Home Vegetable Gardening
A Complete &
Practical Guide To The Planting & Care Of Vegetables,
Fruits & Berries
Chapter 6: Manures,
Fertilizers and Mulching
To a very small
extent garden vegetables get their food from the air.
The amount obtained in this way however, is so infinitesimal
that from the practical standpoint it need not be considered
at all. Practically speaking, your vegetables must get all
their food from the garden soil.
This important garden
fact may seem self-evident, but, if one may judge by their
practice, amateur gardeners very frequently fail to realize
it. The professional gardener must
come to realize it for the simple reason that if he does not
he will go out of business.
Without an abundant supply of suitable food it is just
as impossible to grow good vegetables as it would be to train
a winning football team on a diet of soda pop and angel cake.
Without plenty of plant food, all the care, coddling, coaxing,
cultivating, spraying and worrying you may give will avail
little. The soil must be rich or the garden will be
poor.
Plant food is of as many
kinds, or, more accurately speaking, in as many forms, as is
food for human beings.  But the first distinction to make in plant
foods is that between available and non-available foods — that
is, between foods which it's possible for the plant to use,
and those which must undergo a change of some sort before the
plant can take them up, assimilate them, and turn them into a
healthy growth of foliage, fruit or root. It is just as
readily possible for a plant to starve in a soil abounding in
plant food, if that food is not available, as it would be for
you to go unnourished in the midst of soups and tender meats
if the latter were frozen solid.
Plants take all their
nourishment in the form of soups, and very weak ones at that.
Plant food to be available must be soluble to the action of
the feeding root tubes; and unless it is available it might,
as far as the present benefiting of your garden is concerned,
just as well not be there at all.
Plants take up their
food through innumerable and microscopic feeding rootlets,
which possess the power of absorbing moisture, and furnishing
it, distributed by the plant juices, or sap, to stem, branch,
leaf, flower and fruit. There is one startling fact which may
help to fix these things in your memory: it takes from 300 to
500 pounds of water to furnish food for the building of one
pound of dry plant matter. You can see why plant food is not
of much use unless it is available; and it is not available
unless it is soluble.
The Theory Of Manuring
The food of plants consists
of chemical elements, or rather, of numerous substances which
contain these elements in greater or less degrees. There is
not room here to go into the interesting science of this
matter. It is evident, however, as we have already seen that
the plants must get their food from the soil, that there are
but two sources for such food: it must either be in the soil
already, or we must put it there. The practice of adding plant
food to the soil is what is called manuring.
The only three of the
chemical elements mentioned which we need consider are:
nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potassium. The average soil
contains large amounts of all three, but they are for the most
part in forms which are not available and, therefore, to that
extent, may be at once dismissed from our consideration. (The
non-available plant foods already in the soil may be released
or made available to some extent by cultivation. See Chapter
7: The Soil And Its Preparation)
In
practically every soil that has been cultivated and cropped,
in long-settled districts, the amounts of nitrogen, phosphoric
acid and potassium which are immediately available will be too
meager to produce a good crop of vegetables. It becomes
absolutely necessary then, if one would have a really
successful garden, no
matter how small it is, to add plant foods to the soil
abundantly.
When you realize, (1) that the
number of plant
foods containing the three essential elements is almost
unlimited, (2) that each contains them in different
proportions and in differing degrees of availability, (3) that
the amount of the available elements already in the soil
varies greatly and is practically undeterminable, and (4) that
different plants, and even different varieties of the same
plant, use these elements in widely differing proportions;
then you begin to understand what a complex matter
this question of manuring is and why it is so much discussed
and so little understood. What a labyrinth it offers
for any writer — to say nothing of the reader — to
go astray in!
I've tried to present this
matter clearly. If I've succeeded it may have been only to
make the reader hopelessly discouraged of ever getting at
anything definite in the question of enriching the soil. In
that case my advice would be that, for the time being, he
forget all about it. Fortunately, in the question of manuring,
a little knowledge is not often a dangerous thing.
Fortunately, too, your plants do not insist that you solve the
food problem for them. Set a full table and they will help
themselves and take the right dishes.
The only
thing to worry about is that of the three important foods
mentioned (nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potassium) there will
not be enough: for it has been proved that when any
one of these is exhausted the plant practically stops growth;
it will not continue to "fill up" on the other two. Of course
there is such a thing as going to extremes and wasting plant
foods, even if it does not, as a rule, hurt the plants. If,
however, the fertilizers and manures described in the
following sections are applied as directed, and as mentioned
in Chapter VII., good results will be certain, provided the
seed, cultivation and season are right.
Various Manures
The terms
"manure" and "fertilizer"
are used somewhat ambiguously and interchangeably. Using the
former term in a broad sense — as meaning any substance
containing available plant food applied to the soil, we may
say that manure is of two kinds: organic, such as
stable manure, or decayed vegetable matter; and inorganic,
such as potassium salts, phosphatic rock and commercial mixed
fertilizers. In a general way the term "fertilizer"
applies to these inorganic manures, and I shall use it in this
sense through the following text.
Between the organic manures,
or "natural" manures as they are often
called, and fertilizers there is a very important
difference which should never be lost sight of. In
theory, and as a chemical fact too, a bag of fertilizer may
contain twice the available plant food of a ton of well rotted
manure; but out of a hundred practical gardeners
ninety-nine — and probably one more — would prefer
the manure.
There is a reason why — two reasons,
even if not one of the hundred gardeners could give them to
you. First, natural manures have a decided physical effect
upon most soils (altogether aside from the plant food they
contain); and second, plants seem to have a preference as to
the form in which their food elements are served to them.
Fertilizers, on the other hand, are valuable only for the
plant food they contain, and sometimes have a bad effect upon
the physical condition of the soil.
When it comes right down to
the practical question of what to put on your garden patch to
grow big crops, nothing has yet been discovered that is better
than the old reliable stand-by — well rotted, thoroughly
fined stable or barnyard manure. Heed those adjectives! We
have already seen that plant food which is not available might
as well be, for our immediate purposes, at the North
Pole.
The plant food in "green" or fresh manure
is not available, and does not become so until it is released
by the decay of the organic matters therein. Now the
time possible for growing
a crop of garden vegetables is limited; in many instances it
is only sixty to ninety days. The plants want their food ready
at once; there is no time to be lost waiting for manure to rot
in the soil. That is a slow process — especially so in
clayey or heavy soils.
So on your garden use
only manure that is well rotted and broken up. On the
other hand, see that it has not "fire-fanged" or burned out,
as horse manure, if piled by itself and left, is very sure to
do. If you keep any animals of your own, see that the various
sorts of manure — excepting poultry manure, which is so
rich that it is a good plan to keep it for
special purposes — are mixed together and kept in a
compact, built-up square heap, not a loose pyramidal pile.
Keep it under cover and where it cannot wash out.
The
pile should be turned from bottom to top and outside in and
rebuilt, treading down firmly in the process, every month or
two — applying water, but not soaking, if it has dried
out in the meantime. Such manure will be worth two or three
times as much, for garden purposes, as that left to burn or
remain in frozen lumps. If you have to buy all your manure,
get that which has been properly kept; and if you are not
familiar with the condition in which it should be, get a
disinterested gardener or farmer to select it for you.
When possible, it will pay you to procure manure
several months before you want to use it and work it over as
suggested above. In buying manure keep in mind not what
animals made it, but what food was fed — that is the
important thing. For instance, the manure from highly-fed
livery horses may be, weight for weight, worth three to five
times that from cattle wintered over on poor hay, straw and a
few roots.
There are other
organic manures
which it is sometimes possible for one to procure, such as
refuse brewery hops, fish scraps and sewage, but they are as a
rule out of the reach of, or objectionable for, the purposes
of the home gardener.
There are, however, numerous
things constantly going to waste about the small place, which
should be conv erted into manure. Fallen leaves, grass clippings,
vegetable tops and roots, green weeds, garbage, house slops,
dish water, chip dirt from the wood-pile, shavings — any
thing that will rot away, should go into the compost heap. These
should be saved, under cover if possible, in a compact heap
and kept moist (never soaked) to help decomposition.
To
start the heap, gather up every available substance and make
it into a pile with a few wheelbarrows full, of fresh horse
manure, treading the whole down firmly. Fermentation and
decomposition will be quickly started. The heap should
occasionally be forked over and restacked. Light dressings of
lime, mixed in at such times, will aid thorough
decomposition.
Wood ashes form another
valuable manure which should be carefully saved. Beside the plant
food contained, they have a most excellent effect upon the
mechanical condition of almost every soil. Ashes should not be
put in the compost heap, because there are special uses for
them, such as dusting on squash or melon vines, or using on
the onion bed, which makes it desirable to keep them separate.
Wood ashes may frequently be bought for fifty cents a barrel,
and at this price a few barrels for the home garden will be a
good investment.
Coal ashes contain
practically no available plant food, but are well worth saving
to use on stiff soils, for paths, etc.
Value Of Green Manuring
Another source of organic
manures, altogether too little appreciated, is what is termed
"green manuring" — the plowing under of growing crops to
enrich the land. Even in the home garden this system should be
taken advantage of whenever possible. In farm practice, clover
is the most valuable crop to use for this purpose, but on
account of the length of time necessary to grow it, it is
useful for the vegetable garden only when
there is sufficient room to have clover growing on, say, one
half-acre plot, while the garden occupies, for two years,
another half-acre; and then changing the two about. This
system will give an ideal garden soil, especially where it is
necessary to rely for the most part upon chemical
fertilizers.
There are, however,
four crops valuable for green-manuring the garden,
even where the same spot must be occupied year after year:
rye, field corn, field peas (or cow peas in the south) and
crimson clover. After the first of September, sow every foot
of garden ground cleared of its last crop, with winter rye.
Sow all ground cleared during August with crimson clover and
buckwheat, and mulch the clover with rough manure after the
buckwheat dies down. Sow field peas or corn on any spots that
would otherwise remain unoccupied six weeks or
more.
All these are sown broadcast, on a freshly raked
surface. Such a system will save a very large amount of plant
food which otherwise would be lost, will convert unavailable
plant food into available forms while you wait for the next
crop, and add humus to the soil — concerning the
importance of which see Chapter
7: The Soil And Its Preparation.
Chemical Fertilizers
I am half tempted to omit
entirely any discussion of chemical fertilizers: to give a
list of them, tell how to
apply them, and let the why and wherefore go. It is, however,
such an important subject, and the home gardener will so
frequently have to rely almost entirely upon their use, that
probably it will be best to explain the subject as thoroughly
as I can do it in very limited space. I shall try to
give the theory of scientific chemical manuring in one
paragraph.
We have already seen that the
soil contains within itself some available plant food. We can
determine by chemical analysis the exact amounts of the
various plant foods — nitrogen, phosphoric acid,
potassium, etc. — which a crop of any vegetable will
remove from the soil. The idea in scientific chemical manuring
is to add to the available plant foods already in the soil
just enough more to make the resulting amounts equal to the
quantities of the various elements used by the crop grown.
In other
words:
Available plant food
elements in the soil, plus available chemical food elements
supplied in fertilizers equals amounts of food elements in
matured crop.
That was the
theory — a very pretty and profound one! The discoverers
of it imagined that all agriculture would be revolutionized;
all farm and garden practice reduced to an exact science; all
older theories of husbandry and tillage thrown by the heels
together upon the scrap heap of outworn things. Science was to
solve at one fell swoop all the age-old problems of
agriculture. And the whole thing was all right in every way
but one — it didn't work.
The unwelcome and
obdurate fact remained that a certain number of pounds of
nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potassium — about
thirty-three — in a ton of good manure would grow
bigger crops than would the same number of pounds of the same
elements in a bag of chemical fertilizer.
Nevertheless this theory,
while it failed as the basis of an exact agricultural science,
has been developed into an invaluable guide for using all
manures, and especially concentrated chemical manures. And the
above facts, if I have presented them clearly, will assist the
home gardener in solving the fertilizer problems which he is
sure to encounter.
Various Fertilizers
What are termed the raw
materials from which the universally known "mixed fertilizers"
are made up, are organic or inorganic
substances which contain nitrogen, phosphoric acid or
potassium in fairly definite amounts.
Some of these can be used to
advantage by themselves. Those practical for use by the home
gardener, I mention. The special uses to which they are
adapted will be mentioned in Part Two, under the vegetables
for which they are valuable.
Ground Bone is rich in
phosphate and lasts a long time; what is called "raw bone" is
the best "Bone dust" or "bone flour" is finely pulverized; it
will produce quick results, but does not last as long as the
coarser forms.
Cotton-Seed Meal is one of
the best nitrogenous fertilizers for garden crops. It is safer
than nitrate of soda in the hands of the inexperienced
gardener, and decays very quickly in the soil.
Nitrate Of
Soda, when properly handled, frequently produces
wonderful results in the garden, particularly upon quick-growing
crops. It is the richest in nitrogen of any chemical generally
used, and a great stimulant to plant growth. When used alone
it is safest to mix with an equal bulk of light dirt or some
other filler.
If applied pure, be sure to
observe the following rules or you may burn your
plants:
(1) Pulverize all lumps;
(2) see
that none of it lodges upon the foliage;
(3) never apply
when there is moisture upon the plants;
(4) apply in many
small doses — say 10 to 20 pounds at a time for 50 x 100
feet of garden.
It should be put on so sparingly as to
be barely visible; but its presence will soon be denoted by
the moist spot, looking like a big rain drop, which each
particle of it makes in the dry soil. Nitrate of soda may also
be used safely in solution, at the rate of 1 pound to 12
gallons of water. I describe its use thus at length because I
consider it the most valuable single chemical which the gardener has at
command.
MURIATE And SULPHATE
of potassium are also used by themselves as sources
of potassium, but as a general thing it will be best to use
them in combination with other chemicals as described under
"Home
Mixing."
Lime will be of benefit to
most soils. It acts largely as an indirect fertilizer, helping
to release other food elements already in the soil, but in
non-available forms. It should be applied once in three to
five years, at the rate of 75 to 100 bushels per acre, after
plowing, and thoroughly tilled in. Apply as long before
planting as possible, or in the fall.
Mixed Fertilizers
Mixed fertilizers are of
innumerable brands, and for sale everywhere. It's little use
to pay attention to the claims made for them. Even where the
analysis is guaranteed, the ordinary gardener has no way of
knowing that the contents of his few bags are what they are
labeled. The best you can do, however, is to buy on the basis
of analysis, not of price per ton — usually the more you
pay per bag, the cheaper you are really buying your actual
plant food.
Send to the local Cooperative Extension
Service in your State and ask for the last bulletin on
fertilizer values. It will give a list of the brands sold
throughout the State, the retail price per ton, and the actual
value of plant foods contained in a ton. Then buy the brand in
which you will apparently get the greatest value.
For garden crops the mixed
fertilizer you use should contain
(about):
Nitrogen, 4 per
cent.
(Basic formula
Phosphoric acid, 8 per cent.
= for
potassium, 10 per
cent.
Garden
crops)
If applied alone, use at the rate of 1000 to 1500 pounds
per acre. If with manure, less, in proportion to the amount of
the latter used.
By "basic formula" (see above)
is meant one which contains the plant foods in the proportion
which all garden crops must have. Particular crops may need
additional amounts of one or more of the three elements, in
order to attain their maximum growth. Such extra feeding is
usually supplied by top dressings, during the season of
growth. The extra food beneficial to the different vegetables
will be mentioned in the cultural directions in Part Two.
Home Mixing
If you look over the local
Cooperative Extension Service report mentioned above, you will
notice that what are called "home mixtures" almost invariably
show a higher value compared to the cost than any regular
brand. In some cases the difference is fifty per cent. This
means that you can buy the raw chemicals and make up
your own mixtures cheaper than you can buy mixed
fertilizers. More than that, it means you will have
purer mixtures.
More than that, it means you will have
on hand the materials for giving your crops the special
feeding mentioned above. The idea widely prevails, thanks
largely to the fertilizer companies, that home mixing cannot
be practically done, especially upon a small scale. From
both information and personal experience I know the contrary
to be the case.
With a tight floor or platform, a
square-pointed shovel and a coarse wire screen, there is
absolutely nothing impractical about it. The important thing
is to see that all ingredients are evenly and thoroughly
mixed. A scale for weighing will also be a convenience.
Further information may be had from the firms which sell
raw materials, or from your local Cooperative Extension
Service.
Applying Manures
The matter of
properly applying manure, even on the small garden, is also
of importance. An amount of 40-50 wheelbarrows
full will not be too much; although if fertilizers are
used to help out, the manure may be decreased in
proportion. If possible, take it from the heap in which it has
been rotting, and spread evenly over the soil immediately
before plowing. If actively fermenting, it will lose by being
exposed to wind and sun. If green, or in cold weather, it may
be spread and left until plowing is done. When plowing, it
should be completely covered under, or it will give all kinds
of trouble in sowing and cultivating.
Fertilizers should be
applied, where used to supplement manure or in place of it, at
from 500 to 1500 pounds per acre, according to grade and other
conditions. It is sown on broadcast, after plowing, care being
taken to get it evenly distributed.
This may be assured
by sowing half while going across the piece, and the other
half while going lengthwise of it. When used as a starter, or
for top dressings-as mentioned in connection with the basic
formula — it may be put in the hill or row at time of
planting, or applied on the surface and worked in during the
growth of the plants. In either case, especially with highly
concentrated chemicals, care must be taken to
mix them thoroughly with the soil and to avoid burning the
tender roots.
Mulching
Mulching enriches and
protects soil, helping to provide a better growing
environment. In your backyard Mulching is one of the
simplest and most beneficial practices you can use in the
garden. Mulch is simply a protective layer of a material that
is spread on top of the soil. Mulches can either
be organic--such as grass clippings, straw, bark chips, and
similar materials — or inorganic — such as stones,
brick chips, and plastic. Both organic and inorganic
mulches have numerous benefits. Mulching benefits include:
• protects the soil from
erosion
• reduces compaction from the impact of heavy
rains
• conserves moisture, reducing the need for frequent
watering
• maintains a more even soil temperature
•
prevents weed growth
• keeps fruits and vegetables
clean
• keeps feet clean, allowing access to garden even
when damp
• provides a "finished" look to the garden
Organic mulches also
improve the condition of the soil. As these mulches
slowly decompose, they provide organic matter which
helps keep the soil loose. This improves root growth,
increases the infiltration of water, and also improves
the water-holding capacity of the soil. Organic matter is a
source of plant nutrients and provides an ideal environment
for earthworms and other beneficial soil organisms.
Another great thing about
mulch — you can find mulch materials in your own yard! Lawn
clippings make excellent mulch. They will work
wonderfully in the vegetable garden. The fine texture allows
them to be spread easily even around small plants. However,
grass clippings are becoming scarce because of the increased
popularity of mulching lawnmowers that provide many of the
same benefits of mulching to lawns.
Newspaper,
as a mulch, works especially well to control weeds.
Leaves are another readily available material to use as mulch.
Leaf mold, or the decomposed remains of leaves, gives the
forest floor its absorbent spongy structure. Compost makes a
wonderful mulch if you have a large supply. Compost not only
improves the soil structure but provides an excellent
source of plant nutrients.
Bark chips and composted bark
mulch are available at garden centers. These make a neat
finish to the garden bed and will eventually improve the
condition of the soil. These may last for one to three years
or more depending on the size of the chips or how well
composed the bark mulch is. Smaller chips tend to be easier to
spread, especially around small plants. Depending on where you
live, numerous other materials make excellent
mulches.
Hay and straw work well in the
vegetable garden, although they may harbor weed
seeds. Seaweed mulch, ground corn cobs, and pine
needles can also be used. Pine needles tend to increase the
acidity of the soil so they work best around acid-loving
plants such as blueberries.
When To Apply Mulch
Time of application depends
on what you hope to achieve by mulching. Mulches, by providing
an insulating barrier between the soil and the air, moderate
the soil temperature. This means that a mulched soil in the
summer will be cooler than an adjacent unmulched soil; while
in the winter, the mulched soil may not freeze as
deeply.
However, since mulch acts as an insulating
layer, mulched soils tend to warm up more slowly in the spring
and cool down more slowly in the fall than unmulched soils. If
you are using mulches in your vegetable garden, it is best to
apply them after the soil has warmed up in the spring. Cool,
wet soils tend to slow seed germination and increase the decay
of seeds and seedlings.
Mulches used to help moderate
winter temperatures can be applied late in the fall after the
ground has frozen but before the coldest temperatures arrive.
Applying mulches before the ground has frozen may attract
rodents looking for a warm over-winter site. Delayed
applications of mulch should prevent this problem as,
hopefully, the creatures would already have found some other
place to nest.
Mulches used to protect plants over
winter should be loose material such as straw, hay, or pine
boughs that will help insulate the plants without compacting
under the weight of snow and ice. One of the benefits from
winter applications of mulch is the reduction in the freezing
and thawing of the soil in the late winter and early
spring.
These repeated cycles of freezing at night and
then thawing in the warmth of the sun cause many small or
shallow rooted plants to be heaved out of the soil. This
leaves their root systems exposed and results in injury or
death. Mulching helps prevent rapid fluctuations in soil
temperature and reduces the chances of heaving.
Applying Mulch
You should begin by
asking yourself the following questions.
a. What do I hope to achieve
by mulching? Weed control? Moisture retention? Soil
improvement? Beautification?
b. How large is the area
to be mulched?
c. How much mulch will I need
to cover the area? Mulch is measured in cubic feet. As an
example, if you have an area 10 feet by 10 feet and you wish
to apply 3 inches of mulch, you would need 25 cubic feet.(10'
x 10' x .25' = 25 cu. ft.)
Next you need to determine
what mulch material to use and purchase or accumulate what you
need. Mulch can often be purchased bagged or bulk from
garden centers. Bulk may be cheaper if you need large volumes
and have a way to haul it. Bagged mulch is often easier to
handle, especially for smaller projects. Most bagged mulch
comes in 3-cubic feet bags.
Compost
Refer to the section on
composting for information on how to make your own compost.
Leaves
Collect leaves in the
fall. Chop them up with a lawnmower or
shredder. Whole leaves tend to compact if wet or blow away if
dry. Chopping will reduce the volume and facilitate
composting. Compost leaves over winter. Some studies have
indicated that freshly chopped leaves may inhibit the growth
of certain crops. Therefore, it may be advisable to compost
the leaves over winter before spreading them.
Grass Clippings
Spread grass clippings
immediately to avoid heating and rotting. Use only newspaper
text pages (black ink); color dyes may be harmful to soil
microflora and fauna if composted and used. Use 3 or 4 sheets
together, anchored with grass clippings or other mulch
material to prevent them from blowing away.
The amount of mulch to apply
will be determined by the mulch material you are using. The
general guidelines are:
Do not apply mulch
directly in contact with plants. Leave an inch or so of space
next to plants to help prevent diseases flourishing from
excessive humidity.
Remove weeds before spreading
mulch. Bark mulch and wood chips are sometimes used with
landscape fabric or plastic. The fabric or plastic is laid on
top of the soil and then covered with a layer of bark chips.
One caution to this practice: while the plastic or
fabric may initially provide additional protection against
weeds, as the mulch breaks down, weeds will start to grow in
the mulch itself. The barrier between the soil and the mulch
also prevents any improvement in the soil condition and makes
planting additional plants more difficult.
A great source for mulch may
be your local community. They may have wood chips from
the removal of street trees that are available free to
residents.
This chapter is longer than I
wanted to make it, but the problem of how best to enrich the
soil is the most difficult one in the whole business of
gardening, and the degree of your success in growing
vegetables will be measured pretty much by the extent to which
you master it. You cannot do it at one reading.
Re-read
this chapter, and when you understand the several subjects
mentioned, in the brief way which limited space made
necessary, pursue them farther in one of the several
comprehensive books on the subject. It will well repay all the
time you spend upon it. Because, from necessity, there has
been so much of theory mixed up with the practical in this
chapter, I shall very briefly recapitulate the directions for
just what to do, in order that the subject of manuring may be
left upon the same practical basis governing the rest of this
website.
To make your garden rich enough to
grow big crops, buy the most thoroughly worked over
and decomposed manure you can find. If it is from
grain-fed animals, and if pigs have run on it, it will be
better yet. If possible, buy enough to put on at the rate of
about twenty cords to the acre; if not, supplement the manure,
which should be plowed under, with 500 to 1500 pounds of
high-grade mixed fertilizer (analyzing nitrogen four per
cent., phosphoric acid eight per cent., potassium ten per
cent.) — the quantity in proportion to the amount
of manure used, and spread on broadcast after plowing and
thoroughly tilled in.
In addition to this
general enrichment of the soil, suitable quantities of nitrate
of soda, for nitrogen; bone dust (or acid phosphate), for
phosphoric acid; and sulphate of potassium, for potassium,
should be bought for later dressings, as suggested in cultural
directions for the various crops.
If the instructions in the
above paragraph are followed out you may rest assured that
your vegetables will not want for plant food and that, if
other conditions are favorable, you will have maximum
crops.
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