Make Your Garden Feed You. E. Brown T.
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enumerate the different ones and give brief particulars regarding them.
TOOLS YOU CANNOT DO WITHOUT
DIGGING TOOLS.—One of the most important duties in connection with gardening is digging, so the first requirement is a first-class spade. It is worth while spending an extra shilling or so and getting a good one. It should be of the correct weight, a point which can be ascertained after handling a few at the shop.
Two forks are really necessary. One should be a four-pronged model, with round prongs, for all ordinary purposes. The second should have flat prongs, this being wanted for lifting manure, gathering up vegetable refuse, such as potato haulm and cabbage stalks, and also for lifting potatoes. And a trowel is essential for making holes for the reception of plants raised in the seed-bed.
RAKES AND HOES.—After digging comes the preparation of the surface soil—the production of a fine tilth. A couple of iron rakes and a wooden rake (the latter for the final raking) are needed. One iron rake should be 8 in. and the other 12 in. If you can get hold of an old 12-in. iron rake accept it as a gift, break off all the teeth with the exception of the two outside ones, and you will have an excellent tool for drawing two drills at once.
Hoeing is a job which must not be neglected, so both a Dutch and a V-shaped hoe should be bought.
THE GARDEN LINE.—Some kind of a garden line is required when drawing drills. Blind cord can be used for the purpose, attached to a wooden stake at each end. But unless treated carefully the cord is liable to perish rapidly. It really pays to invest in a proper line with an iron stake at one end and a staked winder at the other. Such a line lasts for years; the cord dries well, since the centre of the roll is hollow. Although not essential, as a 5-ft. tape measure does well enough, a 12-ft. rod marked off into feet, with the first 3 ft. marked off in inches, is useful for spacing out rows and plants.
OTHER USEFUL TOOLS
There are many occasions when a wheelbarrow is needed. One can be made at home, mounted on one or two wheels from an old perambulator; but as they do not cost a lot the war-time gardener may decide to buy one.
Watering is another necessary duty, so the purchase of a watering-can suggests itself. A syringe is also an asset.
The tools which are only wanted occasionally, or perhaps never at all, are a hose-pipe and roller, a spraying machine, mower (not likely, as grass is at a discount in war-time), a light garden roller, secateurs, pruning-knife, hedge shears, edging shears and a garden basket.
SEED BOXES, TRAYS, PEA STICKS, AND STRING
For raising seedlings in the frame or greenhouse seed-boxes or pans are required. The former are the better. The boxes should be 15 in. long, 10 in. wide and 3 in., 4 in., and 5 in. deep. All pans and boxes must be fitted with drainage holes in the bottom.
If the amateur food-grower has a greenhouse, flower-pots must be bought. Flower-pots range from 2 in. in diameter to 18 in., but these outside measurements can be forgotten. A few sixties, forty-eights, thirty-twos, twenty-fours and sixteens should prove sufficient.
It is recommended that seed potatoes should be sprouted before being planted. Trays are used and one or two should be knocked up out of 3/4-in. thick battens, 3 in. wide. The trays should be made with a sparred bottom and the two ends should be rather higher than the sides so that, when they are piled on top of each other, the contents of all receive plenty of air. These trays are also excellent for storing other things, such as onions.
Lastly, bean and pea sticks are required, but the former may be dispensed with if the runner beans are dwarfed. A ball of fairly stout string and some raffia complete the list of things you will need to carry out all the necessary work.
HOW TO CARE FOR YOUR GARDENING TOOLS
Gardening tools cost a considerable amount of money, so it is folly to neglect them. They can all be made to give excellent service for many years if properly looked after. A golden rule to adopt is that each one should be thoroughly cleaned immediately after use and then returned to its allotted position in the general-purpose shed—a shed which should be damp-proof, if possible, and in which a tin of oil (not paraffin) and a bundle of clean rags are kept handy.
The tools which are most likely to be bought at first are those used in working the soil. A good rubbing with a piece of old sacking is usually sufficient but, if the ground happens to be very wet, the tools should be scrubbed and, after drying, they should be lightly oiled. This applies to the spade, forks, rakes, hoes, trowel, and the like. Occasionally it may be necessary to file the spade a little, because, if the ground is stony, it becomes blunt in course of time.
The garden basket—this is usually oblong in shape, rounded at the bottom and fitted with a handle for convenient carrying—is apt to get wet and dirty. It should be dried carefully if only wet, but scrubbed and dried if very muddy.
If the wheelbarrow can be kept under cover all the better, but, failing this, it should be turned upside down and a sack thrown over it. The only attention it requires is for the wheel to be oiled at frequent intervals.
The edged tools are the most expensive, so after use they should be wiped dry with a clean rag and smeared with oil. They call for sharpening from time to time, a scythe stone being the most suitable agent to use.
The garden hose should never be allowed to get twisted, nor should it be allowed to lie about in hot, sunny weather, as this has a bad effect on rubber. It should be attached to a roller, and care should be taken to expel all the water as the hose is being wound up.
The syringe and sprayer should be washed out with clean water and the nozzles kept free from particles of grit. New flower-pots should be soaked in water for some hours before using, while dirty ones should be scrubbed in a mild disinfectant solution and rinsed in fresh water.
FRAMES AND THE GARDEN SHED
IN normal times most amateur gardeners endeavour to raise out-of-season crops, relying upon purchase for the ordinary vegetables when obtainable in the shops. The aim of the war-time gardener, however, is to produce as much food as possible, so extra early and late crops which occupy a considerable amount of room and involve a lot of work, together with the possession of a heated greenhouse or frames, need not be considered. At the same time, if the allotment already boasts a small greenhouse this should certainly be used. In any case one or two frames should be made or bought, since they are practically indispensable.
HOW TO CONSTRUCT A GARDEN FRAME
A frame is simply a box made rather higher at the back than at the front and fitted with a glass top. If the allotment or garden plot is of only small dimensions there is no reason why a crate should not be re-modelled and a piece of glass, say, a picture-frame, used for the top. Two or three such frames might be rigged up at little or no cost.
For the larger allotment, however, it is better to buy a three-light frame or, if the amateur gardener is handy with tools, to buy the “lights” and fashion the woodwork at home.
The usual type of frame is that known as the lean-to, as shown in Fig. 3. The ordinary light measures 6 ft. by 4 ft., so the whole structure measures 12 ft. by 6 ft. The body of the frame should be 14 in. high in front and 18 in. high at the back, and it should be made of sound boarding 11/4 in. in thickness. When more than one “light” is used there must be a channelled cross-member where they come together, so that the rain which percolates between may drain away without reaching the inside of the frame, where it may do damage to young seedlings.
The series of frames should be placed directly on the ground (slightly raised, if possible, to ensure adequate drainage) and, if plants are to be grown in pots, pans, or seed-boxes, filled with a 10-in. layer of cinders or coconut fibre. If a bed is made up, in which the plants are to be placed direct, this should consist of a 10-in. layer of good garden soil.