$2 Download. War Gardening & Home Storage of Vegetables Victory Edition 1919 – 38p

Victory Gardening

MAKE YOUR WAR GARDEN

A GARDEN OF VICTORY

By CHARLES LATHROP PACK, President

National War Garden Commission

AMERICA'S

responsibility for

the world's food supply did

L not stop with the ending

of the war. In peace, as in conflict,

this country must carry the burden

of Europe's food problems. With

the advent of peace these problems

have become intensified. America is

now expected to furnish the solution

and this can be done only through

the continued application of high

pressure food production and unwavering

food conservation.

For two years of war the War

Gardens of America produced foodstuffs

which helped establish the

balance of power between starvation

and abundance. In the spring of

1918, General Haig declared, "We

stand with our backs to the wall."

Of that call to the civilized world no

phase was more vital than its interpretation

and answer in terms of

food. During that year the answer

was given by the American people

with true American spirit. The war

gardeners of the United States responded

with a vigor which carried

the War Gardens over the top to

victory. By the addition of more

than five hundred million dollars of

crop value to this country's food

production they made it easier for

America to feed het own people and

the people of France and Belgium.

The Victory Garden is now as

vital as the War Garden. Peace

brings new food needs. In reclaiming

territory from the enemy France

and Belgium have greatly increased

the number of their people who must

be fed. By restoring these former

expatriates to citizenship these countries

have also assumed the burden

of feeding them. This will mean a

vast increase in the demands on

America as the source of Europe's

food supply in. 1919. Europe cannot

feed herself during the first year

of reconstruction; Russia faced famine

conditions in the winter of 19 18-

1919, and Mr. Hoover says that the

world's food shortage will last for

another seven years.

The war gardener's responsibility,

therefore, did not end with the coming

of peace. His War Garden must

now be made a Victory Garden in

the full sense of the words. It must

help solve the problem of feeding

people rendered helpless by years

of ruthless and terrible vvar.

The garden crop of 19 19 must be

even greater than that of 191 8, and

there must be more canning and dry ing

for winter use. The people of

America have a real duty to perform

in this respect and the nation counts

confidently on full measure of individual

response.

PART I

WAR GARDENING MANUAL

As a result of emergency created by war the home garden of America has

become an institution of world-wide importance. The planting and growing

season of 1918 demonstrated that the products thus raised are essential to the

feeding of the people of the United States and'the Allied Nations, Under the

impetus given by the National War Garden Commission the people of this

country last year produced a crop valued at $520,000,000 in gardens cultivated

in backyards, on vacant lots and on other land previously untilled — the

patriotic gift of the war gardens to the nation.

'Peace can in no wise diminish America's responsibility for feeding

Europe. The recovery of vast areas of devastated country in France and

Belgium greatly increases the number of people to be fed and adds heavily

to the food burden of America. Because of this the Victory Garden is no

less necessary than the War Garden.

WAR GARDENS HELP SOLVE TRAFFIC PROBLEM

War-time brought the most serious traffic

congestion the United States has ever seen.

This condition has no meaning more significant

than that the gardens of this year must

do even more than those of 1918 in freeing the

overburdened railroads from the need for

transporting food products. ÄÄ'ith food short age

threatening the Allied Nations and with

railroad congestion as an added factor, the

war garden results of the coming season must

be considerably greater even than the vast

yield of last year.

COMMUNITY GARDENING

Excellent results are obtained through co operative

gardening work. If several fami lies

join forces they can reduce the cost of

gardening in time, labor and money. Fami lies

having adjoining or neighboring garden

plots may use one set of tools. To prevent

clash of convenience it is well to have an

understanding in advance as to the time

when each gardener is to have the use of

particular tools. By this arrangement it is

possible to have complete equipment at expense

much less than if each gardener bought

his own. Money can also be saved in buying

seeds, fertilizers and spraying materials by

clubbing together and gaining advantage of

the lower prices for large lots.

One of the advantages of doing community

work is that it is possible for the gar deners

interested in the project to employ a

man and a team to prepare their gardens by

plowing and harrowing. In this way the

man and team can be kept busy throughout

the day and the expense to each gardener

will be slight.

On a larger scale this principle should be

applied to garden plots on tracts of vacant

land allotted to individuals in or near cities

or towns. Each plot in such a tract is a

separate garden, belonging to the individual

or family to whom allotted. In many in stances

the municipal authorities, the mayor's

war garden committee or some similar local

organization, will provide an expert to supervise

work on community gardens of this

character. This expert will give advice and

instructions as to preparation, planting and

cultivation and on other technical subjects.

If an expert is not provided in this way it

is wise for the gardeners to club together and

arrange for one at their own expense, if the

project is large enough to make this possible

without too great individual cost. The help

of an expert is of great value.

School children and parents may work to gether

to good advantage on these garden

plots. In some communities school authorities

allow the children to spend a portion

of the school hours, on stated days, in

their garden work. Through co-operation

with street cleaning departments a municipal

government may arrange to deliver

manure to war gardeners at nominal cost.

In at least one important city this is done at

a charge of $2 per load.

It is a good plan for municipal govern ments

to arrange for lectures at school

houses or other places on practical problems

in gardening. This increases efficiency.

CORPORATION GARDENS

Manufacturing concerns, and other enter prises

which employ labor on a large scale,

may make valuable contribution to the

national food supply by encouraging their

employees to cultivate war gardens. Many

concerns furnish large tracts of land, which

are divided into individual garden plots.

These plots are allotted to such employes as

are willing to cultivate them. Each plot and

everything it produces are recognized as the

individual property of its cultivator. The

company bears the expense of plowing and

fertilizing these plots and emj^loys an expert

to have charge.

HOW TO HAVE A GOOD GARDEN

Garden Plan

Have a plan for your garden — drawn to

scale on paper — before you start, to give

proper order in planting and enable you to

buy the right amount of seeds in adviince

while the selection is good.

Put in one general group small plants like

beets, onions, lettuce, carrots, radishes and

parsnips. In another general group put

larger plants like corn, tomatoes and pota toes.

Spreading ground vines, like melons

and cucumbers, which need wider spacing,

should be put in another general group. The

reason for this grouping is that the various

plants in a group need similar general treatment

as well as spacing.

In making a plan provide space in which

to enter costs and yield of the various crops.

This will give you a complete record w^hich

will be useful another year. Another helpful

use of the plan is that it will guide you in

the rotation of next year's crops. For this

purpose save your plan for next season.

In planning your garden formulate some

definite plan as to what you will do with

surplus vegetables. Detailed instructions for

home storage of vegetables for winter use are

given in Part II of this booklet. Detailed

instructions for canning, drying, pickling and

other forms of conservation are given in the

Home Manual on these subjects issued by

this Commission.

Sunshine

In the location of a garden it is not always

possible to choose conditions as to sunlight.

It is important, therefore, that in the arrangement

of the various varieties of vege tables

which are to be planted, due care

should be given to providing the greatest

exposure to the sun for those crops which

need it most. Those plants which must ripen

their fruits, such as tomatoes and eggplant,

require the greatest amount of sunshine,

while lettuce, spinach, kale and other leaf

crops require relatively less. Foliage crops

must have at least 3 hours of sunlight a day

and plants which ripen fruits at least 5 hours

a day. This is important.

Vary from Last Year's Plan

It is important to remember that plant

diseases and insects are apt to thrive in a

spot in which they have become established.

For this reason those who make gardens

this year should take care not to place the

individual crops in the spot in which the

same crops grew last year. Varying the arrangement

of the garden in this way will reduce

the danger from disease and insects. The

same vegetables in the same place each year

exhaust certain food elements, and reduced

yields are sure to result.

SURPLUS PRODUCTS

At times, even with the best of planning,

a gardener will find that his garden has

matured more of some varieties of vegetables

than can be used immediately. None of this

excess should be wasted and there is no

occasion for waste. If there is no ready

market for the surplus it should be prepared

for winter by either canning or drying. By

modern methods either canning or drying

may be done with little expense of time,

trouble or financial outlay. By using the

THE SEEDS OF VICTORY INSURE THE FRUITS OF PEACE

cold-pack method as small a quantity as a

single can or jar may be put up in a short

time. With proper instructions it is possible

for the housewife to dry a handful of peas or

beans, sweet corn, a few sweet potatoes or

turnips, or small quantities of many other

vegetables with practically no expenditure of

her time. Explicit and simple directions for

canning and drying are given in the Manual

issued by the National War Garden Commission.

THE SOIL AND MANURES

The back yard ga.dener must use the soil

he has, but he can improve it if is poor, and

he must do this as far as possible. Stable

manure will help even the

richest soil, and you are

not likely to use too much

of it. During a single season

professional gardeners apply

as much as six inches of it.

From 400 to 600 pounds can

be used to advantage on a

plot 20 by 20 feet. Coarse

manure should be applied

and thoroughly plowed or

spaded under in the fall.

In the spring, fine, rotted F'S- 2 — This shows the construction of an outdoor cold frame. A hotbed is

manure is ]■ 1 • , built in the sameway, except that for the hotbed a pit and manure are required. ^ appiiea, just See page 7 for directions for making cold frames and hotbeds.

before plowing or spading,

preceding the planting of any crop.

containing 3 to 4 per cent nitrogen and 8 to 10

per cent phosphoric acid is about right for the

average garden. Your dealer will inform

you on this point. If the fertilizer also contains

potash, so much the better, but this year

potash is scarce and high in price.

Where no manure is used the fertilizer

should be spread over the surface of the finely

prepared seed-bed at the rate of 5 pounds

for a plot 10 feet square, just before planting.

The surface soil should then be thoroughly

raked so as to mix the fertilizer evenly to a

depth of 2 inches. Never place seed or transplanted

plants in direct contact with fertilizer.

Thorough mixing of the fertilizer with the soil

is essential to prevent injury of seed or roots.

If the

ground is fairly rich, and well-rotted manure

is scarce, the manure may be scattered in the

row only, and should be mixed into the soil

before the planting of seed.

Loam is the best garden soil. Sand, with

manure, gives good results. Clay is hardest

to work, but is greatly improved by wellrotted

manure and vegetable matter — called

humus. These should be well worked in

with hoe and rake. Sifted coal ashes, en tirely

free from clinkers, will help loosen up

clay when mixed into

it,

but will not remove

an acid condition nor increase fertility.

Where manure has been worked into the

soil, reduce the fertilizer application approximately

one-half.

Tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes, spinach and

some other crops requiring rather long growing

seasons, are materially benefited by a second

application of fertilizer when half grown.

Side dressings of this kind should be scattered

between the rows at the rate of four ounces

(one-half pint) to 10 feet of row, when rows

are spaced

2

feet apart; and pro rata for rows .

spaced

a

greater or lesser distance. To insure

even distribution mix the fertilizer with fine,

dry earth just before spreading.

Commercial Fertilizer

Many gardeners experience difficulty in

obtaining supplies of well-rotted manure.

In such cases commercial fertilizers should

be used. Even where stable manure has

been secured and worked into the soil

it

is

well to supplement with moderate quantities

of quick-acting fertilizer in order to give

plants an early start and hasten maturity.

It

is

safest to rely upon the ready-mixed

fertilizers usually obtainable at seed and

hardware stores. Several specially prepared

mixtures in convenient packages are now on

the market. For large areas, 100 to 200-

pound bags may be obtained. A mixture

Compost

Compost

is

especially desirable when

quick growth

is

wanted. Compost

is

thoroughly

rotted manure or organic material.

It

is

prepared from six to twelve months

before being used, by putting the manure

and other material in piles having perpen dicular

sides and flat tops. These piles

are usually from

2

to

4

feet high and

6

to

8

feet long.

Besides the usual waste of garden rubbish,

there

is

a large waste of leaves, weeds and

the skins and other unused portions of fruits

and vegetables. These should all be thrown

on the compost pile to decay for use on the