GARDEN GUIDE POSTS 

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Out from under the shadow of war 
This year (praise be!) gardening can swing back to a balanced program 
again. No longer must we keep our gardens wholly utilitarian. No 
longer need we hesitate to revel in all the flowers we want. This year 
our souls, as well as our bodies, can draw nourishment from 
the garden! 
True, the Fight for Food is not yet over. Nor do any of us want to give 
up the bounty we’ve all enjoyed from our vegetable gardens during 
the war years. To relax our food production efforts now would be folly 
indeed! 
But, along with the food, let's have BEAUTY—and lots of it! 
Let’s celebrate peace by getting back to the joy of flower 
growing! 

FUNDAMENTALS OF PLANNING 
Continued from Page 7 
1—Plan to use your garden full 
time. To do this you’ll need catch 
crops, intercrops (also called com- 
panion crops) and succession crops. 
Catch crops are early vegetables, 
like spinach, that you grow very 
early before a crop like late cab- 
bage is set out. Intercrops are 
planted between the rows of 
larger vegetables, like head let- 
tuce between rows of Broccoli. Suc- 
cession crops are catch crops in 
reverse — they follow early crops. 
For instance, Chinese cabbage will 
mature fine heads if planted after 
an early crop of peas has been taken 
off. 
2—Divide the garden into three 
sections if possible, (1) Root vege- 
tables (2) Leaf vegetables and 
(3) Fruit vegetables. By switching 
these three groups every year you 
avoid many soil-borne diseases and 
| insects and get better use of fertil- 
izers. This isn’t absolutely neces- 
| sary, but it is one of those details 
| that the smart gardener watches. 
3—On level ground, you can run 
rows either east and west or north 
and south. If east-and-west layout 
is used, be sure to plant taller vege- 
tables to the north. On sloping 
ground, the rows must run across 
the slope, not up and down. Other- 
wise all your plant food and much 
of your topsoil will go down the hill 
when it rains. 
4—Plan to grow enough vege- 
tables for storing and canning. 
Remember that correct storage be- 
| gins with planting so provide for 
| this when planning your garden and 
ordering seed. 
5—In smaller gardens, don’t plant 
space-wasting crops like Potatoes, 
Pumpkins, Sweet Corn and Vine 
Squash. On the farm these can be 
| grown with the field crops, saving 
the more highly cultivated garden 
space for the more productive vege- 
tables that need closer attention. 
| Many gardeners report that Zucchini 
and other bush squashes gave bet- 
ter results than Eggplant and satis- 
fied many of the requirements for 
| vining Squashes. 
6—Include perennial vegetables 
when_ possible. Rhubarb, Aspara- 
gus, Horse Radish and Perennial 
Onions can be grown on one side of 
the garden where they won’t inter- 
fere with plowing or cultivating. 
Small fruits should be included 
whenever space will permit, since 
the quality of home-grown berries 
is far better than any you can buy. 
i—Avoid growing vegetables your 
family doesn’t like and won’t eat, 
but be sure to include plenty of 
those they do like. If they’re fond 
of beans, for instance, don’t be sat- 
isfied with a single large planting, 
but make several smaller plantings 
at two weeks intervals. 
From reports received from home 
gardeners on last year’s results, To-= 
matoes, Swiss Chard, Green Beans 
and Carrots produced the most food 
with the least effort. Concentrate on 
these if your space is very limited. 
8—Study the chart on page 18. 
This will tell you how far apart rows 
should be, how long each crop takes 
to mature, and how much space you 
will need to provide the vegetables 
your family likes. After you have 
taken into consideration the crops 
you want to grow, make a rough 
sketch showing the location of each 
crop, with catch crops, intercrops, 
succession crops indicated. 
Starting in Coldframes, 
Hotbeds, or Indoors 
The gains you can make by “beating 
the weather’ are well worth going 
after, particularly on tomatoes, cab- 
bage, peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, 
and kohlrabv. 
But remember that a plant which 
hasn’t been treated right in the flat 
will not’ be a good plant in the 
garden. A transplant that has had 
to struggle against over or under- 
heating, too much water or too lit- 
tle, etc., will not do as well as a 
direct-seeded plant or a purchased 
transplant that has had expert atten- 
tion. 
However, the right conditions for a 
successful indoor start are not diffi- 
cult to achieve. Any gardener can 
do the trick by applying a reason- 
able amount of care and attention. 
Continued an Page 10 
CAULIFLOWER, Early Snowball 






CORN, Ioana 

TOMATO, Jubilee 

ONIONS, Prizetaker 

PEPPER, California Wonder 9 
