A Commuter’s Vegetable Garden 
A GARDEN TWENTY BY THIRTY FEET THAT SUPPLIED FRESH VEGETABLES UNTIL 
OCTOBER WITH AN AVERAGE OF BUT TWELVE MINUTES OF WORK SPENT EACH DAY 
B Y W. O. Q U A R T L E Y 
M any commu¬ 
ters have per¬ 
haps come to the con¬ 
clusion that it does 
not pay to raise veg¬ 
etables and attend to 
business at the same 
time, but my own ex¬ 
perience shows that 
both may be done 
successfully, and that 
without giving up any 
part of Sunday or the 
Saturday half-h o 1 i - 
day. An average of 
a little over an hour 
a week, for the work¬ 
ing season, w'as suffi¬ 
cient to raise nearly 
ten dollars’ worth of 
vegetables. All the 
work was done before 
breakfast, or after 
seven o'clock in the 
evening. 
It certainly is not 
prohtable to rise be¬ 
fore daylight and use 
up one’s best energy 
in the garden, before starting the regular business of the day. But 
a half-hour at a time will be less tiring, and at the same time wdll 
produce satisfactory results, as the following experience shows. 
The plot measured twenty by thirty feet and the cost of seeds 
and plants did not exceed one dollar. The vegetables planted 
were: lettuce, peas, potatoes, radishes, 
beets, onions, string beans, bush limas, 
carrots, chard, salsify and celery. These 
were sowed in twenty-foot row's running 
north and south, and the plot accommo¬ 
dated about twelve rows at a time, spaced 
according to the room required for each 
variety. Counting the late crops, which 
replaced the early sowings, there were 
A large plot of ground is not necessary in order to raise vegetables for home use 
was done by continual 
vented from maturing 
teen weeks, instead of 
rest in August, giving 
I effected a saving 
The Long Orange carrots proved successful, 
and were of excellent quality and flavor 
Variety 
Number 
of 20 
ft. rows 
Sowings 
ISt 
Pickings 
Length 
of yield 
Onions—• 
White 
Sets 
2 
May 2 nd w’k. 
July ist w’k. 
I month — 
stored 
rest 
Salsify — 
I 
May ist “ 
Dec. ist “ 
till spring 
Radishes— 
Bright 
breakfast 
I 
May I St “ 
A'lay last “ 
2 weeks 
Potatoes — 
Bovee 
2 
.Apr. and “ 
July ist “ 
till fall 
Peas — • 
.\dvan'cer 
(double) 
May I St “ 
July ist “ 
I month 
Lettuce— 
Big 
Boston 
.Apr. last “ 
June 3 rd “ 
2 weeks 
Lettuce— 
Half 
Century 
I 
May 2 nd “ 
July ist “ 
2 weeks 
Celery— 
Golden, 
Self Bl. 
2 
.Tuly 3 rd “ 
Late fall 
late fall 
Carrots— 
Long 
Orange 
I 
June 2 nd “ 
.Aug. 3 rd “ 
in sand 
for 
winter 
Beet—• 
Columbia 
I 
May 2 nd “ 
July 3 rd “ 
stored for 
Bush Lima 
— Burpee’s 
I 
May 2 nd “ 
Aug. 2 nd " 
till frost 
Bush Wax 
Bean — 
Golden 
I 
May ist “ 
July ist “ 
till frost 
Scimitar 
I 
July 2 nd 
.Aug. 2 nd “ 
till frost 
“ 
I 
July 4 th 
Sept, ist “ 
'ill frost 
I 
.Aug. ist 
Oct. ist “ 
till frost 
about twenty row's 
sowed during the sea¬ 
son. Twelve varieties 
of vegetables were 
thus accommodated in 
this small patch. 
I found that pota¬ 
toes grew exception¬ 
ally well in a combi¬ 
nation of peat moss, 
stable manure and 
decayed sod. In 
planting, each piece 
was covered with sul¬ 
phur flour to prevent 
fungus growth. Al¬ 
though the yield was 
not remarkably 
heavy, proliably ow¬ 
ing to the very dry 
season, the quality 
was uncommonly fine. 
I managed to pro¬ 
long the bearing sea¬ 
son of the wax beans, 
that w'ere sowed on 
May 6th, until frost, 
which came the mid¬ 
dle of October. This 
picking; the pods, in this way, were pre- 
and the bearing season lasted over four- 
two or three. The plants took a partial 
only a small yield during that time, 
of W'ork by planting in the following 
manner: A double row of peas was sowed 
on each side of one of the potato rows, 
so that when the potatoes were dug for 
early use, in July, the soil turned up 
could be thrown into a ridge along the 
roots of the peas, at the season w'hen 
they most needed a mulch. At the same 
time a trench w'as started in w'hich to set 
{Continued on page 52) 
The wax beans were sowed the third week in 
July and picked seven weeks later 
(30) 
