“Maybe this will help” 
—SAYS THE OLD GARDENER 

Some random notes on points that may 
need clearing up...and on gardening 
ideas you may be overlooking... 
Have you ever tried “double digging” (the old- 
time European way)? Are you making use of 
cover-cropping in your vegetable garden? Do 
you know which fertilizers last 10 years or more? Or how a hotbed 
can do double duty? Or how far weed control should extend beyond 
your garden boundaries? Here are practical answers to these and 
other practical questions. 

Cover crops—after vegetables 
—to improve your soil 
Save and improve your soil and plant 
food supply by growing cover crops. 
After a row of vegetables has been har- 
vested (if you aren't planting a succes- 
sion crop in this spot) sow some quick- 
growing plant that will take up any ex- 
cess fertilizers and store them in its 
tissues. Plow under that plant just be- 
fore the next crop goes in, and decay 
will release that plant food just in time 
to do the most good. Also, the rotting 
vegetable matter produces humus, with- 
out which good crops cannot be grown. 
Ask us for advice on cover crops for 
the garden. 
Drainage—too much or 
not enough? 
Low, wet spots will produce better 
crops if drained by tiling. Oftentimes 
an open trench leading water away from 
a low spot can be filled with crushed 
stone or gravel and will perform as well 
as more elaborate tiling. 
Or the problem may be one of too 
much drainage—a steep slope that al- 
lows water to run off so rapidly that it 
causes washing or erosion. Remember 
that not only does surface washing car- 
ry off soil, but it also carries with it 
the valuable soluble plant foods as 
well. Grading and terracing may be too 
costly for most gardens, but oftentimes 
a simple plank set on edge will control 
the rush of water and hold back soil 
and plant foods. 
Hotbeds and cold frames 
Permanent hotbeds and cold frames for 
the permanent garden are a good invest- 
ment. If possible make them of materials 
like concrete, concrete block or brick. 
If of wood, try to use redwood, cypress 
or red cedar. 
A windbreak to the north for hotbeds 
and cold frames will provide protection 
in late fall and early spring. Plan to 
use cold frames late in fall for salad 
crops like lettuce. They can be used for 
storing vegetables, too. 
20 
COMPOSTING—how to 
do it, and why 
The compost heap is a “must” for the 
permanent garden. Select a spot behind 
a shed or otherwise hidden (if your gar- 
den is in the open) and spread out your 
garden wastes over this area in a layer 
six inches deep. Use weeds, old vege- 
table and flower plants, any non-greasy 
vegetable waste from the kitchen and 
lawn clippings. Trimmings from lawn 
edging are particularly valuable. 
Between each six inch layer, sprinkle 
a little lime and a liberal amount of a 
good mixed fertilizer. The fertilizer will 
feed the bacteria that cause the vege- 
table wastes to decay. Then apply three 
or four inches of good garden soil over 
the lime and fertilizer. Repeat until the 
pile is two feet high. Wet down if rain 
doesn’t fall. In six months all weed 
seeds and other vegetable matter will 
be broken down by the bacteria into a 
rich home made “manure” that will go 
a long ways towards making yours a 
perfect soil. You need not waste the 
space used for the heap, since cucum- 
bers, melons and squashes never grow 
as well as when planted in shallow de- 
pressions in the compost heap. 
“Long-pull” fertilizers 
It is profitable to apply many long-last- 
ing fertilizers to the permanent garden 
which will last for years. For instance, 
superphosphate or bone meal may last 
for ten or fifteen years before becoming 
available. Also, potash, such as muriate 
or sulfate of potash lasts a long time 
without washing away. Use fertilizers 
liberally on the permanent garden—it 
pays. 
Liming will help break up heavy clay 
and will sweeten acid soil. But don't use 
lime unless it is needed, since too much 
lime destroys humus. Use only when 
needed. We can supply a simple test 
kit that shows if lime is needed, and if 
so, how much, Litmus paper is not 
enough: it only shows a plus or minus 
reading. 
Old fashioned double digging 
is still a good idea 
The gardener who takes pride in doing 
a first class job should consider trench- 
ing or double digging his soil in the 
way the old-time European gardeners 
did. To double dig, remove a trench of 
soil just the width and the depth of a 
spade, and wheel this soil to the end of 
the garden where you plan to finish. 
Next, add a layer four or five inches 
deep of compost or manure to the bot- 
tom of the trench and dig it in, Then 
dig the soil from the next row and throw 
it on top of the soil you have just dug 
over. Repeat this process across the en- 
tire garden and you should have a 
loose, well-drained soil with a rich sub- 
soil. While this sounds unnecessarily 
complicated, actually it is quite simple 
and is worth the effort it costs. It is par- 
ticularly valuable for root crops, and 
where heavy clay soils need to be 
broken up. 
Ever considered a 
garden windbreak? 
Many gardeners who have experienced 
failure with their summer plantings 
should consider planting a windbreak 
to slow down the force of the hot, dry 
winds that suck moisture from the soil 
and burn up tender seedlings. A sum- 
mer windbreak should be located to 
cut off the prevailing summer breezes, 
usually to the south or southwest of the 
garden. Because garden plots are small 
and because garden plants are low- 
growing, a hedge five to six feet tall 
should be enough. This will not cut off 
breezes from the house. A hedge of 
privet or similar hedging should be 
adequate. 
Gardens need 
SANITATION, too 
Weed control for a distance of at least 
25 feet on all sides of the permanent 
garden is highly desirable. First, this 
helps reduce the number of weed seeds 
that will be carried or blown onto the 
garden itself. A few hours spent in 
‘weed control at any convenient time 
may save hours and days of weeding 
when time is precious. 
Equally important is the value of de- 
stroying the hiding places of many in- 
sects that cause trouble in the garden. 
Leaf hoppers and borers travel from 
weedy patches to garden plants. Many 
pests hibernate and live over winter in 
weeds. By killing off weeds and keep- 
ing this zone dusted with D.D.T., fewer 
insects will attack the garden. Inci- 
dentally, chiggers or harvest mites are 
kept down by this treatment, increasing 
comfort in working the garden. 
Weed destruction today has been sim- 
plified greatly with the discovery of 
the amazing new 2,4D weed killers 
which destroys weed selectively and 
without danger to animals or equipment. 
See pages 36 and 39, 
