The Vegetable Garden: What, When, and How to Plant

by Anonymous

Planting.—The most distinctive feature of the garden on the farm should be the reduction of hand labor to a minimum. In planting the garden, therefore, it should be laid out in long rows, sufficiently far apart to permit the use of a horse and cultivator in tending the crops. Time and confusion will also be saved if the vegetables are grouped according to their cultural requirements, and the number of plantings made as small as is consistent with the demands of the various crops. Each group of crops may then be planted and tended as one crop, and the garden operations thus greatly simplified. When more than one planting of a given crop is desired for the sake of securing a succession, the second planting may be put in at the same time that other crops are being planted, so that even in this case, the number of plantings need not be multiplied. The use of two or more varieties of the same vegetable, differing in their time of maturity, will also aid in keeping down the number of different plantings.

The arrangement of the garden as to length of rows and time of planting, is not the only labor saving feature that should characterize the typical farmer's garden. Field methods should be practiced in preparing the land for planting, and as much preliminary work done in the fall as is possible, for the sake of both securing an early garden and reducing the amount of labor in spring. After the land is cleared of refuse from preceding crops, it should be heavily manured, and plowed in the fall. The amount of manure to be applied will depend somewhat upon the fertility of the land, but more largely upon the trueness of the farmer's conception of the plant food requirements of garden crops. The best gardens are possible only where plant is supplied much more liberally than is considered ample for field crops. Forty tons of manure per acre is a very moderate application for garden crops, and this amount should be applied annually, even on soils already rich, if maximum crops of vegetables are to be grown.

The plowing under of manure in the fall hastens the drying out of the soil in the spring, so that planting may begin earlier than if the manuring and plowing were deferred until spring. This is both because the soil actually dries out earlier, and also because no time is lost in manuring or plowing after the soil has reached workable condition. It often happens that early in the spring when the cool season crops should be planted, the soil remains in ideal condition for working only a brief period, and then becomes so thoroughly wet by copious rains that further garden work is precluded for two or three weeks. If the manuring and plowing have been done in the fall, it is often possible to plant the early vegetables in the brief period during which the soil is fit to work, while otherwise this entire period might be expended in making preparations, and the actual planting necessarily deferred until the next time the soil was dry. Since the success of many of the early crops depends upon early planting, the wisdom of fall preparation is apparent.

If the land has been manured and plowed in the fall, and is worked at the proper time in spring, very little labor is necessary in the preparation of a seed-bed for the early planting. Soil containing sufficient humus to grow vegetable crops advantageously, can be fitted for planting without the use of hand tools, if the precaution is taken to work it at the exact time it reaches the right degree of dryness. It will then crumble readily, and a seed-bed can be prepared by the use of a disk, harrow, and planker. The use of these tools saves an enormous amount of labor, and is a vast improvement over the old method of using a hoe and rake.

The actual planting of the garden is a simple matter, provided a definite plan has previously been made, so that no time is lost in deciding which vegetable to plant first, where to plant it, or how much to plant. In the home garden, only a small amount of seed of each kind is planted, so that a seed drill cannot be used to advantage, and the planting is therefore almost invariably done by hand. For the small vegetables, sown in drills, the planting involves four distinct operations: (1) making the drills, (2) dropping the seed, (3) covering, and (4) firming. The most rapid way of making the drills in a garden to be planted in long rows is to use a marker that makes three or four drills each time it is drawn across the area to be planted. With a medium weight marker, and the soil in proper condition for planting, the marks will be of the proper depth for planting seeds of any of the smaller vegetables usually sown in drills. For peas or beans a deeper drill may be made with the plow attachment of a wheel hoe. After the seed is dropped, it is covered with a rake, or in the case of deep planting, with a hoe, or a wheel hoe. The soil is firmed over the seed by the use of the feet, the back of a hoe, or a garden roller. Whatever the means employed, the firming must be thorough, especially in light soil or dry weather; for unless the soil is brought in close contact with the seeds, they will not germinate.—(U. Ill. B. 154.)

Cultivation.—By the proper cultivation of the garden there is accomplished three things: (1) The weeds are kept out so that they do not shade or take away valuable plant food and moisture from the plants which one desires to perfect. (2) The surface soil is brought into the best condition to resist drouth; that is, into the best condition for availing itself to the utmost of the stores of water in the subsoil and to prevent the evaporation of this water from the surface soil. (3) The stores of insoluble plant food are made soluble by the chemical action and fermentation, which are increased by loosening the soil, thereby letting in the air.

Keeping Out the Weeds.—The methods best adapted for keeping the weeds out of the garden are many and varied, and depend much upon the condition and kind of soil in which the weeds grow; upon the kind of crop and upon the habits of the weeds themselves. The most important step in making easy the prevention of weeds in the garden is the harrowing or other thorough cultivation of the land just before the planting of the seed, to kill the young weeds. If this is done thoroughly, the weeds do not have a better chance than the crop. If this is not done, the weeds will be ahead of the crop in growth, and if started even ever so little when the crop is planted, the result generally is that the crop is seriously overgrown by them before it is large enough to be cultivated. This is a common mistake, and is, perhaps, responsible for more failures in the garden than any other factor which enters into the consideration of this subject; and it is a very simple matter to prevent any trouble from this source if a little foresight is exercised.

Early Cultivation to Kill Weeds.—The next most important factor in the prevention of weeds in the garden is early cultivation. In the case of seeds that require a long time to germinate, it is an excellent plan to lightly rake over the land with an ordinary fine-toothed rake, even before the crop appears above the ground, providing the work is so carefully done as not to disturb the seeds. When the seed is sown with a drill, the line of the row may be plainly seen even before the plants come up, thus making it easy to commence cultivating it in advance of the weeds. In case of such crops as carrots, onions, parsnips and beets, which are quite delicate when young, cultivation should begin with some hand garden cultivator, even if it is intended later on to cultivate with a horse, and the crop is planted with this purpose in view. Such close and careful work cannot be done with any horse implement now in use as with the best hand implements. With proper tools, the work may be done nearly as quickly by hand as by horse power, and far more perfectly when the plants are small. Careful early cultivation is of the utmost importance, since, if the weeds are removed when they are young, the work of weeding is very small. If allowed to remain until well rooted, their removal is often a very serious matter, and frequently, if neglected at this early stage, the weeds become so firmly established as to make it a question whether to remove them or plow under the whole crop; and often it is the part of wisdom to adopt the latter alternative. Aside from its effect in the prevention of weeds, early cultivation is of great value in breaking up the crust that packs firmly around the tender growing stems of plants, and that seriously interferes with their growth. It is also, like all surface cultivation, of aid in the conservation of moisture in the soil.

Importance of Not Allowing Weeds to Go to Seed.—A common source of weed infection is often found in the few weeds that are allowed to go to seed toward the end of the growing season in the maturing crop or after the crop has been gathered. To some farmers it often seems a small matter to allow a few plants of pig-weed, purslane, tumble weed and weeds of other kinds to go to seed in the garden, but absolute cleanliness should be the only rule in this particular, and it is by far the most economical in practice in the long run. It requires but little labor and saves much useless expense to destroy weeds that are going to seed. If the preventives for weeds suggested are closely followed hand weeding will be reduced to a minimum and will often be unnecessary with any crop.

Weed Seeds in Manure for the Garden.—The manure applied to the garden is often coarse and contains many weed seeds, and is a fruitful source of weed infection. The manure intended for the garden that contains the seeds of weeds should be piled up and allowed to ferment until the whole mass is thoroughly rotted. By this means the seeds in it will be killed. But in order to rot manure to best advantage, it should be forked over occasionally when well warmed up by fermentation, and the whole turned over, with the outside of the pile thrown into the center. If dry, it should be watered enough to enable fermentation to continue, and to prevent "fire-fanging." It is seldom advisable to use fresh manure in the garden, and manure should only be applied in this condition when free from weeds, and then only for some late-maturing crops, in which case there will be time for it to rot before the crops need it. All early crops need well rotted manure, and require it in much larger quantities than do the late-maturing crops.—(U. Minn. A. E. S. 38.)