Spring of 1942 will long be remembered 
as the start of a great nation wide Vic- 
tory Garden movement. People every- 
where pitched in to do their bit. A great 
_many were gardening for the first time 
and because of improper planning and 
the lack of knowledge, the results were 
rather disappointing. For those and 
other beginners, here are a few simple 
facts that should help make this year’s 
Victory Garden a much greater success. 
Proper planning of your vegetable 
garden should be started well in advance 
of the actual planting season, because of 
the present shortage of some varieties of 
seed, fertilizer and supplies, it is well to 
_ purchase your requirements early. How- 
ever, buy only what you will actually 
need as an over-stock will be wasteful 
and to make it as small as possible is a 
better aim than to make it as large as 
possible, with due regards of course to 
what is to be grown. There is often a 
temptation to lay out a larger area than 
the gardener can conveniently cultivate, 
but a small garden, well worked may be 
quite as productive as a larger one that 
is just beyond the gardener’s limitation. 
Certainly it will be far more pleasing to 
the eye—an asset of vegetable gardening 
which is not to be neglected. 
The first essential of a good garden is 
good soil. Very few localities have per- 
fect soil for gardening but this is not 
necessary. However, a gardener that tries 
to have as near perfect soil as possible, 
produces the best crop. Decayed vege- 
table matter from last year’s compost 
pile is an ideal form of humus for im- 
proving sandy or heavy clay soil. Be 
sure, though, the compost material is 
well rotted before using, otherwise this 

material will rob your garden plants of 
much needed nitrogen and instead of im- 
proving soil, will actually prove a detri- 
ment until it becomes completely rotted. 
If you haven’t a compost pile, your 
local seedsman can supply you with peat- 
moss, an excellent material for improv- 
ing soil condition. It holds from 15 to 30 
times its own weight in moisture, and re- 
tains its identity for years instead of 
breaking down rapidly as leafmold does. 
During the slow break down, peat moss 
continues to build soil. Peat moss is not 
a fertilizer; nor is it a plant food, nothing 
comes out of it. Its job is to lighten the 
heavy clays and make them more porous, 
or to enable clay soil to hold more mois- 
ture. If you are going to need this ma- 
terial, use it in generous quantities as it 
will pay big dividends during the hot 
summer months in the saving of water 
and improving of plant growth. 
(Continued on page 2 
