348 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
THE STORY OF A GARDEN. 
Dates For Planting. 
I have told of the large crop I grew 
from a small piece of ground. I will 
now try to tell you how I did it in 
1909. The first thing I did was to 
get some paper over 11% inches wide, 
on which I began a rough sketch of 
the garden. I had before me the plan 
of the year before as a guide to change 
the location of the vegetables from the 
preceding year as much as possible. 
After fixing upon the location of the 
rows to my satisfaction I drew in pen¬ 
cil the plan shown in Fig. 125, and wrote 
the names of the seeds for each row 
about as you see them on the plan with 
the approximate time of planting each. 
The plan furnished me with a guide to 
purchase my seed. As I am on the 
mailing list of about a half-dozen of the 
leading Eastern seedsmen, I already had 
tlicir catalogues at hand to select from. 
In ordering my seed I do not confine 
myself to one seedsman only; but select 
from different catalogues and order ac¬ 
cordingly. If the variety of anything 
of the preceding year was satisfactory, 
I order it again, sticking to those that 
have been tried and found true and 
good. I also look carefully over the 
novelties offered, and if something by 
the description appeals to me I try it 
in a small way only at first. Frequent¬ 
ly the seedsman will inclose compli¬ 
mentary packets for trial when filling 
my order, and I have got some very 
good things in this way. I aim to 
get plenty of seed, as frequently you 
can get an ounce, half-pint or pint for 
a cent or two more than a packet would 
cost. I send for the seed early, so as 
to be sure to have them on hand when 
I need them. 
During the season the refuse from 
my garden that would decay and make 
humus I piled in a heap at the end of 
the garden, where the storms of the 
Summer would help to start decompo¬ 
sition. Clippings from the lawn were 
also put in this pile. In the Autumn 
I forked this over in a heap, making 
a compost, using about two bushels of 
air-slaked lime, some sifted coal ashes 
and a load of stable manure, putting a 
thin layer of refuse, a sprinkling of 
lime, more refuse, a layer of manure, 
more refuse, lime again and so con¬ 
tinued until I had piled it all up. The 
tomato vines I chopped in lengths of 
two to four inches with a hatchet on a 
block, and used with the rest, every¬ 
thing of the kind except Lima bean 
vines, which I burned, and the corn¬ 
stalks, which I sold, although last Fall 
I used the Lima bean vines also by 
cutting them up like the tomato vines. 
This compost I turned once late in the 
Winter. It would have been better 
for another handling, and I shall do so 
this year. 
As soon in the Spring as I could get 
all the parsnips out of the ground and 
the prunings from the vines and shrub¬ 
bery about the lawn in fit condition to 
burn up, thus clearing the ground, 1 
put this compost on the garden. I 
would load a wheelbarrow, push it to 
where I wanted it, and dump it right 
over the wheel, putting it so it would 
be about the same thickness all over 
the ground when spread with a shovel. 
I hired the ground plowed with a two- 
horse plow, and thoroughly harrowed 
as early in the Spring as the condition 
of the soil would warrant it. In ad¬ 
dition to the harrowing, I pulverized 
the surface with a hand rake, getting 
it as fine as I could, and at the same 
time leveling up the small hollows left 
by the harrow. In the corners, where 
the plow did not do its work properly, 
I spade up the ground before raking it 
over. With my ground plowed and 
made in as fine a condition as possible 
for seeding, I now bring out my plan. 
With the aid of a lG-foot pole with the 
feet spaced on it and marked, and a 
two-foot rule to measure the inches 
when needed, I take a hatchet and drive 
a stake at each row’s end facing all 
the stakes the same way and sight to 
the inch mark on the pole. These 
March 19, 
slakes are from IS inches to two feet 
long, and I have prepared them some 
time before I am ready to use them. 
When I want to plant a row of small 
seeds, for instance, I stretch a line from 
stake to stake along the row, always 
being careful to draw the line on the 
face side of the stakes. If it is a row 
of radish, say, I would take my garden 
rake, which is about 16 inches wide, 
place its back on the ground under the 
line, and with a slight pressure of the 
foot upon it I mark the line and then 
move the width of the rake and repeat. 
Having thus marked the line, I sprinkle 
the seed along it, reverse the rake 
and cover them, leaving the ground in 
such shape that it will crust the least 
before the seed comes up. 
So far I have given the general prac¬ 
tice, which applies to each year’s treat¬ 
ment and preparation of the garden. 
Now I will give the actual dates of 
planting in 1909. On March 24 I had 
my garden plowed and harrowed. I 
spaded up the ends where the plow did 
not go, and raked it over as far as I 
had time. I am scheduled to finish a 
delivery of a letter carrier’s route at 
one o’clock and I have to report at. 
4.10 o’clock for another trip. This is 
the time I have to work in my garden. 
A rain came next day, so that I did 
not do any planting until the 31st, when 
I opened the rows where the June Pink 
and Ponderosa tomatoes were to go, 
with the plow on my wheel hoe, going 
twice in eaoh row. Then I put in my 
manure and made the ridged row by- 
going twice about to each row. I then 
raked down the ridge a little and planted 
radish seed in each row. 
On April 1 I planted one row of 
spinach where I mark Country Gentle¬ 
man corn, and two rows of potatoes, 
cutting the tubers to as near one eye 
as I could, opening the row the same 
as for tomatoes, but using raw bone 
meal only in the row, as my experience 
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A GARDEN PLAN FOR SUCCESSIVE CROPS. Fic.. 135. 
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