a measure. Whether or not a vegetable garden pays, breaks even, or
goes into the red, depends to a large degree on the owner himself. If
he has a flair for making things grow and has a definite amount of
time to devote to them, his garden will not only thrive but pay
dividends. But if a business trip is imperative just at the time the
garden should be planted, or some pressing engagement causes him to
defer transplanting his cabbages and his tomato plants beyond the
proper time, he must either get some one to take care of his garden or
do without one. There is a lure, however, to having your own
vegetables, so most of us close our eyes to any distressing figures on
the household ledger and go ahead and have a garden anyway.
One busy man compromises by having his garden prepared for planting by
a local man of all work who also keeps his grass cut and his borders
trimmed. Then he plants a few easily grown and tended vegetables, such
as lettuce, parsley, string beans, carrots, spinach, crookneck squash,
tomatoes, and corn. Around these, like a border, he plants showy
annuals like zinnias, cosmos, calendula, marigolds and so forth. His
garden is a colorful, attractive spot. He has vegetables for the table
and plenty of flowers for cutting. The latter preclude any argument
over whether his garden pays since, oddly enough, the subject of a
flower garden never seems to take a mercenary turn.
Distinct additions to the kitchen garden are an herb bed, a few
rhubarb plants, and an asparagus bed. The latter, because it takes
time to become established, seems difficult but laying out a proper
bed is not so hard. Also, in two to three years the plants will have
reached the stage where the larger stalks may be cut for consumption.
At first this should be done judiciously in order not to kill the
plants but after another year or two the bed will yield consistently.
After it is well established, it provides the first home-grown
vegetables of spring and bears for about six weeks. Afterwards all it
requires is an occasional weeding and fall mulching with fertilizer
and leaves.
As for the tools that keep gardens and grounds in condition, a special
shed is advisable. Don't try to keep them in a tool house or section
given over to saws, planes, chisels and bits. They get in a hopeless
jumble. Nothing is more discouraging than to go out to what should be
a tidy little spot to do a bit of mending or minor job of carpentry
and find earth encrusted garden trowels, weeders, and such gear
scattered all over the work bench. The grit so adhering is fatal to
sharp-edged tools, while sprays, dusting powders, and fertilizers give
off fumes that rust them.
We would also add a few kind words for the various berries and small
fruits. Except for strawberries, which must be kept weeded and
replanted periodically, berries are our ideal of easily cared for
fruits. Raspberries, for instance, never become really cheap in the
market because of their perishable nature. Yet with the very minimum
of care, cutting out old canes after the bearing season is over and
keeping weeds down with a mulch of hay, a comparatively small patch of
red raspberries, within three years of planting, will produce all the
fruit an average family can eat or be willing to pick. The other
variety, known as "black caps," are no more trouble and equally
prolific. These are at their best in pie and, for the pleasures of a
succession of fresh black raspberry pies each summer, we heartily
recommend planting a dozen canes at the same time that the red
raspberry patch is started.
Blackberry canes grow so rankly and bear such brutal thorns that the
annual crop seems hardly worth the torn clothing and bad scratches
that gathering them entails, especially as they are to be had at such
reasonable prices in the average market. Blueberries are another
matter. Three or four good bushes of the kind offered by most
nurseries will keep the family in blueberry pie with little effort on
the part of the person who gathers them. Currants and gooseberries are
easily grown but have one serious fault. These bushes harbor plant
pests that work havoc with evergreens and a number of the ornamental
shrubs. For that reason we long ago eradicated any growing on our
place.
Then there are the various fruit trees, cherry, peach, pear, and
apple. All of these, for a successful yield, require consistent care
and pruning. They must be sprayed at certain seasons for scale and
pest or the crop will be meager and poor. With dwarf trees now grown
by all nurseries, proper care can be given with simple equipment and
there is no doubt that home-grown fruits that are tree-ripened are
sweeter and of fuller flavor than those that come from the market. So
a few of these trees may well be an addition to your country place,
but plant them knowing the care required.
A grape arbor is a most attractive feature and since pruning can be
done any pleasant winter day, the work of tending a few vines is so
small as to be hardly worth considering. In September it is a real
pleasure to stray past the arbor and pluck a bunch of Niagara,
Catawba, or Concord grapes and eat them on the spot. So for decoration
and fruit borne, a few grape vines are more than worth the slight
attention they require.
By working thus intelligently with Nature, you will enjoy her
bounties--and this, after all, is the supreme reward offered by a
country home.
[Illustration]