THE GROWING OF THE VEGETABLE PLANTS - Continued
Cucurbitaceous group--Cucumber, melon, squash, pumpkin.
All the members of this group are very tender to frost, and they must
not be planted till the season is thoroughly open and settled. The
plants are not transplanted, unless they are transferred from boxes
or pots.
Seeds must be planted somewhat shallow from early spring to midsummer.
For the earliest cucumbers and melons, seeds are planted in frames. That
is, each hill is inclosed by a portable box frame about 3 feet square
and usually having a movable sash cover. The cover is raised or removed
in warm days, and the frame bodily taken away when all danger of frost
is past. In field culture, seeds are planted an inch deep, four to six
in a hill, with hills 4 by 6 feet apart, these distances being varied
slightly, according to location and variety. Good cucumbers are
sometimes grown in hills surrounding a barrel in which manure is placed
to be leached out by successive waterings.
The omnipresent enemies of all the cucurbitaceous crops are the little
cucumber beetle and the large black "stink bug." Ashes, lime, or tobacco
dust occasionally seem to show some efficiency in preventing the ravages
of these insects, but the only reasonably sure immunity is in the use of
covers over the hills (Fig. 229) and in hand-picking (p. 202). Covers
may also be made by stretching mosquito netting over arcs of barrel
hoops or bent wires. If by some such means the plants are kept
insect-free till they outgrow the protection, they will usually escape
serious damage from insects thereafter. It is well to plant trap or
decoy hills of cucumbers, squashes, or melons in advance of the regular
planting, on which the bugs may be harvested.
Leguminous crops--Peas and beans.
Two cultural groups are included in the legumes,--the bean group
(including all field, garden, and kidney beans, and the cowpea)
comprising warm-weather plants; the pea group (including field and
garden pea, the Windsor or Broad bean) comprising cool-weather plants.
The former are quickly susceptible to frost and should be planted only
after the weather is settled. The latter are among the earliest
vegetables to be planted. The leguminous crops are not transplanted, the
seed being placed where the plants are to grow.
Salad plants and pot-herbs ("greens").
These plants are all grown for their, tender, fresh, succulent leaves,
and therefore every reasonable effort should be made to secure quick and
continuous foliage growth. It is manifestly expedient that they be grown
in warm, mellow ground, well cultivated and copiously watered. Such
small plants as cress, corn salad, and parsley may be grown in small
beds, or even in boxes or pots; but in a garden where space is not too
scant, they may be more conveniently managed in rows, like peas or
beets. Nearly all the salad plants may be sown in the spring, and from
time to time throughout the summer for succession. The group is
culturally not homogeneous, inasmuch as some of the plants need special
treatment; but most of them are cool-weather subjects.
Sweet-herbs.
The herb garden should find a place on all amateurs' grounds.
Sweet-herbs may sometimes be made profitable by disposing of the surplus
to the green grocer and the druggist. The latter will often buy all that
the housewife wishes to dispose of, as the general supply of medicinal
herbs is grown by specialists, and goes into the hands of the wholesaler
and is often old when received by the local dealer.
The seedsmen's catalogues mention upwards of forty different herbs,
medicinal and culinary. The majority of them are perennial, and will
grow for many years if well taken care of. However, it is better to
resow them every three or four years. Beds 4 feet square of each of the
herbs will supply an ordinary family.
The perennial sweet-herbs may be propagated by division, although they
are usually grown from seeds. The second year--and sometimes even the
first year--the plants are strong enough for cutting. The common
perennial sweet-herbs are: Sage, lavender, peppermint, spearmint,
hyssop, thyme, marjoram, balm, catnip, rosemary, horehound, fennel,
lovage, winter savory, tansy, wormwood, costmary.
The commoner annual species (or those that are treated as annuals) are:
Anise, sweet basil, summer savory, coriander, pennyroyal, caraway
(biennial), clary (biennial), dill (biennial), sweet marjoram
(biennial).
The culture of the leading vegetables.
Having now obtained a view of the layout of the vegetable-garden and a
good conception of the leading cultural groups, we may proceed with a
discussion of the different kinds of vegetables themselves. Good
experience is better than book advice; but the person who consults a
book is the one who lacks experience. Any printed directions are
necessarily imperfect, and they may not be adaptable to the particular
conditions under which the amateur works; but they ought to set him in
the right direction so that he may more easily find his way. Seedsmen's
catalogues often contain much useful and reliable advice of this kind.
Asparagus.--The best of all early spring vegetables; a hardy
herbaceous perennial, grown for the soft edible shoots that spring from
the crown.
The culture of asparagus has been simplified in the past few years, and
at present the knowledge required successfully to plant and grow a good
supply need not be that of a professional. The old method of excavating
to the depth of 3 feet or more, throwing in from 4 to 6 inches of broken
stone or bricks for drainage, then filling to within 16 to 18 inches of
the surface with well-rotted manure, with 6 inches of soil upon which to
set the roots, has given place to the simple practice of plowing or
digging a trench from 14 to 16 inches deep, spreading well-rotted manure
in the bottom to the depth of 3 or 4 inches; when well trodden down
covering the manure with 3 or 4 inches of good garden soil, then setting
the plants, with the roots well spread out, covering carefully with soil
to the level of the garden, and firming the soil with the feet. This
will leave the crowns of the plants from 4 to 5 inches below
the surface.
In stubborn, heavy soil the best method to pursue in making a permanent
bed is to throw out all the dirt from the trench and replace with good,
fibrous loam.
In setting, 1-year-old plants will prove more satisfactory than older
ones, being less liable to suffer from injury to the root system than
those that have made a larger growth. Two years after setting the crop
may be cut somewhat, but not sooner if a lasting bed is desired, as the
effort to replace the stalks has a tendency to weaken the plant unless
the roots are well established. The cutting should cease in June or
early July, or the roots may be much weakened. In cutting, care should
be taken to insert the knife vertically, so that adjoining crowns will
not be injured (Fig. 296).
[Illustration: Fig. 296. Good A and poor B modes of inserting
the knife to cut asparagus. Some careful growers pull or break the
shoots rather than cut them.]
The yearly treatment of an asparagus bed consists of cleaning off tops
and weeds in the fall and adding a dressing of well-rotted manure to the
depth of 3 or 4 inches, this manure to be lightly forked into the bed
the following spring; or the tops may be allowed to stand for winter
protection and the mulch left off. A top-dressing of nitrate of soda, at
the rate of 200 pounds per acre, is often beneficial as a spring
stimulant, particularly in the case of an old bed. Good results will
also follow an application of bone meal or superphosphate at the rate of
some 300 to 500 pounds per acre. The practice of sowing salt on an
asparagus bed is almost universal; yet beds that have never received a
pound of salt are found to be as productive as those having received an
annual dressing. Nevertheless, a salt dressing is recommended. Two rows
of asparagus 25 feet long and 3 feet apart should supply a large family
with an abundance throughout the season, and if well taken care of, will
last a number of years.
Conover Colossal is the variety most generally grown, and is perhaps the
most satisfactory sort. Palmetto, a variety originating at the South, is
also very popular.
Artichoke.--The artichoke of literature is a tall, coarse perennial
of the thistle tribe, producing edible flower-heads. Cardoon is a
related plant.
The fleshy scales of the head and the soft "bottom" of the head are the
parts used. The young suckers or shoots may also be tied together and
blanched, using them like asparagus or Swiss chard. But few of these
plants would be needed for a family, as they produce a number of
flower-heads to a plant and a quantity of suckers. The plants should be
set from 2 to 3 feet apart in the row, the rows being 3 feet apart. This
vegetable is not quite hardy in the North, but a covering of leaves or
barnyard litter to the depth of a foot will protect it well. The plant
is perennial, but the best yield comes from young plants. If the heads
are allowed to ripen, they reduce the vitality of the plant.
Artichokes have never become so popular in this country as to have
produced a long list of varieties. Large Green Globe is most commonly
offered by seedsmen. Edible heads should be secured the second year from
seed. Seedlings are likely to vary greatly, and if one is fond of
artichokes, he would do better to propagate by suckers from the
best plants.
These plants make no mean decorative subjects, either massed or in a
mixed border, and from the rarity of their culture are always objects
of interest.
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