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FIFTEEN STEPS FOR THE INDIVIDUAL VICTORY
GARDENER TO FOLLOW
1. Obtain from your county agricultural or home economics extension
representative information on amounts and kinds of vegetables needed for
best nutrition of the family; quantities of seed required; best
varieties for different localities, seasons of the year, and uses; time
to plant; planting distances; fertilizers; and pest control measures.
2. Draw a plan of your garden preferably to scale with a ruler, showing
location of each row and the distances between rows, as well as planting
dates.
3. Co-operate with others in your locality in buying seed, tools, and
supplies. Seed is more economically purchased in weighed or measured
quantities, rather than in small packets, as are fertilizers and
insecticides; a single set of garden tools can serve a number of small
gardens.
4. Choose a soil which is fertile, well-drained, medium in texture—not
too sandy, because such soils require much fertilizer and frequent
watering, nor too clayey, because clay soils are hard to work and are
unfavorable to many vegetables—and of which the darker top-soil is at
least eight inches deep. Avoid thin soils or those that have been
eroded, as well as those which have been filled in or have been idle for
several years. If you are inexperienced, consult your county agent or
your supervisor chosen by the local Victory Garden Committee.
5. Choose a site which is reasonably level and well exposed to sun and
air movement. One might not recommend the latter in Western Kansas or
Oklahoma, but in the humid Northeastern States good air circulation is
desirable.
6. Find out the lime requirement of your soil. Your county agent can
test this for you. Apply the amount of lime required. For soils with a
considerable lime requirement it is the cheapest fertilizer.
7. Co-operate with others in having plants for early transplanting grown
by experienced plant growers. A few plants can be grown in window boxes,
but the chances of having healthy, sturdy plants are better if they are
grown in hotbeds or greenhouses by those who know how to do it.
8. Clean up rubbish and especially any large, thick-stemmed weeds which
may be present in your garden or near it. This step will reduce the
population of certain pests next summer.
9. Spade or plow your garden deeply and well, incorporating any suitable
organic matter or humus-making material into the soil. Compact the soil
after spading or plowing, by breaking clods or by rolling, harrowing, or
raking. Fertilizers and lime also may be spaded in, though they may be
broadcast on the surface and raked in.
10. Plant straight rows, using a stretched string for accuracy, and
marking the distances carefully. Observe proper planting depths. Keep
ahead of the weeds and of insect pests.
11. Water if possible when the soil becomes dry, applying enough to
dampen the soil to a depth of at least six inches, which had best be
ascertained by digging to see. Most home gardeners do not apply enough
water to be of any value; about three quarts are required to the square
foot to moisten a moderately dry soil to a depth of six to eight inches.
At this rate about 900 gallons would be needed for one watering of a
garden 35 feet square.
12. Take the best possible care of fruit trees, grape vines, and bushes
on your home property. For the emergency, this is more important than
planting new ones. Plant new fruit plants for the future, mainly to show
your optimism for that future.
13. Obtain information on cooking, drying, and preservation of
vegetables and fruits from your county home economics extension
representative; on home storage, from your county agent.
14. In small gardens, give place to the vitamin-rich, leafy vegetables,
to those which may be planted closely and produce abundantly, and to
those which lose rapidly in edible quality and nutrient content during
commercial handling. See pages 51 and 52.
15. Keep in touch with your local Victory Garden Committee and make full
use of its services. Be willing to report promptly all information asked
by these committees.
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click for larger photo
Victory Gardens
Handbook of the
Victory Garden Committee
War Services, Pennsylvania
State Council of Defense
April, 1944
TABLE OF CONTENTS
page v
page vi
page vii
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