European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 16, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Braced Green of Jap 0reen Pepper Tomato Cdr la rom we to Fuetow you sow a per Frost seed by Patricia Mccormack United press International Downto Earth firs time gardeners touch the same bases old timers do but with less so if youre a beginner you need to psyche yourself up and divest yourself of any sinking feeling of after proceed with a certain amount of beginners Luck will see you you can always pull up your mistakes or plow them As must first diagram the a on it Block off patches for assorted vegetables youd like to nurture on your cucumbers and peppers Are the most commonly Homegrown if you dont want All give your Green thumb the Gar Dening test by sticking to one crop like after youve made your pick up a a a a a if the Cost floors Check out tag sales or garage sales for used youll also need a sprinkling wheel tape Garden presumably you have checked out and picked a Good soil should Drain a for is a Rotten place for a the same for a plot drenched with your crop needs Sun in addition to Well drained whats that mud that Doest let puddles size think suggests Charles Scott president of gardens for five five for sex even 20by20 is considered he Mark off the plot by driving stakes in the tie string from stake to stake to keep the plot from devel Oping an Odd shape As you prepare it for the first step in the preparation ritual is to Clear the Cut Down rip up remove huge pick up and other the next big step turning Over the its done with a it is hard your Back and arms will Tell you the Day after you dig up your once the soils pick up the Hoe and Knock apart make the plot less then run the Rake Back and Forth Over it smoothing it out and catching extraneous rocks and other using and following your Mark off the then Plant following directions on if you dont like waiting or worry about thieving Birds stealing your newly planted you can pick up plan lets at a Garden once you trans Plant your Garden will look something like like a followup is the same As if you started from you water the fight Small animals and other cursed Check out gardening books in the if you want to buy Here Are some Good ones about soils and water Ortho a detailed look at these important components of the vegetable Downto Earth vegetable gardening knowhow Garden Way tips and information on soil disease and pest soil compost and vegetable Rodales color handbook of Garden insects to Dale includes Over 300 color photographs of insects in pupa and adult life feeding Host related and organic control techniques Are Square foot gardening this Book is about a new system of laying and maintaining a attractive Garden in any amount of the Garden is based on a Grid of 1 footby1foot with single seeds or plants placed in carefully determined climbing and sprawling crops like pole and tomatoes Are grown vertically to save Mel the claims a Square foot Garden takes Only on fifth the space and work of a conventional Garden to produce the same Harvest and is easy to maintain so the Garden stays weedless and Ilber x 3 for those to Arent of the landed Gentry by David Haskell United press International Corn theres no need to envy those folks with Back Yard gardens overflowing with crops anyone can enjoy Juicy tomatoes and other vegetables Ripe off the even if All Treyve got is a bag of of also needed Are seeds or nutrients and sunlight and preferably some other Type of even though a bag of dirt will do if that All that Container gardening is one Way to make up for a Lack of space and is particularly Well suited for apartment provided they have a sunny spot on the Patio or be growing vegetables in containers requires such As failing to water on hot will quickly kill vegetable plants in but if growers fingernails will get just As dirty and Harvest time will bring its herbs and spices can be grown in fairly shallow but for this discussion lets assume we want to grow something substantial that come Harvest time we can get our Teeth the Choice of containers is they can be fancy or but the vegetable Plant wont care As Long As the Container is Large enough to handle its Root there Are Standard Clay Fine for Large plants but too heavy to move if the grower lives in a climate where it would be advisable to haul them indoors to escape Chilly nights or severe Metal or plastic Are other but disregard Metal it gets too Wood is Nice for some planters but again is difficult to i prefer the plastic Between 2 and 5 Gal which Are readily Check nearby bakeries or a local they use a lot of them and sometimes will give them away or sell them these buckets usually come equipped with which facilitate moving As to what to to Matoes Are the usual favorite but far from the Only satisfying string cucumbers and hot and Sweet peppers do Well in As do carrots and sounds like the beginning of a Beautiful dessert its amazing How delicious tastes a Melon just plucked from the Vine in the bucket on the because most of the choices Are Vine they have to be staked so  grow up instead of sprawling around As they would in a regular allowing them to grow up a if provides plenty of but be sure to set the stakes in the pots As you add the soil rather than after the Plant has developed a Root system in order to avoid damaging those for string which grow quickly and produce Best make it a tall next comes unless youve got a place to mix your picking a commercial soil mixture is though this is also the bag of dirt that can be used if nothing else is just stick a Plant in a Hole in the bag and watch the Plant which brings us to Here is where Container gardening requires vigilance and makes demands on a persons a Back Yard if done right and that usually Means mulching can be successful with minimal Container requires More Atten tends to dry out much quicker in particularly since they need to be placed in sunny locations for the vegetables to and that Means the Gardener has to provide More even though the lightweight plastic pots hold water in the soil on hot Days some of the plants May even need to be watered a potted Tomato Plant rapidly uses up a buckets Supply of moisture on a hot Day unless Steps Are taken to minimize the grouping pots close together helps to conserve As does tin foil As a mulch and Burlap wrapped around the organic materials such As Kitchen vegetable scraps can be used for speak ing of dont throw out that water in which the vegetables were wait till its Cool and add it to the plants drainage must also be if your containers have holes in the take care to place them some where where the draining water wont cause a Waterproof drip layered with would particularly indoors where it would also contribute to the airs if they dont have layer the Bottom with about 2 inches of gravel and an Inch of charcoal before adding if containers cant the soil becomes water logged and the plants i illustrations Vmary on m m m potato t to 1j i Carrot of Vav r Avocado turnip Page 14 the stars and stripes april 1935 the stars and stripes Page 15