VEGETABLE GARDENING FOR VICTORY RowING vegetables at home is a lot easier than you may think. If you have a place in your yard that receives six ot seven hours of sunshine on clear days, itis a simple matter to loosen the soil, drop in some seeds, provide water and keep the weeds and bugs away. Then in a short time you will have some delicious fresh vegetables to eat ‘There are a few simple fundamentals, however, about vege- table gardening which you can apply to help produce excellent results and it is with that thought in mind that this booklet has been prepared for you by Standard of California. Follow its plain, non-technical instructions and you will produce a maximum amount of fresh garden vegetables. ‘Thus you can relieve the shortage of supplies at your grocers and in addition you will find Victory gardening invigorating exercise which will take the place of some of the recreations now denied by war restrictions. So, select the sceds and plants that should be started now. Fol- low the simple directions for planting and for caring for the plants after they are up, and soon you will harvest fresh vege- tables for your table. Also, you will take pride in the fact that you raised them yourself. Page OneLOCATION OF YOUR VICTORY GARDEN USF any AVAILABLE SPACE mst consider where to locate your Victory Garden. ‘The best place is one that receives six or seven hours of sun- shine on clear days and is away from trees or large shrubs. (Roots of trees reach out to take moisture and nutriment from the soil.) Ground which is level or is slightly sloping is preferred, but gardens can be grown on hillsides by terracing. If prevailing winds are severe, choose a protected place if possible. Be suse you have facilities for watering. The home vegetable gardener usually has little choice of a site for his garden, He must use the space he has available and make the best of it. And he can grow a satisfactory garden even if all conditions are not ideal. Ifyou have no yard space or if the space you have receives little of no sunshine —if the soil in the plot you are considering is not suitable —if weeds or other plants will not grow there readily, then look around for a near-by vacant lot. Or better yet, join one of the community or cooperative garden projects which are being. developed in nearly every city. (See Page 48.) While the shape or size of a plot matters little, the most con: venient shape for gardening purposes is a square or rectangle. Pate Two non aren You may have a small space here, a rectangular space there, a round space elsewhere, or a narrow strip along the side of the house, fence or driveway. All will do very nicely. Some vegetables such as lettuce and red chard make attractive borders or addi- tions to your flower garden. How large? If you have but one square foot, you can grow 4 tomato plant which will produce several pounds of tomatoes or you can grow a dozen or so carrots. Many backyard gard- nets find they have space from 10 by 10 feet to 20 by 20 feet. ‘And very satisfactory gardens can be grown on such plots. It is estimated that a space 40 by 50 feet can provide a family of four with all the more comnion vegetables they need for the year. While the size or shape is of little importance, one should remember that a small well-cared-for garden will produce more and better vegetables than a large one which is neglected. So start with the size you know you can keep in good condition and expand it later if you find you can handle a larger area, TOOLS ANCES are you already have all the tools needed for raising C a Victory Garden—a spade, a rake, a hoe, and facilities for watering. A trowel, string and yardstick are helpful additions, and if the garden is large, a hand cultivator will be useful If it is necessary to buy tools, get those of good quality as they will last longer and give geeater satisfaction in use. Page ThreeFERTILIZER RHAPS yout soil needs the addition of fertilizer. One way to tell whether or not your soil is fertile is by what has been ‘growing on it. Soil that has produced a good crop of flowers or weeds will very probably produce 2 good crop of vegetables. Dark colored soils are not always fertile. As a rule clay soils require less fertilizer than sandy soils. The best all-around fertilizer is barnyard manure with litter and straw mixed through it. It not only provides nutriment for the plants, but also adds organic matter and improves the tex- ture of the soil. This is particularly desirable in sand and clay soils. Use about 100 pounds for 100 square feet or about a shovelful for every three square feet. If you use sheep, rabbit, ‘or chicken manure, use about one-fifth as much, As a substitute for barnyard manure you can use a chemical fertilizer containing nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, about 4 pounds per 100 square feet, mixed with straw, peat or compost. Fettilizer should be spread over the ground and then spaded into the soil to a depth of six or eight inches, working it into the soil thoroughly, preferably thrce weeks before planting. Be careful not to work the soil when it is too wet. After the plants ate up, additional chemical fertilizer can be applied between the rows, as recommended in the following pages. To apply, make a small trench about 3 or 4 inches deep and about 5 inches from the plants on each side. Put the fer- tilizer in the trenches according to instructions on the package, cover and water. Where recommended this should be done about 3 weeks after the plants are up or after they have a good vigor- ous start. Do not permit fertilizer to contact roots or plants. Page Four SELECT THE VEGETABLES YOU LIKE 70 EAT SELECTION OF VEGETABLES ws choosing the vegetable seeds and plants you expect to grow, base your selection, first, on the tastes of your family; second, on the time of year you are planting; and third, on the size of your garden. It is better to grow a few well-cared-for vegetables than to try to grow a large variety crowded too closely together. Ten ot twelve different kinds of vegetables are usually suf- ficient for the average home garden, particularly when you are just starting. If your garden is small, plants requiring a large area, such as potatoes, sweet corn, winter squash and melons, should not be grown. Arrange your planting so you have a continuous supply of such vegetables as lettuce, cartots and onions throughout the entire growing season. As soon as you have harvested one vege- table, plant another in its place if the season permits. Tt is not advisable to grow crops out-of-season or those which are not suited to the district in which you live, as results obtained often do not justify the effort. Those described in this booklet can generally be grown anywhere in the western states. Page FivePREPARATION OF THE SOIL & TT soil will be the home of your garden plants from the time you sow your seeds until you harvest your vegetables. It should be prepared carefully so the plants will find favorable conditions for development. First of all, remove all rocks and trash, as vegetables cannot push through such material Garden soil is grouped under three headings: sand, loam and clay. Sand and clay are the two extremes, Loam is a combination of the two, To improve soils, particularly sand or clay, add humus, such as manure, leaf mold, peat moss or compost. The latter is a mixture of decomposed plant materials, weeds, vege- table trimmings, leaves, straw, grass cuttings; etc. Sandy soil or sandy loam can be spaded at almost any time, but clay or clay loam should be worked at the right time or it will not form a satisfactory seed bed for your garden, A rule-of-thumb way of telling when to spade clay or clay loam is to squeeze a handful firmly in the hand, If, when released, it breaks up easily to the touch it is ready to be spaded If the rains have not left the soil damp to considerable depth (approximately 18 inches), soak the ground and let stand until Page Six the moisture has penetrated to that depth, Then with the shove instructions about heavy soil in mind, you are ready to spade your garden, Spade the entire area to a depth of about 6 inches. Start by digging a trench about 10 inches wide across the garden, then, 1s you proceed, turn over each shovelful, throwing the dirt ahead of you to leave a trench each time you dig. Throw the soil so the half that was on top, including weeds, grass, ete., falls into the bottom of the trench. ‘The weeds, grass, etc., turned under will decompose and form humus which will add to the quality of the soil. If you have a large area to spade, 10 feet by 10 feet or larger, here is a good plan to follow. as METHOD OF SPADING LARGE PLOT OF GROUND Divide the garden in strips 5 or 6 feet wide, as shown by the dotted line, Start at one end, as indicated, and spade across one strip, throwing the first row or two as shown. Then con- tinue spading in the direction of the arrow “A”. When you reach the end, marked "B”, leave a trench, When you start at "C", throw the first row or two into the trench left at “B” and pro- ‘ceed until you reach the finish where the first ditt spaded waits to be placed in the last trench, ‘After completing your spading, rake the surface smooth and level, breaking up any clods or lumps and remove any stones or large roots. Your garden is now ready for planting. Page Seren