early in the spring, to save time later. Every family will, of
course, have specially preferred vegetables to take precedence over
others, so individual taste alone can determine the allotted space
for each variety. Our selection and plan was made with due regard for
table pickles and preserves, all of which were bountifully supplied.
Therefore, if your discrimination on such subjects is too undeveloped
as yet to be trusted, accept our experience this year, and then you
will know how to reconstruct it for your personal needs. When planning
out on paper, the second crop should be considered as well as the
spring sowings.
One of the advantages of sending for seeds early is that you are sure
to get the varieties selected, whereas later in the season “the best”
is frequently sold out.
When choosing a site, remember that a slight slope to the south
or southeast is desirable. Size must depend very much on whether
you intend having a separate berry patch or not. A hundred feet by
seventy-five feet will supply an average small family with vegetables
for the table, excepting winter potatoes, which should be a field crop.
Protection from the northeast storms should be provided. Cedar or
privet is the ideal hedge for such purposes, but it takes money and
time; so, while it is developing, resort to the serviceable hurdle
fence made of brush.
If the weather is fine, the last two weeks of March should see the
patch of ground intended for the vegetable garden ploughed and harrowed.
Have well-rotted stable manure scattered over the surface before
ploughing, which should be deep at first. After two or three days’
airing, plough again, running the furrows crosswise; then harrow
and roll and harrow again, until every clod is broken up. Thorough
preparation of the soil should never be shirked, for it is more than
half the battle. Let me caution you not to have the ploughing done
if the ground be wet. Much of the disappointment which city people
experience arises from the natural desire of the amateur to get to
work. Earth ploughed, dug or hoed when wet or soggy will bake and
crust all summer. The right consistency can be ascertained by picking
up a handful and squeezing it. If it remains a solid lump it is too
wet, but when it presses together easily, and as readily falls apart
when released, it is in just the right condition to work, will turn
a clean furrow and will readily crumble under the harrow. Sod ground
is desirable for potatoes, so if there is a strip of grass land which
needs renewal, have it well ploughed, harrowed, and marked off in rows
eighteen inches apart, for the winter crop.
[Illustration: A CORNER OF THE VEGETABLE GARDEN]
Almost every old farmer has a theory about the way and size to cut
potatoes for planting. After listening to and trying several methods,
we have come to the conclusion that cutting large tubers in four,
and small ones through the centre lengthwise, is much better than
dissecting carefully to separate every eye, and then using two pieces
when planting, especially as the innumerable experiments made at the
agricultural stations have revealed the fact that eyes gather nutriment
for sustenance and growth from the potato itself, until the sprouts
develop stems that form joints, at which point rootlets start, proving
beyond doubt that, unless the piece of potato planted is large enough
adequately to feed the eye or eyes it may contain, the root growth,
which is required to furnish the subsequent tubers with food, must be
weakened. We plant one quarter potato to every foot in the row, and
cover from four to five inches deep, selecting ground which has been
heavily manured the year before, and scattering wood ashes on the
surface after the seeds have been covered.
Failing this source, commercial fertiliser specially prepared for
potatoes must be bought. Thorough cultivation is necessary to insure a
good crop. Soon--say seven or eight days after planting--run the harrow
over the field, to kill the embryo weeds and level the surface. As soon
as the plants show, cultivate again, but of course only between the
rows, and with an ordinary cultivator. Repeat at frequent intervals.
It is estimated that it takes fifteen bushels of potatoes after they
have been cut into quarters, to plant an acre, which should return
one hundred and thirty bushels of salable potatoes, by which is meant
large and medium sized potatoes, small ones not entering into the
calculation. There will be in all probability about thirty bushels of
these dwarfs, which are excellent fattening food for poultry and pigs
when cooked and mashed up.
The space intended for carrots requires extremely good cultivation, for
the soil must be thoroughly pulverised. Tie the seeds in a piece of
cheese cloth, steep in water for twelve hours, then hang up in a warm
room to drip and dry sufficiently to prevent their sticking together
when being planted. Another aid we furnish these delicate seedlings is
to drop a radish seed every six inches, because they germinate quickly
and throw a strong seed leaf, which breaks the crust over the row and
allows the fragile carrot sprout free access.
Allow two feet from the last row of potatoes, stretch the line, and
with a pointed stick draw a shallow drill in which to scatter the
carrot seed. Covering must not be more than a fourth of an inch; press
down firmly. Between each two rows of carrots allow one foot. Steep and
use only half the seed at first, planting the remainder twenty days
later. With good ground and cultivation you should have carrots late in
June.
A thirty-inch space must divide the carrots from the beets. Prepare the
ground as before, but make the drill a full inch deep, dropping the
seed half an inch apart, the rows two feet apart. These should be ready
for use the first week in June. Keep half the seed for late planting.
Early turnips can start another two feet along. Drill half an inch
deep, the rows one foot apart.
“First of All” peas are semi-dwarf, but yield much better if given some
support. We plant every two rows seven inches apart, in a drill one
inch deep, and when the peas are two inches high we stick brush between
the rows, so making a hedge of vine when developed. Twin rows should be
two feet apart.
For onion sets, make drills an inch and a half deep, placing the sets
upright and from four to six inches apart. Firm the earth all around,
and the fourth of an inch over them. These will furnish early onions
for cooking. For onion seed the soil cannot be too carefully prepared,
for, like carrots, they are long in germinating and extremely fragile.
A few radish seeds can again be used as pioneers. Instead of commercial
fertiliser, the poultry droppings are used for onions, being reduced
to a powder by grinding in an old chopping machine. Sprinkle freely,
within one inch of the centre of the row, and from three to four inches
each side of it. Unless rain falls within a few days, water very
thoroughly with a sprinkler. Hen droppings seem especially desirable
for all bulbs and tubers.
Lettuce seed requires well-enriched soil; drill one-fourth of an inch
deep, the rows one foot apart.
From the time seeds are put into the ground, cultivation must be
continual, raking between rows being frequent enough to destroy embryo
weeds. Ten minutes’ light work with a rake before weeds develop will
save hours of hard labour with a hoe. Cultivation is required, not only
to destroy weeds, but to supply air, and encourage all the moisture
from the subsoil to travel upward, so nourishing the plant roots as
they develop, and preventing the soil from baking. Not cultivating the
ground around plants is as injurious to their health as shutting a
child in an unventilated room.
Lettuce, cabbage and cauliflower plants should now be planted out.
Prepare the rows as for seed, and with the pointed stick used for
marking the rows, make holes directly under the line--nine inches
apart for lettuce, one foot for cabbage and cauliflower. Put a little
water into the hole, pack the earth around the root and stem, water
copiously, then draw dry earth up over the wet surface, to prevent the
moisture from evaporating or a crust forming. To promote root growth,
cut off half the length of the outer leaves with a pair of sharp
scissors. If possible, provide some protection until the plants are
established.
Tomatoes, peppers and eggplants should be bedded out about the
twentieth of May. Tomatoes and eggplants stand two and one-half feet
apart, each one in ground very heavily enriched to a depth of three
feet and a circumference of two feet. Pursue the same method of
planting as for cabbage, except that instead of cutting the leaves
across, nip out the two heart leaves of each plant. Checking top growth
makes the plant branch and form a stocky bush instead of a spindly top
growth that will break under the weight of fruit when it forms.
If the “home” is to be an ideal haven of rest it must be pretty.
Economy may prohibit buying plants for the flower garden, but the
exercise of a little fore-thought will enable you to have a lovely
display of flowers all through the summer at a nominal cost. Procure
some shallow boxes from your grocer. They should not be more than three
inches deep, and about eighteen inches long and one foot wide. If it is
not possible to get what you want, saw a six or seven inch box in half,
using the lid as a bottom for the second box.
Have the mould thoroughly pulverised before sowing, and prepare an
extra quantity to use for covering the seeds. This I do by half filling
a rather fine colander and shaking it over the box until there is an
even layer over the seeds. The average small flower seed should not
have more than the fourth of an inch over it. A board that will fit
inside the box should be pressed down hard, to insure the seeds being
firmly embedded in the mould. Otherwise the air gets around them and
dries up and kills the first frail germs of life. After planting and
patting down, sprinkle lightly, and stand the boxes in a south or
southwest window in a living room where the temperature averages sixty
degrees. The boxes must be watched for what is called “damping off.”
It can easily be detected by the sickly appearance of the seedlings,
followed by a shrivelling or burning of the stem close to the earth.
The moment the danger signal is noticed, prick out into fresh boxes
of corresponding size or a trifle deeper. The seedlings need not be
planted more than half an inch apart. Prepare the mould in the boxes
the same as you did for the seeds, pat down, and with a toothpick
make the holes in which the baby plants are to be put, firming the
earth around them gently with the forefinger of each hand. Should no
suggestion of debility appear among the seedlings, still prick out into
fresh boxes when the second leaves unfold.
“Bovee” potatoes, for early garden crop 1 peck, $0.75
Carrots, “Oxheart” 1 ounce, .10
Cauliflower, “Early Snowball” 1 packet, .25
Celery 1 packet, .10
Beets 2 ounces, .20
Brussels sprouts 1 packet, .10
Cabbage, “Jersey Wakefield” 1 packet, .15
Cabbage, “Autumn King” 1 packet, .15
Kale, “Dwarf Green” 1 ounce, .10
Lettuce, “Boston Market” 1 ounce, .15
Peas, “First of All” 1 pint, .15
Peas, “Petit Paris” ½ pint, .10
Peas, “Champion of England” 1 quart, .30
Turnips, “Early Flat Dutch” 1 packet, .05
Turnips, “Purple Top Aberdeen” 1 packet, .05
Turnips, “Rutabaga” 1 packet, .10
White onion sets 1 quart, .25
Red onion sets 1 quart, .25
Onion seed, “Prizetaker” 1 ounce, .20
Cucumber, “White Spine” 1 packet, .10
Eggplant, “New York Spineless” 1 packet, .10
Tomato, “Crimson Cushion” 1 packet, .10
Pepper, “Ruby King” 1 packet, .10
Muskmelon, “Delmonico” 1 packet, .10
Squash, “Long Island” (summer) 1 packet, .10
Squash, “Gregory” (winter) 1 packet, .10
Green bush bean, “The Longfellow” 1 packet, .10
Pole lima bean, “Leviathan” 1 packet, .10
Okra, “Long Green” 1 packet, .05
Radish, “Scarlet Turnip” 1 ounce, .10
Corn, “Country Gentleman” 1 packet, .15
Herbs--parsley, sage, summer savory, thyme, marjoram,
aniseed, wormwood, saffron, tansy 1 packet each, .40
-----
Total cost $4.95
THE HOTBED
The outer shells of hotbed and cold-frame are identical, and can be
made by any handy man. As all sashes are made in one size--namely, six
by three--the boxes must correspond; to insure water running off and
all the power of the sun being utilised, they must slope lengthways,
the top end of a box being three or four inches higher than the bottom.
The ordinary box or bed frame is made six feet long, three feet wide
and fifteen inches high at the top end, sloping to twelve at the foot,
and stands on the surface of the ground, but the plan we have adopted
after several years’ experience is to dig a pit three feet deep, six
feet two inches long and three feet two inches wide, and build the box
twenty inches high at the top end, sloping to seventeen inches at the
foot, and of course six feet long and three feet wide, which allows it
to stand inside the dugout and five inches below the surface of the
surrounding ground, so effectually preventing any cold air creeping in
around the bottom. We use sound boards two inches thick for sides and
ends and two-by-two studding for corner stays.
Very well-made boxes and sashes, which fit exactly, are sold by
several of the greenhouse builders for about eight dollars. They are
shipped knock-down to save express charges, but they are ready to bolt
together. They come in the ordinary six-by-three size, for single beds,
or in groups of from three to five, with light partitions for the
sashes to rest upon. The five-section bed costs about twelve dollars,
but will need five sashes, amounting to fifteen dollars, and the
partitions, which I think are about one dollar a piece.
For convenience in bad weather, it is well to have the beds near the
house, and, when possible, sheltered from the north and facing the
south. Fresh horse manure constitutes the heating power in a hotbed. We
use solid droppings and dry leaves, about half and half. It is ripened
in the manure-shed by being made into a heap about three feet high and
three feet wide, thoroughly sprinkled with liquid manure. It is allowed
to stand some weeks after mixing, then twice forked over, two weeks
intervening. All the droppings should be well broken up and mixed with
the leaves, and the entire mass repiled between each forking.
After the ripening process has been accomplished, it must be packed
into the bottom of the hotbed to the depth of two and a half feet. It
should be smoothly laid and well tramped into place. Put in the sash,
and within a few days the heat will rise to a hundred degrees or over.
Lift the sash slightly at one end, and wait until the temperature falls
to about eighty-five degrees, then place about six inches of rich,
fibrous soil over the top. We manufacture our potting-mould several
months before it is required, by taking the old heating material from
spent beds and mixing it with an equal amount of soil from sod land
and about one-third the quantity of clean, sharp sand. After thorough
mixing, it is piled in a large heap and left exposed to the weather
until required, or until late in the fall, when it is put into a shed
and kept dry to prevent freezing, as potting-mould and covering for
fresh hotbeds is often needed in the early spring. Just before using,
it is passed through a sieve to remove all lumps.
The first year, when there is no old bed to empty, good top-dressing or
potting-mould can be made by cutting deep sods, shaking the earth from
the roots and mixing it with an equal amount of old, well-rotted cow
manure and about one quarter the amount of clean sand. It is imperative
to prepare all such things in the fall. The outside of a hotbed should
be banked up with rough stable manure and the sash covered at night
with mats and shutters in extreme cold weather. Old carpet or bags
made of burlap and filled with cut hay will cost nothing except time
and answer quite well. We use pads, for which all sorts of old clothes
are utilised. Then unbleached sheets large enough to cover the sash,
side and ends, and reach well onto the ground, are used. The sheets are
given two coats of oil, and so are impervious to rain or snow, and we
think better than wooden shutters.
Suppose you want to make your first venture with winter salads, the
first gathering for Thanksgiving, and from then on until spring. Start
one bed the first week in October, sow three rows of lettuce seed five
inches apart, sowing three different varieties, Tennis-Ball, Boston
Market and Big Boston; two rows of curly cress (peppergrass) the same
distance apart, and five days later, two rows of white mustard. Eight
or ten days later, prepare a second bed, so that the heat may have
risen and decreased to about seventy-five by the time lettuce is large
enough to transplant--about three weeks from the sowing of the seed.
Set out the seedlings eight inches apart each way in the new bed, and
sow radish seed between the rows.
If you have enough frames, plant the three different varieties of
lettuce in different beds. They will mature in the rotation named.
Between the rows of the Boston Market and the Big Boston, onion
seeds may be sown. When selecting lettuce to transplant, choose the
strong seedlings and from different parts of the rows, so that when
the surplus plants are thinned out, the rest will be left to grow
undisturbed.
The mustard and cress will be ready to cut in from seven to ten days
after the mustard is sown. Cut the cress with a pair of scissors a
little above the soil and it will spring again and again. Mustard
must be sowed after each gathering, but as it only takes half the
time to develop, it will be ready when the second crop of cress is.
Mustard should be allowed to grow more than an inch and a half above
the ground. One important thing to remember in running a succession
of hotbed crops, is that the heating power of manure only lasts about
seven weeks. Beans, beets and Swiss chard, and such hardy things,
which require two months or more to mature, do not suffer through
the decrease of heat, in fact, will do just as well, or better, in a
spent hotbed or cold-frame, which is just a hotbed without any heating
material. But if very cold weather sets in, bank up heavily around the
sides and ends with fresh manure, to keep the cold from penetrating the
bed-box, and using extra heavy mats over the sash at night.
Eggplant, tomatoes and peppers should be started the last week in
February, and celery, cabbage, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts about
the first of March. One bed should be devoted to onion seed (sown at
the end of February), and seedlings can be pricked out into another bed
or cold-frame when about two inches high, and will be strong bulbs to
plant out in the garden in April. Cucumbers, muskmelons and squash can
all be started on sods in a hotbed, early in April, and will be sturdy
plants by May 20th.
HOW TO GROW ASPARAGUS
Why every garden has not an asparagus-bed is an unfathomable mystery to
me. It is universally liked; even epicures consider it a delicacy. It
is ready for table use in very early spring, when everyone craves fresh
vegetables, and it is as easy to grow as any other vegetable after it
is once established.
Probably the last word explains the mystery. It takes three years to
establish, or, rather, to bring it to the profitable stage. A light
crop can be gathered the second season, so the home table profits
almost as quickly as in the case of artichokes or strawberries.
Whatever the cause, the fact remains that an asparagus-bed is rarely
found on a farm. Yet the pecuniary advantages to be reaped from
asparagus-growing are sufficient to satisfy the most ambitious gardener.
Three years after our first bed from seed was started we sold three
hundred and fifty-four bunches at an average of forty cents a bunch.
Early in the season we got fifty cents, toward the end of the season
some were sold for thirty-five cents. Since then the annual returns
have never dropped below two hundred and eighty-six dollars. Manuring
and cultivating cost approximately twelve dollars a year. The bed
occupied about a quarter of an acre of ground. Having a number of egg
customers, we sell direct and so get the full price, but even wholesale
prices range from fifteen to twelve cents.
There are two ways of starting beds, sowing seed or setting out plants.
One-year-old plants will cost from sixty cents to a dollar a hundred.
Planted in April and well cared for, they will provide several dishes
for the home table the following spring and nearly a full crop the
second spring. Seed sowed at the same time will take a year longer,
but after that will give a larger yield than the transplanted plants
and, as asparagus-beds are productive for fifteen or twenty years,
the one-year loss in the beginning is an economy. But it is well to
set out a few plants, simply because in the country one cannot get
Southern vegetables, which come into the city early in the spring, and,
therefore, should try to have a home supply as quickly as possible.
In selecting ground for an asparagus-bed, it must be remembered
that it is a permanent crop, and cannot be transplanted after it is
established. It will grow on any ordinary garden soil which is well
drained, but, when possible, heavy subsoil with light sand or loam
above it should be selected, as it will invariably produce an earlier
crop each year than heavy ground. The soil should slope to the south or
southwest, and a shelter from the northeast is also desirable. For our
large market bed we used land that had been under cultivation for two
years. The preceding crops had been corn, oats and potatoes, so it had
been thoroughly worked.
After the potatoes were harvested in the fall, the field was ploughed,
and barn-yard manure scattered broadcast over it. Early the following
spring the ground was again ploughed, to turn in the manure, and
harrowed each way to thoroughly break up and pulverise the soil. Should
you be compelled to use ground that has not been worked previously, and
is of a heavy, damp character, it would be well to plough as early as
possible in summer, if necessary, using a subsoil plough, to break the
ground to a depth of fifteen or sixteen inches.
Harrow to smooth the surface, and repeat the harrowing about every
three weeks until October, when it should be ploughed again to the
depth of six or seven inches, manured and left until spring. After
the spring harrowing the rows must be marked out five feet apart and
running from north to south. Use the plough back and forth in the same
furrow to make a wide trench, which should be six or seven inches deep
and about a foot wide. If much of the soil falls back into the trench,
remove it with a spade or broad hoe, then plant seed about three inches
apart. Keep the rows free from weeds all through the season and the
ground loose around the plants.
It is desirable to utilise the space between the rows, as it insures
the ground being well cultivated. Each space will accommodate two rows
of carrots, onions or lettuce, or one row of cabbage. In the fall,
when the tops of the asparagus begin to die, they must be cut off and
burned.
The following spring the ground between the rows should be manured and
ploughed, or spaded if the place is an inclosed garden and a plough
cannot be used. Strong roots may throw very good-sized sprouts, but
don’t be tempted to gather them, for their removal will stimulate the
plant to throw up more stalks than its age warrants, and the result
will be either death or a weakly, unprofitable existence for several
seasons. Not more than one row of carrots or onions should be grown
between the rows the second season, and, unless space is of great
value, it is as well not to use it at all.
Cultivation must be kept up all through the growing season, to destroy
weeds and keep the ground in condition. Many amateurs have an idea
that hoeing or cultivating of any sort is solely to destroy weeds,
which is a great mistake. Stirring the surface soil breaks the crust,
and the powdered earth forms a mulch which keeps the lower soil moist,
a condition which liberates the mineral qualities which constitute
plant-food.