Taking Stock and Making Plans 
SUMMING UP THE PAST YEAR’S ACTIVITIES IN THE GARDEN, AND LOOKING FORWARD 
TO THE COMING SEASON—WHAT CAN BE DONE NOW IN THE WAY OF PREPARATION 
BY D. R. Edson 
F OR success in gardening, plans must be made well in ad¬ 
vance, and the time to plan is now. Besides the vegetables 
which your garden this year gave you, there should be an ex¬ 
tremely valuable by-product of experience; but its value will 
deteriorate rapidly with the lapse of time. Many of the mis¬ 
takes which are still fresh in your memory now will have been 
entirely forgotten by next spring. If you happen to be the chief 
of a department in the business in which you work, your em¬ 
ployer undoubtedly requires a report upon the year’s operations; 
you know, also, that that report often shows many things 
which you did 
not suspect and 
that it is the only 
safe basis from 
which to plan 
your work for 
the year ahead. 
Do as much for 
yourself; you 
are as much in¬ 
terested in keep- 
in g down the 
cost of living as 
your employer 
is in making 
money. Not that 
an itemized cent 
for cent balance 
sheet is neces¬ 
sary or even de¬ 
sirable, but you 
can jot down the 
main figures of 
expense, such as 
manure or fer- 
t i 1 i z e r, seeds, 
tools, etc., and 
also any extra 
labor for plow¬ 
ing, spading, and 
other work i n 
the garden. In 
all probability you can do this from memory in a way that will 
be accurate enough — and you can probably get in the same way 
an approximate estimate of what the garden yielded. Further¬ 
more, you should jot down now the things of which you had 
either not enough or too much, what varieties did not seem to 
taste as good as they should, and what things you are under- 
or over-supplied with for the winter. It will require only a single 
evening’s pleasant occupation to do this; it will be worth a good 
deal to you to have it done. It will also add that interest which 
intelligent planning always gives to your garden work for the 
coming year, and not only added interest but added results. 
Within the next three months there will be plenty of time to 
attend to a good deal of your garden work, so that you will be 
unhampered and ready for a fair start in the spring. But if you 
keep on acting on the “plenty of time’’ principle, you will find 
that it has escaped before you realized it. The only safe and 
sure way is to get at the job now and have it out of the way. 
Have you ever arrived at an April first, when you could look 
around and find the following things done? Your plant food— 
manure, fertilizers, and “accelerators”—all purchased; your sea¬ 
son’s seeds, in the right quantities, on hand; your old tools all 
in one place, cleaned up, oiled and polished, and repairs made; 
a compressed air sprayer and a powder blower (both of which 
together need not cost over five to eight dollars) and a supply 
of ammunition to use in them; some provision made for supply¬ 
ing your garden, or at least part of it, with water during 
the drought? 
If so, I am ready 
to wage r that 
that season you 
had a successful 
and satisfactory 
garden. 
But the great 
probability i s 
that you have 
never, so far, en- 
j oyed such an 
April first. And 
yet there is not 
one of these 
things which 
cannot be done 
just as well be¬ 
fore that date— 
which in most 
sections means 
the beginning of 
the rush season 
of gardening out- 
of-doors—just as 
well, or in fact 
better, than later. 
Take, for in¬ 
stance, the mat¬ 
ter of your sea- 
son’s seeds. 
Most of the cata¬ 
logues will be ready in January; it is just time to send for them 
now. You know, or you should know, just as well at this time 
as three months hence what you are going to require. At present 
the seedsman’s stock is full and he has time to fill your order 
without rushing it through and involving the possibility of mak¬ 
ing annoying mistakes. The things you most want will not be 
reported as exhausted or substituted for. You have plenty of 
time to study the catalogues and make out your order carefully. 
You have time to figure out accurately just the amounts you 
will need. 
The same arguments are just as true of your plant food, 
manures, fertilizers, or chemicals. Good manure is hard to find 
at any time; it is much harder to find in March or April than in 
January. Engage yours now. The person from whom you buy 
it will agree to deliver it at any time, but in all probability if you 
will take it before the snow is off the ground, and while work 
It is a great mistake, when the season’s active outdoor gardening is over, not to put the tools, etc., in good order. 
Store all the implements carefully, so that they will be in condition for next spring 
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