War Gardens: A Pocket Guide for Home Vegetable Growers — John Shaqi
War Gardens: A Pocket Guide for Home Vegetable GrowersFree, Montague
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War Gardens: A Pocket Guide for Home Vegetable Growers
Free, Montague
Vegetable gardening
Those who are interested in dietetics may wish to choose their
vegetables on the basis of their food value. In terms of the calorie,
the unit of energy as applied to food, we find that 1 ounce of dried
beans (seeds) and 8 ounces of string-beans are required to produce a
hundred calories. Of green corn 3.2 ounces are needed; of potatoes, 5.3
ounces; of onions, 8 ounces; of beets, 9.6 ounces; of cabbage, 13.3
ounces; and at the bottom of the list comes celery, of which 23.7 ounces
are required to produce a hundred calories. It is misleading, however,
to take a list of vegetables with their caloric values and decide, that
because 6.4 ounces of peas contain one hundred calories, while it is
necessary to have 10.1 ounces of carrots to produce the same amount,
nothing but peas shall be grown in the garden. The proper basis on which
to make a decision along these lines is on the amount of calories that
can be obtained from each square yard of ground. A considerable area is
necessary for the production of a pound of peas, while a similar weight
of carrots could be produced in a much smaller space. Furthermore, it
must be remembered that the human system demands a certain amount of
bulky foods, and these are supplied by vegetables low in caloric values.
There are a number of crops that can easily be preserved or stored for
winter use, and this should be considered when deciding what kinds of
vegetables to grow. String-beans are easily preserved by pickling them
in brine, and there is no difficulty whatever in caring for the
dry-shell beans when they are not infested with weevils. All of the root
crops—carrots, beets, parsnips—can be easily stored in sand or soil in
the cellar, and potatoes are one of the easiest of crops to care for.
Onions can readily be carried over into the winter if a cool, airy room
is available. All of the crops just mentioned are fairly high in food
value.
VII
PLANNING THE GARDEN
A garden can be made without a plan, but it is usually a haphazard sort
of affair, and it frequently means that much more money is spent for
seeds than is necessary. Another frequent happening in a miss-or-hit
garden of this kind is a plethora of some kinds of vegetables and a
great scarcity of others.
It is difficult to give any definite information as to the quantities of
vegetables to grow, as yields vary so much, owing to the character of
the soil and climate, the variety of the vegetable, and the skill, or
lack of it, of the gardener. The preferences of the individual must also
be considered. The table in the Appendix giving the approximate amount
of vegetables that can be obtained from a hundred-foot row may be
helpful. It must be remembered, however, that these figures are only
approximate and that wide variations can be expected.
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