The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California

Small Home Landscaping

The perennial crops—asparagus, rhubarb, artichokes, chives, herbs, mint must be established in permanent beds. Plant these at the end or side of the garden. Tall-growing vegetables, such as corn, peas, pole beans, tomatoes, etc., should be planted where they will not shade the low growing vegetables.

Short-seasoned vegetables—beets, carrots, radishes, etc., will permit several crops to be grown within a few months.

Preparing the Seedbed

If the ground has been properly spaded, the large lumps are already broken up. The surface should now be smoothed over with the rake, breaking up the remaining clods and pulverizing the soil to a depth of several inches. Stones and rubbish should be raked up and removed. Do not tramp the soil in the seedbed before planting. It is good practice not to prepare more of the seedbed than you expect to plant within a few days because rains may pack the surface and make additional raking or even spading necessary.

Sowing the Seeds

After preparing the seedbed, a line should be stretched parallel with the edge of the garden and about one foot from the edge to mark the first row. This line may be made out of any odds and ends of string tied to stakes three feet long, marked at six-inch intervals so that they may be used as a measure to determine the distance between the rows.

Most seeds are sown in shallow drills. With fine seeds such as lettuce, spinach and carrots, a drill may be made with the end of the rake or hoe handle scratched over the soil surface along the stretched line. Other seeds which require planting at a depth of two to three inches (for example, beans and peas) may be planted in a deeper drill made with the corner of a hoe. Care should be used to have the rows straight; crooked rows make cultivation difficult. Fine seeds may be planted by shaking them slowly out of the packet or they may be pinched up between the thumb and first finger and dropped. Fine seeds such as lettuce, carrots, and beets should be sown thinly, only two or three to the inch so as to conserve seed, and save labor in thinning.