In
deciding which site you
should use for the home vegetable garden, it is important to dispose
once
and for all of the old idea that the garden "patch" must be an ugly
spot
in the home surroundings. If thoughtfully planned, carefully planted
and
thoroughly cared for, it may be made a beautiful and harmonious feature
of the general landscape scheme, lending a touch of
comfortable
homeliness that
no shrubs, borders, or beds can ever produce.
With
this fact in mind you
will not feel restricted to any part of the premises merely because it
is out of sight behind the barn or garage. In the average
moderate-sized
place there will not be much choice anyway, since you will be limited
with
the size of the land. It is necessary to take what you have and than
decide
what had to be done to get very best of it. There will probably be a
good
deal of choice as to, first, exposure, and second, convenience.
If
you have opportunity,
try to select a spot near at hand and easy to access. Plan your garden
near gardening storage if possible. It may seem that a difference of
only
a few yards will mean nothing, but if one is depending largely upon
spare
moments for working in and for watching the garden, this matter of
convenient
access will be of much greater importance than is likely to be at first
recognized. Not until you have had to make a dozen time-wasting trips
for
forgotten seeds or tools, or gotten your feet soaking wet by going out
through the dew-drenched grass, will you realize fully what this may
mean.
The
one of the most important
things to consider in picking out the spot for your garden is exposure
to the sun. If choosen right, exposure is going to yield you with
happiness
and delicious vegetables all summer, or even for many years. Pick out
the
"earliest" spot you can find that seems to catch sunshine early and
hold
it late, and that seems to be out of the direct path of the chilling
north
and northeast winds. If a building, or even an old fence, protects it
from
this direction, your garden will be helped along wonderfully. Keep this
in mind, because for an early start is a great big factor toward
success.
If
the spot you choose is
not already protected, a board fence, or a hedge of some pretty,
low-growing
shrubs or young evergreens, will help greatly to its usefulness. The
importance
of having such a protection or shelter is altogether underestimated by
the amateur.
|
DRAINAGE
There
is, however, one other thing you must look out for in selecting your
garden site, and that is
drainage. Dig down eight or twelve inches after you have picked out a
favorable
spot, and examine the sub-soil. This is the second strata, usually of
different texture and color from the rich surface soil, and harder than
it. If
you find a sandy or gravelly bed, no matter how yellow and poor it
looks, you
have chosen the right spot. But if it be a stiff, heavy clay,
especially
a blue clay, you will have either to drain it or be content with a very
late garden--that is, unless you are at the top of a knoll or on a
slope. |
