GARDEN GUIDE POSTS 

The “Garden Guide Post” section of this catalog tells, 
in as few words as possible, what every gardener should 
know. 
Here are the practical, every-day facts you want as a 
foundation for successful gardening. From the great mass 
of garden lore, we have carefully selected the points we 
consider the most essential—and assembled them here. 
We’re sure you'll find, in these columns, the answers to 
most of your questions about gardening. 
For new gardeners—and for old-timers, too 
All the data in our ‘‘Garden Guide Posts” is necessary information 
for gardeners of limited experience. We urge all such gardeners to 
study and follow the suggestions offered here. The good seed we sell 
you will yield results in direct ratio to your own observance of these 
notes. 
Even the veterans of the garden craft will find substantial help here, 
too. Much of what we say is, of course, already known by the old-timers. 
But some of our facts are necessary reference material for all gardeners. 


SITE AND SOIL 
Even though you may not have any 
freedom of choice for the location 
of your garden, there is still much 
that you can do to make the most 
of your site and your soil. 
These five simple, but basic groups 
of facts will help point the way: 
1—Locate the garden in an open 
spot that receives at least six hours 
of direct sunlight each day, away 
from the roots of trees that might 
rob the soil of moisture and fertility. 
2—A rich sandy loam is the best 
garden soil, but if you have either 
heavy clay or light sand, the same 
materials will improve both—de- 
cayed vegetable matter—old rotted 
manure, peat moss, commercial hu- 
mus or well-rotted leaves. 
3—Don’t apply lime unless it is 
really needed. Usually a soil that 
will grow good beets is all right. If 
beets do poorly and grow irregular- 
ly, you can add about 50 lbs. of 
hydrated lime or 100 lbs. of ground 
limestone to each 1,000 square feet 
of garden. If you have a pH tester, 
most flowers and vegetables will do 
well in a soil between 6.0 and 7.0. 
4—Do apply fertilizer. Apply 30 
Ibs. of good general fertilizer like 
4-12-4 or 5-10-5 to every thousand 
square feet and you won’t have to 
worry about any deficiencies. 
5—Don’t plant in wet ground. No 
soil is right for gardening that can’t 
pass the ‘mud pie’”’ test. To make 
a mud pie test, pick up a handful 
of soil an@ squeeze it slightly. If it 
balls or packs together and won’t 
crumble when you apply light pres- 
sure, it is too wet to work. 
PLAN IT ON PAPER 
That old remark, ‘To save head- 
aches later, plan it on paper!’’ isn’t 
a very good rhyme, but it’s extra- 
good sense. Once you’ve tried it, 
you’ll never again plant without a 
carefully drawn plan! 

The best procedure is to start with 
a very rough sketch. Try all your 
ideas and combinations during this 
rough sketch stage. 
Then, when you’ve got what you 
want, convert your rough sketch 
into a final plan, drawn to scale. 
A scale of one-quarter of an inch 
representing one foot works very 
well, because by using 1/16 of an 
inch as three inches, almost any 
standard spacing of the rows can 
be shown in exact scale. Save this 
plan from year to year so you can 
remember where each crop was. 
This will enable you to rotate root 
crops, leaf crops and fruit crops. 
With the plan complete, you are 
now ready to order your fertilizer, 
seed, tools and insecticides. It is 
to your advantage to do this as 
early as you can. Late in the sea- 
son many desirable varieties may 
be sold out, deliveries may be 
slow and clerks are so busy that 
they can’t help you as well. 
8 FUNDAMENTALS OF 
PLANNING 
No one can fully plan your garden 
for you, because garden planning is 
a highly personal, individual mat- 
ter. Give your own ideas and de- 
sires plenty of play—and you’ll 
enjoy your garden more. 
But there are certain absolutely 
basic facts that apply to all home 
garden planning. 
Continued on Page 9 


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CUCUMBER, Early Fortune 



Bia rd Ee ee Te 
ENDIVE, Deep Heart Fringed 7/ 
oor 
