The garden should be planned with a view to furnishing a large
assortment and continuous supply of vegetables through the entire
season. Its size will depend primarily upon the amount of land
available. On the farm, where any amount of land the owner desires can
be reserved, for a garden, vegetables to be stored for winter as well
as the summer supply, should be grown. On the village lot, space may be
insufficient to grow more than the summer's supply, and it may also be
necessary to leave out certain vegetables that require a large amount
of space. On a city lot, the space available for growing vegetables
is necessarily small, and plantings must usually be confined to those
vegetables which produce a large amount of edible product for the space
occupied.
Whether the garden is on the farm, in the village, or on the city
lot, the principles governing its planting and care are the same
although the distances of planting, methods of tillage, and intensity
of cropping may differ widely. On the farm, the saving of labor is
more important than the saving of space; even the small vegetables
are planted in long rows rather than in beds; and horse power is
substituted for hand power wherever possible. In the village and
the city, the vegetables must usually be planted as closely as the
nature of their growth will permit, and hand tillage employed almost
exclusively.
Much loss of time in planting a garden can be avoided by making a
definite plan of the garden several weeks or even months before the
planting is to begin. After measuring the area to be used for the
garden, the next step is to decide what vegetables are to be grown.
If space is ample, this will be determined primarily by the personal
tastes of the gardener and his family. However, if only a limited
amount of time and attention can be given the garden, it may be wise
not to undertake the growing of some of the more exacting crops.
Whatever the space to be devoted to gardening, the crops to be grown
should be decided upon long before the time of planting.
In planning the garden, it is well to arrange the vegetables in
the order in which they are to be planted. This facilitates the
preparation of the land for planting, and makes it possible to maintain
the unplanted portion in a good friable condition with the least
expenditure of labor. In order that the vegetables may be so arranged,
it is necessary to know the proper time for planting each crop. This
depends primarily upon the temperature and moisture requirements of the
particular crop in question.
If any of the small fruits, such as raspberries, currants, and
gooseberries, are to be planted within the garden enclosure, they
should be included with the permanent crops. The area devoted to the
hotbed, cold frame, and seed bed should be decided upon, but these may
be shifted more or less from year to year or located in some convenient
place outside of the garden. Where there is any great variation in
the composition of the soil in different parts of the garden it will
be advisable to take this into consideration when arranging for the
location of the various crops. If a part of the land is low and moist,
such crops as celery, onions, and late cucumbers should be placed
there. If part of the soil is high, warm, and dry, that is the proper
location for early crops and those that need quick, warm soil.
In planning the location of the various crops in the garden, due
consideration should be given to the matter of succession in order that
the land may be occupied at all times. As a rule it would not be best
to have a second planting of the same crop follow the first, but some
such arrangement as early peas followed by celery, or early cabbage
or potatoes followed by late beans or corn, and similar combinations,
are more satisfactory. In the South as many as three crops may be grown
one after the other on the same land, but at the extreme north, where
the season is short, but one crop can be grown, or possibly two by some
such combination as early peas followed by turnips.--(F. B. 255.)