those four garden helps is simply to make your work less and your
returns more. You might just as well refuse to use a wheel hoe because
the trowel was good enough for your grandmother's garden, as to refuse
to take advantage of the modern garden methods described in this
chapter. Without using them to some extent, or in some modified form,
you can never know just what you are doing with your garden or what
improvements to make next year. Of course, each of the plans or lists
suggested here is only one of many possible combinations. You should be
able to find, or better still to construct, similar ones better suited
to your individual taste, need and opportunity. That, however, does not
lessen the necessity of using some such system. It is just as necessary
an aid to the maximum efficiency in gardening as are modern tools. Do
not fear that you will waste time on the planting plan. Master it and
use it, for only so can you make your garden time count for most in
producing results. In the average small garden there is a very large
percentage of waste--for two weeks, more string beans than can be eaten
or given away; and then, for a month, none at all, for instance. You
should determine ahead as nearly as possible how much of each vegetable
your table will require and then try to grow enough of each for a
continuous supply, and no more. It is just this that the planting plan
enables you to do.

I shall describe, as briefly as possible, forms of the planting plan,
planting table, check list and record, which I have found it convenient
to use.

To make the Planting Plan take a sheet of white paper and a ruler and
mark off a space the shape of your garden--which should be rectangular
if possible--using a scale of one-quarter or one-eighth inch to the
foot. Rows fifty feet long will be found a convenient length for the