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HOW AND WHERE MAY VEGETABLE SEEDS AND PLANTS BE
OBTAINED? Vegetable seeds should be purchased
preferably from established
seed dealers. The seed packets displayed on
racks in grocery and hardware stores or gasoline filling stations may
vary considerably in quality; some, packed by reputable seed firms, may
be fully satisfactory; others may be low in germination and in other
qualities, and the price for the quantity obtained may be high.
Gardeners may buy co-operatively, by estimating the actual quantity of
seed needed, and sending orders together to established seed firms or
co-operatives.
Farmers and experienced gardeners with sufficient space who will have
large gardens may be justified in constructing hotbeds and cold-frames
to produce their own plants. Such gardeners may obtain information on
recommended methods from the County Agricultural Extension
Representative or from The Pennsylvania State College School of
Agriculture (Leaflet 38, Growing Early Vegetable Plants Under Glass).
Plants may be grown in window boxes, but the atmospheric conditions and
the temperature in living rooms usually are not satisfactory for
vegetable plants. Plants produced by commercial plant growers, and
distributed by garden supply stores, florists, or commercial plant farms
are more likely to be satisfactory than are those produced at home by
inexperienced gardeners without special facilities for producing plants.
EARLY PLANTS MAY BE GROWN IN HOTBEDS
Though it is recommended that home gardeners obtain their early plants
from experienced plant growers, many with a suitable location may find
it interesting to grow their own. For this purpose, a hotbed is the
simplest structure in which plants may be protected against the cold.
This consists of a well insulated frame supporting one or more glass
sashes, sloped toward the south. Heat may be from fermenting manure, a
coil of hot water pipe, or from special electric heating cable.
Seeds Are Put in Rows in Flats, Each Flat is 12 x 18
Inches.
—Photograph by B. P. Hess |
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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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