Fig. 2.—A vacant-lot garden on one of the principal residence streets of Washington, D. C.
Do not locate the garden on land upon which the sun does not shine for at least five hours each bright day. Do not locate the garden on soil where the rock is but a few inches below the surface and where there is insufficient moisture. Do not attempt to grow a garden where a fill has been made with cinders, broken bricks, or rock, or where the original soil has been buried with materials upon which weeds will not grow. If weeds grow rank and vigorous it is a sure sign that the soil is good. Do not plant a garden under or near large trees that will steal all the moisture and plant food from the crops. The maples and the oaks are the kinds of trees that are most injurious to crops planted near them. Do not plant a garden on low land where the crops are reasonably sure to be lost from overflow. Failure to observe one or more of the above precautions has resulted in disappointment on the part of many gardeners.
Where there is any choice in the selection of a garden location the following points should be considered. The land should be level or gently sloping toward the south or southeast. The drainage should be good, but the land should not be so steep as to wash during rains. The location should be higher than adjoining land, in order to safeguard against frost, as frost does most damage on the lower levels. The ideal soil is a dark sandy loam with a rather retentive subsoil. The soil should be deep and break up loose and mellow when plowed or spaded. Plenty of organic matter or rotted manure should be present in the soil, in order to give it the power to retain large quantities of moisture and to carry the crops through periods of drought.
Fig. 3.—Long straight rows of vegetables which add attractiveness to a garden and lessen the labor of cultivation. Note how this garden has produced these results.
The ideal garden spot is seldom found, but it is often possible to choose a location that embodies a number of the more important conditions and then supply others. The difficulties of the first season are greater than those of subsequent years, and a garden plat if properly handled will improve with each season’s cultivation.
On account of the wide variety of local conditions that must be met, no definite plan can be given for a garden. A plan should be drawn on paper and the location of each crop decided upon. As a general rule, the rows should run north and south, but it is more important to have the rows run the long way of the garden for convenience in cultivating. [Figure 3] shows a well-planned garden.
It is essential that the garden be so arranged that the tall-growing crops will not shade the smaller ones.
Preparation of the Soil
With the location of the garden settled, the first step is the preparation of the soil. First, remove anything that would interfere with the plowing or spading of the soil. If the location is the home back yard it is assumed that the ground is free from débris and ready to be broken up. If the garden is to be located on a vacant lot it is probable that there will be stones, broken bricks, tin cans, and other trash to be gotten rid of. If the quantity of trash is not too great it should be hauled to some dump, but if there is so much of it as to make its removal expensive it may be piled on one side or one end of the lot. In some cases stone fences have been built along the outside of lots from the stones that were scattered over the ground. This cleaning-up process requires considerable work and should be done whenever the weather will permit prior to preparation for planting.