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of the whole year, such a table would have saved!
------------------------------------------------------ 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 -----------------------------------------------------| 0| |PA| | | | RHUBARB-2 |RS| | SEED BED | | |LE|??| | 5| |Y | | | |-------------------------------------------------| | ASPARAGUS-2 | 10|-------------------------------------------------| | | | POLE BEANS-2 | 15|-------------------------------------------------| | TOMATOES-1 | |-------------------------------------------------| 20| CABBAGE EARLY-1 | | LATE -1 | |-------------------------------------------------| 25| BROCCOLI-1 | BRUSSELS SPROUTS-1 | | PEPPERS-1 | EGG PLANT-1 | |-------------------------------------------------| 30| CELERY-1 | |-------------------------------------------------| | | 35| ONIONS-5-1/2 | | LEEKS-1/2 | |-------------------------------------------------| 40| | | CARROTS-4 | |-------------------------------------------------| 45| | | BEETS-4 | |-------------------------------------------------| 50| TURNIPS-1-1/2 | RUTABAGA-1/2 | | PARSNIPS-1 | |-------------------------------------------------| 55| | | | | | 60| CORN-4 | | | | | 65| | | | |-------------------------------------------------| 70| | | | | | 75| PEAS-4 | | | | | 80|-------------------------------------------------| | | | BUSH BEANS-3 | 85|-------------------------------------------------| | | | LETTUCE-2 | 90| ONION SETS-1 | ENDIVE-1 | |-------------------------------------------------| | MUSKMELONS-6 HILLS | CUCUMBERS-7 HILLS | 95|-------------------------------------------------| | | | | PUMPKINS-4H | WATERMELONS-5H | 100| | | |-------------------------------------------------| | | SUMMER SQUASH, BUSH-8H | 105| WINTER SQUASH-5H | | | | SUMMER SQUASH, VINE-5H | | | | 110|-------------------------------------------------|
A typical Planting Plan. The scale measurements at the left and top indicate the length and distance apart of rows. [ED. Distances are approximate, due to typing line constraints.]
The Planting Table prepared for one's own use should show, besides the information given, the varieties of each vegetable which experience has proved best adapted to one's own needs. The table shown herewith gives such a list; varieties which are for the most part standard favorites and all of which, with me, have proven reliable, productive and of good quality. Other good sorts will be found described in Part Two. Such a table should be mounted on cardboard and kept where it may readily be referred to at planting time.
The Check List is the counterpart of the planting table, so arranged that its use will prevent anything from being overlooked or left until too late. Prepare it ahead, some time in January, when you have time to think of everything. Make it up from your planting table and from the previous year's record. From this list it will be well to put down on a sheet of paper the things to be done each month (or week) and cross them off as they are attended to. Without some such system it is almost a certainty that you will overlook some important things.
The Garden Record is no less important. It may be kept in the simplest sort of way, but be sure to keep it. A large piece of paper ruled as follows, for instance, will require only a few minutes' attention each week and yet will prove of the greatest assistance in planning the garden next season.
VEGETABLE GARDEN RECORD--1910
-------------|---------------|--------|--------|---------------------- VEGETABLE |VARIETY | PUT IN | READY | NOTES -------------|---------------|--------|--------|---------------------- Beans, dwarf |Red Valentine | May 10 | July 6 | Not best quality. Try | | | | other earlies |Golden Wax | May 15 | July 22| Rusted. Spray next | | | | year Bean, pole |Old Homestead | May 16 | July 26| Too many. 6 poles | | | | next year |Early Leviathan| May 25 | Aug. 19| Good. Dry. Bean, lima |Fordhook | May 15 | | Rotted. Try May 25 Beet |Egyptian | Apr. 10| June 12| Roots sprangled |Eclipse | Apr. 10| June 14| Better quality Cabbage |Wakefield | Apr. 9 | June 20| Injured by worms. | | | |Hellebore next year Etc., etc. | | | | -------------|---------------|--------|-------|----------------------
The above shows how such a record will be kept. Of course, only the first column is written in ahead. I want to emphasize in passing, however, the importance of putting down your data on the day you plant, or harvest, or notice anything worth recording. If you let it go until tomorrow it is very apt to be lacking next year.
Try these four short-cuts to success, even if you have had a garden before. They will make a big difference in your garden; less work and greater results.
CHECK LIST
Jan. 1st--Send for catalogues. Make planting plan and table. Order seeds.
Feb. 1st--Inside: cabbage, cauliflower, first sowing. Onions for plants.
Feb. 15th--Inside: lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, beets.
March 1st--Inside: lettuce, celery, tomato (early).
March 15th--Inside: lettuce, tomato (main), eggplant, pepper, lima beans, cucumber, squash; sprout potatoes in sand.
April 1st--Inside: cauliflower (on sods), muskmelon, watermelon, corn. Outside: (seed-bed) celery, cabbage, lettuce. Onions, carrots, smooth peas, spinach, beets, chard, parsnip, turnip, radish. Lettuce, cabbage (plants).
May 1st--Beans, corn, spinach, lettuce, radish.
May 15th--Beans, limas, muskmelon, watermelon, summer squash, peas, potatoes, lettuce, radish, tomato (early), corn, limas, melon, cucumber and squash (plants). Pole-lima, beets, corn, kale, winter squash, pumpkin, lettuce,