Читать книгу War Gardens, A Pocket Guide for Home Vegetable Growers - Montague Free - Страница 5

Table of Contents

In casting about for ways and means of starting a food-garden, by all means investigate the advisability of joining up with, or inaugurating, a community garden. There are tremendous possibilities in connection with co-operative efforts in developing vacant lots and making them productive, not in the sense of the real-estate man, but as food-producing plots, designed to reduce the cost of living, and, incidentally, in many cases, to clean up and make presentable what was formerly a neighborhood eyesore.

There are many advantages to be gained by a neighborhood group combining together for gardening operations. Usually it is not difficult in most cities to find large plots of vacant land with owners who are only too glad to have them cultivated. By co-operative effort it is possible to hire a team and plow and have such plots plowed at a trifling expense, whereas by individual effort it is seldom possible to obtain sufficient land to warrant the expense of hiring a team for plowing, even though the plot were large enough for the team to turn around on. A community garden organization can buy garden tools, such as wheelbarrows, wheel-hoes, a sprayer, and other comparatively costly tools, which greatly facilitate the work of caring for the plot, but which it would be impossible or unwise for an individual to buy if he wished to come anywhere near making a profit on his garden. Seeds and fertilizers can be bought to much greater advantage, and more cheaply when obtained in bulk, with the added advantage that of such seeds as tomato, egg-plant, peppers and celery, one packet is usually enough for the whole organization, whereas by individual effort it would be necessary for each gardener to buy his own packet of seed, resulting in considerable waste. Waste is not to be condoned at any time, especially now when seeds of some vegetables are scarce.

I have in mind a community organization a description of which will serve to illustrate what can be done by organized effort of this kind.

A piece of land about three acres in extent was available for cultivation in this case. It was fairly good land, but had served to some extent as a dumping-ground for cellar excavations, and had a considerable amount of rubbish of one kind and another deposited upon it. The principal of an adjacent school decided that this land ought not to remain idle, so he obtained permission from the owner to use it, and then, with some other energetic people of the community, got together and started to do things. The ground was first plowed and harrowed free of charge by the city park department and the largest of the stones removed. It was then decided that the plot should be fenced, in order to keep out cats, dogs, small boys, and other undesirables, and to insure that those who raised the crops should receive the benefit. Material, consisting of two-by-four-inch posts eight feet long, chicken netting five feet wide, and a strand of barbed wire to go around the top, was bought for this purpose at a cost of about $112. The fence was erected by volunteers in their spare time, and six padlocked gates provided, to which each plot-holder had a key. Water-pipe was laid all over the area so that the crops could be cared for in time of drought. The expense incurred for the purchase of pipe and installation, together with that of seeds, fertilizers, and the larger garden implements, was borne by the association. The area was divided into fifty plots each 100 × 23½ feet. Each plot-holder was asked to keep an account of his expenses, and also of the yields obtained. The results are interesting. The average cost of each plot, including expenses incurred for fencing, seeds, fertilizer, etc., was a little over $11; the value of the crops obtained was around $34; giving an average profit of between $22 and $23.

When one considers the smallness of these plots, it must be admitted that the results were worth while, and the whole adventure is very encouraging to those who contemplate a similar enterprise. Of course no allowance was made for the cost of labor involved in preparing and caring for these plots; but to offset this one should remember that the soil was not especially good, the workers not experienced, and then one must take into account the large initial expense of fencing the land, buying tools, etc. This year the expenses will be considerably less and the yields ought to be greatly increased because of the improvement of the soil through the cultivation of the preceding year.

Other advantages of community gardens that may be mentioned are these: there is not so much danger of a plot-holder becoming tired of gardening and quitting before he has harvested his crop; community gardening fosters a spirit of healthy competition, and each gardener tries to have his plot looking a little neater, and to produce larger and better crops, than his neighbor. Furthermore, in a body of men and women associated in this way there is almost always some one who has had a garden before and to whom the novices may turn for advice.

While community gardening is undoubtedly the most economical, and, in many ways, the most pleasurable method for the home gardener to produce his crops, one should not be deterred from the attempt to grow vegetables merely because there is no opportunity to link up with an organization. The man with a back yard can grow some vegetables, provided that his soil is fairly good and his plot is open to the sunshine. Even the apartment-dweller need not despair, because in most cities it is possible to obtain the use of a plot of vacant ground, through either the municipality or some organization formed for the purpose of dealing with such situations.