PLAN No. 583. CITY GARDENS
Very few people realize what can be done with their back yards. Many people who live in the city could solve the much-vexed question of the high cost of living if they would put their own lot of land to work.
A high school teacher living in Spokane used the vacant lot next to him and put it in potatoes. The soil was gravel formation. Most people in Spokane believed it necessary to water their potatoes daily, but he put some nitrogen in the soil and kept the potatoes carefully cultivated and irrigated them two or three times during the season. He obtained an excellent yield.
The back lot of his house was 30x30, and that was where he put in most of his time.
The space used for his tomatoes was 12x12. He made the soil in this place a sandy loam and mixed in ground limestone and some stable manure. He used a seed from Damascus, Syria, and treated the soil with nitrogen. He kept careful account of what he raised and it ran over fifty tons of tomatoes to the acre.
He built a grape arbor 8 feet high, 6x6 which took up but little room in his back yard. He used the Worden grape as it is a little earlier than the Concord. This furnished all the grapes that his family of four could consume, and gave him sufficient grape juice for the balance of the year. He had a good cider press with which he used to produce grape juice.
In his side yard he had eight or ten fruit trees. These produced all the pears and crab apples he could use the year round. When the apple crop came on he took his automobile and bought many boxes for 75 cents per box, and in this way he had all the apples and cider he wished for the year. He also made a drier, which is but an hour’s work, and dried considerable fruit for winter use.
He raised in a space 10x12 a “Progress” everbearing strawberry which gave his family all they could use from June to November and all they wanted to can for winter.
He was especially proud of his bean patch, 10x15—variety used was the Kentucky Wonder.
Beet patch, 2x8, variety planted—Egyptian.
Onions, 4x8, variety planted—Yellow Globe.
Carrots, 2x8, variety planted—Chantenary.
Lettuce, 2x8.
Radishes, he covered with a muslin cloth to keep them free from maggots—caused by the fly laying its eggs about the radish.
There were many berry bushes which formed a pretty fence for his back yard which produced all the berries the family could use. In addition to the above he had one hill of rhubarb, two hills of melons (cantaloupe) and two hills of cucumbers, which furnished all they could use.
In addition to the above space he made at the back end of the house a hotbed 5x10 which produced vegetables for him until winter and early in the spring. He made the soil in this as follows: Sod for the bottom, which is rich in nitrogen and on top of this put in about six inches of sand and leaf mould. This made a most excellent soil.
The above plan carried out by a man who is far more busy than the average during his spare time, not only made a living for one year for his family but increased his knowledge of out-door life and enjoyed the best of healthful exercise.