the 
maximum yield of vegetables, which can be 
obtained only by carefully planning for con¬ 
tinuous succession. 
By the middle of August the whole garden is 
carrying its full load, for the melons and other 
vine crops have so nearly attained their growth 
that they have spread over all the surface al¬ 
lotted to them. The development of the other 
rows is so clearly shown on the chart that it 
requires no further detailed explanation here. 
A careful study of the allotment of space to 
the various vegetables will repay, because the 
distances between rows are the minimum which 
can exist in the successful garden. Where the 
available space is less limited, somewhat larger 
spaces may be permitted, though they will avail 
little except in making for greater ease in cul¬ 
tivation. In this connection it is well to re¬ 
member that too wide spaces between the rows 
give an opportunity for weeds to develop which 
only extra cultivation of the ground can hold 
in check. 
Another point to note is the grouping of most 
of the taller and more spreading crops at the 
ends of the garden, thus leaving the central 
portion for a concentration of smaller things. 
The chief reason for this is that the tall growers 
are mainly long-season crops which cast con¬ 
siderable shade in which lesser vegetables could 
not thrive. The grouping of the corn and 
melons results from the fact that these vege¬ 
tables succeed well in close proximity to each 
other—in fact, the melons, cucumbers and 
squashes can overrun the corn rows without 
detriment to anything concerned. 
No provision has been made for the small 
fruits, herbs or such things as asparagus, which 
require specially prepared soil in an area all 
to themselves. For reasons which need not be 
gone into here it is inadvisable to combine 
plantings of vegetables and cane fruits. The 
latter should constitute another garden, or else 
be used merely around the borders of the vege¬ 
table area where their roots will not interfere 
with the cultivation of the soil in which the 
annual plants are growing. The same rule 
applies to fruit trees; and as for strawberries, 
they need a section quite their own. The space 
needed for the herbs, of course, is so limited 
that they may be planted almost anywhere 
around the edges where there is an unoccupied 
bit of ground. 
Potatoes, it will be noted, have not been in¬ 
cluded in this hypothetical garden. While 
these vegetables are usually the first thing that 
the beginning gardener thinks of growing, they 
should by no means be his first actual choice 
in the majority of cases. Great as has been the 
popularity of potatoes, the fact remains that 
growing them has decided drawbacks. Failure 
to appreciate these has brought about innumer¬ 
able disappointments, to say niching of the 
waste of time, space and seed. 
Potatoes cannot be simply planted in any old 
piece of ground and expected to grow properly. 
For one thing they need considerable room, as 
well as prompt and thorough cultivation at the 
right times. They are subject, also, to attacks 
by insects which will quite destroy the plants if 
spraying is postponed or done in a half-hearted 
sort of way. In certain seasons—sometimes 
apparently because of the weather, and at 
other times for no evident reason at all—the 
plants will be struck by blight which may 
seriously injure the crop if it does not actually 
destroy it. For the returns to be commensu¬ 
rate with the labor involved, soil and weather 
conditions must be right, and you must un¬ 
derstand and be able to give the attention 
demanded. 
