CARPET YOUR GARDEN
You can reap rich garden harvests on slim expenditures of time and physical exertion by putting a rug in your produce patch.
by JOHN KRILL
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If you're young and lazy, old and feeble or just plain busy
. . . you can reap rich garden harvests on slim
expenditures of time and physical exertion by putting a rug
in your produce patch. What's more, this gardening method
requires no tilling of the soil, no cultivating, no weeding
and no machinery in the form of tractors or gas powered
tillers. The technique will allow you—in a matter of
hours—to start a vegetable plot that will literally
maintain itself, even on tough sod. Only the fall frosts
will put an end to such a garden's unattended productivity.
Most of the few things you'll need for this "no work" way
of gardening can be found at residential curbsides on
rubbish disposal days or in the town dump: one or more
discarded rugs, a knife, a spade, a wheelbarrow
and—if it's available—some compost or manure.
Spread the carpet or carpets bottom-side-up on your garden
site in the fall or at least a month before planting time
in the spring. The covering will soon choke out all the
grass and weeds beneath it, eliminating the need to plow or
till the soil.
When you're ready to plant, cut one-foot squares from the
rug, as shown in Fig. 1. For tomatoes, space the squares
three feet apart in rows three feet apart. Separate the
planting holes by two feet in each direction for green
peppers, cucumbers and cantaloupes. Remember to leave a
broad margin of carpet around the edges on which the
cucumber, melon and other vines may spread (Fig. 2).
Place your wheelbarrow near each freshly-cut-out square and
dig a 15" deep hole at every location (Fig. 3). Dump the
soil into the barrow, mix it 50-50 with manure or compost,
and fill each excavation with the mixture. Be sure to tamp
all but the last four inches of the soil-compost
combination well as you refill the holes. This will prevent
later settling that might leave your plants sitting in
depressions. New plants form poor root systems in compacted
soil, however, so the top four-inch layer of each little
plot must be left loose to allow each plant to establish
itself quickly and vigorously.
