To insure success in horticulture, the first requisite is a deep, rich,
well-drained soil. For a garden, nothing can be more important than
good drainage. Soil properly drained is warmer, dries faster, and can
be worked earlier in the spring; it is easier to work in a wet season,
and more open and moist in a dry season. Taking for granted, then, that
the ground has perfect drainage, it should be plowed deeply in the
fall, so as to allow the frost to penetrate and sweeten the soil. In
addition to this, the frost will be out sooner in the spring, and the
superfluous moisture drained off more quickly, thus leaving the land
in a workable condition at least a week earlier.[17]
Putting manure on the ground in the fall, or during winter, is a
practice I would not recommend, because some of its most valuable
portions are sure to be washed into the drains by the melting snow and
spring rains, leaving the plants rather a meagre supply of nourishment
to draw from when they come to need it most. The proper way to do is to
give the ground a liberal spreading of thoroughly decomposed barnyard
manure in spring, as soon as the land is in a workable condition.[18]
This should immediately be plowed in, and be followed with a sharp,
weighted harrow, to thoroughly pulverize and mix the soil. This is
important, as the surface of the soil is not so liable to harden
or bake afterwards, if the ground is well worked in the spring.
The soil is also permeated to a greater depth by the sun and air,
causing healthier and quicker growth, consequently better and earlier
vegetables. The form of our one-acre patch should, by all means, be a
rectangle, made longer than wide, with the rows running lengthwise, and
all perfectly straight, and everything else so arranged that as much
of the cultivation can be done by horse power as possible. But let
me say right here, that no one should undertake the cultivation of a
kitchen garden without being willing to do a reasonable portion of the
work by hand. This part of the work can, however, be greatly lessened
by using the various labor-saving garden implements, to be purchased at
reasonable rates, of most seed firms.
If “variety is the spice of life,” it can certainly nowhere be more
desirable than in the kitchen garden, which is to supply our table with
its yearly demand for choice vegetables; I say _choice_, since every
one having the care of a garden should strive to grow everything of the
very best, and that, too, in great abundance and variety.
The most convenient mode of arranging the different kinds of vegetables
is to; 1st, Place the perennial plants in one bed, running the entire
length of the ground; 2d, Plant the vegetables side by side which are
to remain out all winter, so as not to interfere with next spring’s
plowing; 3d, Arrange side by side those varieties which require the
whole season to mature; and, 4th, Put beside each other the quickly
maturing kinds, which may be succeeded by other varieties, in order
that the ground to be occupied by a second crop may be all in one piece.
The preliminaries being arranged, we are now ready to go into details,
and to this end we shall first take under consideration the permanent
bed, so called from the fact that it is to contain such perennials
as asparagus, rhubarb, horse radish, artichoke, and chives; also
parsley, and a collection of herbs, without which no garden is complete.
The herbs are placed here because they require a soil especially
prepared for them, by the addition of either fine sand or sifted coal
ashes, to make it mellow and dry.
[Illustration: DIAGRAM OF THE GARDEN.]