Secrets of Backyard Gardening

There is probably no other spare-time work that affords as much pleasure and profit for the city or small-town resident as a backyard vegetable garden. Besides providing recreation for the man or woman who spends most his or her day indoors, a small garden will supply you with fresh vegetables, the crispness of which cannot be equaled by those purchased in a store, especially vegetables of the type that deteriorate rapidly, such as radishes, lettuce, corn, peas and green beans. All backyards, of course, are not suitable for growing vegetables because of trees, which keep them shaded most of the day, or because of the type of soil. The latter condition, however, can be overcome by careful use of fertilizers.

The first thing to do is to determine the amount of space available and then plan the garden. A plan is essential for a well-balanced plot, which will bear its maximum capacity throughout the summer, providing early and late varieties of some vegetables, and replacing early bearers with late-maturing winter crops. A well-considered plan assures the proper proportion of each vegetable, planted in the proper place to get the right amount of light or shade, and the soil best suited to its growth. It will surprise you to know the amount of vegetables that can be grown on a plot 20 or 25 ft. square, by rotating the crops, that is, planting early maturing vegetables between the rows of those that mature later, and by repeated plantings of early maturing types on the same ground. One of the best backyard-garden plans, recommended by the department of agriculture, was applied in a 25 by 70-ft lot, and yet in that fairly small space were included such permanent plants as grapes, strawberries, currants, beds of asparagus and rhubarb, besides early and late peas and onions, sweet corn, cabbage, beans, beets, lettuce, parsnips, radishes, potatoes, kale and spinach, as well as peppers and eggplant. In the main section, however, the owner of a very small plot should confine his efforts to vegetables that deteriorate rapidly when picked and marketed through stores.

In Figs. 1,2,3, and 4 are shown plans that may be of help in laying out your garden, at the same time, providing space for a lawn and flower beds.

Having planned your beds, the next step is to get tools and prepare the ground.  These usually include a hoe, rake, trowel, spading fork, and possibly a couple of weeding tools.  In most cases, it is advisable to spade up the ground in the fall, especially if the land is in the sod, so that the grass and roots will rot.  Heavy clay soils should be turned up loosely and allowed to freeze and thaw during the winter months.  In all cases, plenty of manure should be turned under.  Most commercial gardeners not only follow the practice of spading under large quantities of manure, but they stack it up to rot, and then apply the rotted material as a top dressing when preparing the land for planting.  If manure is not available, then commercial fertilizers should be used, following the instructions given for applying them.  Clay soils are often benefited by mixing sifted coal or wood ashes with them.  Ashes, unless they are made by burning hardwoods, have no value as a fertilizer, but they do tend to keep the soil loose so that the plant roots get plenty of air.  Not more than 50 lbs. of dry, unbleached hardwood ashes should be applied in a garden 30 x 60 ft. in size.  Proper fertilization and preparation of the soil are necessary, as much of the success in gardening depends on this operation.

Any sort of wooden box filled with good soil answers the purpose, one 4 x 12 x 24 in. in size being about the right size. To prepare the box, place a layer of about 1 inch of gravel in the bottom and then fill nearly to the top with garden soil, enriched with decayed leaves or other fertilizer. Press the soil down firmly with a small board, and scratch rows 1/4” to 1/2” apart crosswise of the box. Keep the dirt well-watered. If the surface of the box is covered with a piece of glass, it will cause the soil to hold the moisture and hasten germination of the seeds. When the weather becomes mild, the box should be set outside part of each day so that the plants may “harden off” in preparation for removal to the garden. A good watering should be given the plants just before they are taken out of the box so that a ball of earth will stick to the roots of each one. In this way, early crops of tomatoes, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, peppers, eggplant and lettuce can be had with little outlay for equipment. Seeds so planted germinate and are ready for transplanting by the time it is safe to sow the same kind of seed in open ground. Transplanting, if done properly, instead of injuring such plants, seems to help them develop a strong root system.

Another inexpensive method of starting your vegetables early is to plant them in wooden berry boxes, cardboard boxes or any other available receptacles. Hills of beans, tomatoes and many other vegetables may be started in the house in this manner. When the time comes for transplanting, the bottoms of the boxes may be cut away and the “hill” planted by sinking the box and its contents in place in the ground, leaving the sides just as they are. If you do not care to bother with starting the plants early, there is usually someone in every town that does this work commercially from whom the plants can be purchased. On the other hand, if you would like to grow more stuff early than is possible in a seed box, a hotbed can be made inexpensively. Fig. 6 shows a woodwork plan for an electrically heated hotbed that is easily made, and has the advantage over the manure-heated type in that it is portable and has plenty of space for storing your small garden tools. This bed is best for plants that are started in berry boxes.

This Vintage Garden and Woodwork Plan was first published in the early 1950's.

See more Woodwork Plans here!