Home Vegetable Gardening by F. F. Rockwell (best novels to read to improve english .txt) 📕

from prickers as described above. Prizetaker and Gibraltar are mostly

used for this purpose, growing to the size of the large Spanish onions

sold at grocery stores. For onions to be kept for late winter and

spring use, grow from seed, sowing outdoors as early as possible.

No vegetable needs a richer or more perfectly prepared soil than the

onion; and especial care must be taken never to let the weeds get a

start. They are gathered after the tops dry down and wither, when they

should be pulled, put in broad rows for several days in the sun, and

then spread out flat, not more than four inches deep, under cover with

plenty of light and air. Before severe freezing store in slatted

barrels, as described in Chapter XIV.

Parsnip:—Sow as early as possible, in deep rich soil, but where

no water will stand during fall and winter. The seed germinates very

slowly, so the seed-bed should be very finely prepared. They will be

ready for use in the fall, but are much better after the first frosts.

For method of keeping see Chapter XIV.

Potato:—If your garden is a small one, buy your main supply of

potatoes from some nearby farmer, first trying half a bushel or so to

be sure of the quality. Purchase in late September or October when the

crop is being dug and the price is low.

For an extra early and choice supply for the home garden, start a peck

or so in early March, as follows: Select an early variety, seed of good

size and clean; cut to pieces containing one or two eyes, and pack

closely together on end in flats of coarse sand. Give these full light

and heat, and by the middle to end of April they will have formed dense

masses of roots, and nice, strong, stocky sprouts, well leaved out. Dig

out furrows two and a half feet apart, and incorporate well rotted

manure in the bottom, with the soil covering this until the furrow is

left two to three inches deep. Set the sprouted tubers, pressing firmly

into the soil, about twelve inches apart, and cover in, leaving them

thus three to four inches below the surface. Keep well cultivated, give

a light top dressing of nitrate of soda—and surprise all your

neighbors! This system has not yet come extensively into use, but is

practically certain of producing excellent results.

For the main crop, if you have room, cut good seed to one or two eyes,

leaving as much of the tuber as possible to each piece, and plant

thirteen inches apart in rows three feet apart. Cultivate deeply until

the plants are eight to ten inches high and then shallow but

frequently. As the vines begin to spread, hill up moderately, making a

broad, low ridge. Handle potato-bugs and blight as directed in Chapter

XIII. For harvesting see Chapter XIV.

While big crops may be grown on heavy soils, the quality will be very

much better on sandy, well drained soils. Planting on well rotted sod,

or after green manuring, such as clover or rye, will also improve the

looks and quality of the crop. Like onions, they need a high percentage

of potash in manures or fertilizers used; this may be given in sulphate

of potash. Avoid planting on ground enriched with fresh barnyard manure

or immediately after a dressing of lime.

Salsify:—The “vegetable oyster,” or salsify, is to my taste the

most delicious root vegetable grown. It is handled practically in the

same way as the parsnip, but needs, if possible, ground even more

carefully prepared, in order to keep the main root from sprangling. If

a fine light soil cannot be had for planting, it will pay to hoe or

hand-plow furrows where the drills are to be—not many will be needed,

and put in specially prepared soil, in which the seed may get a good

start.

Radish:—To be of good crisp quality, it is essential with

radishes to grow them just as quickly as possible. The soil should be

rather sandy and not rich in fresh manure or other nitrogenous

fertilizers, as this tends to produce an undesirable amount of leaves

at the expense of the root. If the ground is at all dry give a thorough

wetting after planting, which may be on the surface, as the seeds

germinate so quickly that they will be up before the soil has time to

crust over. Gypsum or land-plaster, sown on white and worked into the

soil, will improve both crop and quality. They are easily raised under

glass, in autumn or spring in frames, requiring only forty to fifty

degrees at night. It is well to plant in the hotbed, after a crop of

lettuce. Or sow as a double crop, as suggested under Carrots.

For outside crops, sow every ten days or two weeks.

Turnip:—While turnips will thrive well on almost any soil, the

quality—which is somewhat questionable at the best—will be much

better on sandy or even gravelly soil. Avoid fresh manures as much as

possible, as the turnip is especially susceptible to scab and worms.

They are best when quite small and for the home table a succession of

sowing, only a few at a time, will give the best results.

LEAF CROPS

Under leaf crops are considered also those of which the stalk or the

flower heads form the edible portion, such as celery and cauliflower.

Asparagus Brussels Sprouts Cabbage

Cauliflower Celery Endive

Kale Lettuce Parsley

Rhubarb Spinach

The quality of all these will depend largely upon growing them rapidly

and without check from the seed-bed to the table. They are all great

nitrogen-consumers and therefore take kindly to liberal supplies of

yard manure, which is high in nitrogen. For celery the manure is best

applied to some preceding crop, such as early cabbage. The others will

take it “straight.” Most of these plants are best started under glass

or in the seed-bed and transplanted later to permanent positions. They

will all be helped greatly by a top-dressing of nitrate of soda, worked

into the soil as soon as they have become established. This, if it

fails to produce the dark green healthy growth characteristic of its

presence, should be followed by a second application after two or three

weeks—care being taken, of course, to use it with reason and

restraint, as directed in Chapter VI.

Another method of growing good cabbages and similar plants, where the

ground is not sufficiently rich to carry the crop through, is to

“manure in the hill,” either yard or some concentrated manure being

used. If yard manure, incorporate a good forkful with the soil where

each plant is to go. (If any considerable number are being set, it will

of course be covered in a furrow—first being trampled down, with the

plow). Another way, sure of producing results, and not inconvenient for

a few hundred plants, is to mark out the piece, dig out with a spade or

hoe a hole some five inches deep at each mark, dilute poultry manure in

an old pail until about the consistency of thick mud, and put a little

less than half a trowelful in each hole. Mix with the soil and cover,

marking the spot with the back of the hoe, and then set the plants. By

this method, followed by a top-dressing of nitrate of soda, I have

repeatedly grown fine cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce and sprouts.

Cottonseed meal is also very valuable for manuring in the hill—about

a handful to a plant, as it is rich in nitrogen and rapidly decomposes.

The cabbage group is sometimes hilled up, but if set well down and

frequently cultivated, on most soils this will not be necessary. They

all do best in very deep, moderately heavy soil, heavily manured and

rather moist. An application of lime some time before planting will be

a beneficial precaution. With this group rotation also is almost

imperative.

The most troublesome enemies attacking these plants are: the flea-beetle, the cabbage-worm, the cabbage-maggot (root) and “club-root”;

directions for fighting all of which will be found in the following

chapter.

Asparagus:—Asparagus is rightly esteemed one of the very best

spring vegetables. There is a general misconception, however—due to

the old methods of growing it—concerning the difficulty of having a

home supply. As now cared for, it is one of the easiest of all

vegetables to grow, when once the beds are set and brought to bearing

condition. Nor is it difficult to make the bed, and the only reason why

asparagus is not more universally found in the home garden, beside that

mentioned above, is because one has to wait a year for results.

In selecting a spot for the asparagus bed, pick out the earliest and

best drained soil available, even if quite sandy it will do well. Plow

or dig out trenches three feet apart and sixteen to twenty inches deep.

In the bottoms of these tramp down firmly six to eight inches of old,

thoroughly rotted manure. Cover with six to eight inches of good soil—

not that coming from the bottom of the trench—and on this set the

crowns or root-clumps—preferably one-year ones—being careful to

spread the roots out evenly, and covering with enough soil to hold in

position, making them firm in the soil. The roots are set one foot

apart. Then fill in level, thus leaving the crowns four to six inches

below the surface. As the stalks appear give a light dressing of

nitrate of soda and keep the crop cleanly cultivated. (Lettuce, beets,

beans or any of the small garden vegetables may be grown between the

asparagus rows during the first part of the season, for the first two

years, thus getting some immediate return from labor and manure). The

stalks should not be cut until the second spring after planting and

then only very lightly. After that full crops may be had.

After the first season, besides keeping cleanly cultivated at all

times, in the fall clear off and burn all tops and weeds and apply a

good coating of manure. Dig or lightly cultivate this in the spring,

applying also a dressing of nitrate of soda, as soon as the stalks

appear. If the yield is not heavy, give a dressing of bone or of the

basic fertilizers mentioned earlier. It is not difficult to grow plants

from seed, but is generally more satisfactory to get the roots from

some reliable seedsman.

_Broccoli:-The broccoli makes a flower head as does the cauliflower.

It is, however, inferior in quality and is not grown to any extent

where the latter will succeed. It has the one advantage of being

hardier and thus can be grown where the cauliflower is too uncertain to

make its culture worth while. For culture directions see Cauliflower.

Brussels Sprouts:—In my opinion this vegetable leaves the

cabbage almost as far behind as the cauliflower does. It is, if

anything, more easily grown than cabbage, except that the young plants

do not seem able to stand quite so much cold. When mature, however, it

seems to stand almost any amount of freezing, and it is greatly

improved by a few smart frosts, although it is very good when

succeeding the spring crop of cauliflower. It takes longer to mature

than either cabbage or cauliflower.

Cabbage:—Cabbage is one of the few vegetables which may be had

in almost as good quality from the green-grocer as it can be grown at

home, and as it takes up considerable space, it may often be advisable

to omit the late sorts from the home garden if space is very limited.

The early supply, however, should come from the garden—some people

think it should