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Show Home, Farm & Garden Wednesday, April 4, 1984 - Page 14 Maximizing your garden's productivity So you love vegetables. Want to grow lots of fresh, tasty vegetables in a garden of your own, but limited on space? Don't abort your plans or settle for less than you want. With a little planning and research, you can become a gardener successful at your maximizing land's productive capacity. Before you start digging, you'll need some gardening equipment. Paul Fisher, tool catalog product manager of the Brookstone Co., a merchandizer of garrecommends purdening equipment, y tools of a size and chasing weight comfortable for your use. A spade, digging fork, rake, hoe, trowel, garden hose and wheelbarrow will put you in business. Other more specialized tools will follow as the season progresses and you determine your needs. When selecting a garden site, remember that maximum sunlight is essential for at least part of the day, preferably early morning sun. Now, think about the quantity and variety of vegetables you want to sow a little basil, parsley and chives, or baskets full of tomatoes, zucchini and peppers. The amount of available space in your yard doesn't necessarily indicate how much you can grow. If you don't have a lot of land, consider some of the following ways recommended by Fisher to make the most of the space you have. Pot or Tub Gardening. Fill wood or plastic tubs with soil and place in sunny areas such as apartment balconies, flagstone patios or paved driveways. You'll be surprised at the variety of vegetables which have been developed to grow mostly in containers. Using gardening pots allows good-qualit- - COPLEY NEWS SERVICE nutrient-ric- h soil you to use a weed-fremix that can be properly drained and e, aerated. Vertical Cropping. Use plant supports -stakes, poles and trellises - to incude vinelike crops such as peas, melons, cucumbers and tomatoes to grow up in-- TRADE IN AND TOME WTOASNAIfflSlgL That old lawn mower of yours has never been more valuable to you. Because right now you can trade it in for a SNAPPER. Not only will you receive excellent trade in value, you'll experience the remarkable difference a SNAPPER can make in your lawn care. Versatile, innovative, easy to operate. That's SNAPPER. Be it a push, or riding mower, they all car be equipped with special SNAPPER options designed to Oct'cw vartaoie take the work out of lawn care. The Mulcher-ize- r for mulching clippings. The Snapperizer for shredding leaves. And the Thatchenzer walk and riding mowers for to remove harmful thatch Also, for your conKit. venience there's an Extra So trade in that old mower for a SNAPPER s. at Duff Shelley The best has never so affordable "Ml SWAPPER fr Discover The Difference machnc stead of across. Keep in mind, however, that vertically grown crops require more water since more leaf surfaces are exposed to heat and drying wind. It also is important to situate climbing vegetables around the perimeter of the garden so they don't block the sun from each other or any ground-growin- g vegetables. Raised Beds. Raised bed garding could be the answer to problems of poor quality, hard or inadequately drained soil and sloping ground. Almost any crop, even root vegetables such as carrots and beets, can flourish in a properly tended raised bed. To make a raised bed, spade the topsoil up into beds from narrow pathways that will run between them, digging out all the large rocks from the soil beds. A soil depth of 10 inches is sufficient to develop roots. Rake the surfaces flat. The sides of the beds will need a heavy mulch cover to prevent evaporation of soil moisture. Intercropping. This method makes use of the space that must be left between rows of taller vegetables such as peas, runner beans and tomatoes by planting rows of g crops such as lettuce, short, radishes and summer spinch. The trick is to learn enough about the growth habits and nutrient and water needs of the various quick-growin- crops so that intercropped plants will not compete for sunlight, food and moisture. Catch Crops or Succession Planting. If your gardening enthusiasm is still high, take advantage of the ground space available after harvesting vegetables like peas and salad crops and sow others like chicory and Swiss chard, which can be planted during midsummer and harvested in the late summer or early fall. While it's not always easy to plant seeds during the hot summer months, you can get a head start by establishing seedlings prior to the initial harvest. This way, when a space opens up, all you have to do is transplant the seedling. mid-summ- er Prepare pepper plants Problems with your pepper plants? Here's a tip from Mark Hebert of the "Joy of Gardening" television series. Peppers prefer acid soil, so increase your soil's acidity by using book matches. Matches contain sulfur, which makes soil more acid, so plant four or five book matches under pepper plants when you set them out in the spring. Be sure to put a handful of dirt between the matches and your plants to prevent the roots from making direct contact. Limited time ' offer! FENCE- CHAIN LINK IN "Anniversary Sale" COLORS Fence that blends with your landscape. In green, brown and black. s $39.00 $47.00 6' '56.00 4. ... FREE ATTACHMENTS worth up to '145 00 DUFF SHELLEY MOWER & CYCLE 260 1. 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