It is my belief that ALL things we consume are 'medicinal' in that they have GOOD or BAD effects upon our health. I'd like to expand this title to call it DEPRESSION VICTORY GARDEN and the victory is you over costs and you over your health.
You MUST have a place to put your garden. It does not matter the SIZE excepting the control that it has over how much variety and bulk you can obtain from your garden.
If you only have a small space, saya city back lawn of 50 x 50 feet or so, I would recommend that you grow only spices or small greens to add to your salads, lettuce, etc. etc.
But if you have a larger space, then let's look upon your plan as one to SAVE money and to produce food cheaply that you would otherwise have to pay much money for at the supermarket.
That assumed, pick out your space and arrange to have twenty plots in each row for planting. In other words, let's arrange your green space in twenty by ten rows, with twenty "hills" or planting spaces in each of the ten rows You are probably uprooting an old lawn or such ground, so the FIRST thing you must do is to get the old sod out of the way, and expose the bare ground. That is a formidable operation but must be done. Use a pick, a shovel, and eventually a hoe to get the top 12 inches or so thoroughly worked,
Once it is so worked, make your twenty "hills" about two feet apart, edge from edge, and work the soil at each "hill" into a small mound. Once this is done for the entire plot, you will have 200 such mounds.
Each now shall be fertilized. Do NOT buy the small boxes of fertilizer though they are effective,but a hundred pounds or more of 10-20-40 fertilizer, and work a quarter pound into each of your mounds, working it in with your hands and fingers(in gloves of course).
Wet each mound with the hose briefly, and wait until the next day for seeding.
FIRST ROW: Plant corn in these twenty hills..get Golden Bantam corn in the small packets available at your store for 20-30 cents each. ONE packet should give you enough Golden Bantam grains for twenty hills.
Plant at least five grains to each hill, putting them about six inches down in the center of the hill., tamping over the center with earth. Then wet the hill briefly, not running to 'mud'!
The next row(number 2) plant TOMATOES. Here you go through the same procedure,but put more of the tiny seeds than you did with the corn. You will later drive a stick by each of these mounds for the tomato vines to trail upon. Even better is to buy the tiny plants themselves at your store.
Number 3: You now have a spinach row, and you follow the same procedure as before, making certain that you place enough seeds in each hill and wet it down afterward.
Number 4: Put snap-beans in this row: again, put at least five or seven beans from your packet in each hill and follow the same procedure.
Number 5: Green onions: here you are plainting the type of onion for your salads, and not the big bulb onions...make certain you get the right seed at your store. Follow the same procedures.
Number six: LETTUCE! You MAY want more than twenty hills for this, but to be consistent, get the seeds for head lettuce, and plant as much as you wish but at least the recommended twenty hills.
Number seven: CABBAGE! The same as the lettuce but make certain that your hills in the cabbage row are at least six feet from the lettuce plantings as they will interfere with one another if too close.
Number eight: BROCCOLI! Same procedure, but READ the instructions for placing the seeds and the follow-up for the plants.
Number nine: Asparagus. Like the broccoli next to it, this is a difficult plant to get good results from. but perseverance will win out. Make certain you have good seeds. If you have the TIME and the FORTITUDE, you can pregrow the asparagus plants in small pots and then transplant, but it is not necesary if you have enriched your plot to begin with.
Number 10 and last: POTATOES! Here you will not put SEEDS in but take SEED potatoes you have procured at your store or elsewhere, and you will cut each "seedspot' from the seed potatoes, amd place at least FIVE of these seed spots in each hill. LOOK at the seed potatoe and notice that you see the beginning of what would later be a sprout at several places on each of the seed potato. You CAN plant the whole seed potato in each hill, but the growing process will be slower and tend to spread too far for happy potatoes.
You are now finished with the basics. You should SPRINKLE each hill (not heavy water) each early morning and each sundown for the next six weeks. When you see any appearance of any of your plants, pull any competing weeds at once.
When corn plants are up for a few days, place a wooden stake to support the plant later. Do the same with potatoes and anything else that needs support.
EVENTUALLY you will have wonderful FRESH and CLEAN and FINE TASTING vegetables and plants. Your OWN!
And if you have progressed carefully, you will have saved at least 50 percent in comparison to your market costs.
Good planting and good eating!