A-B-C of Vegetable Gardening

by Eben E. Rexford

Don't wait for the currant-worm to show itself on your bushes. You can safely count on its coming. Act on the defensive in advance by spraying your plants thoroughly with an infusion of Nicoticide, keeping in mind the fact that it is easier to prevent an insect from establishing itself on your plants than it is to get rid of it when it has secured a foothold there. In spraying, be sure that the infusion gets to all parts of the bush. Throw it up well among the branches. Simply spraying it over the plant isn't what is needed. It must reach the under side of the foliage, and all parts where insects and other enemies might hide away and escape contact with the infusion used.

When the small-fruit plants in your garden show evidence of having outlived their usefulness, don't try to renew them, but dig them up and plant new ones. You cannot make a satisfactory plant out of one that has begun to show age. It is a good plan to set a few new plants each season. If this is done there need be no gap in the fruit-supply, as there will always be some coming on to take the places of those whose days of usefulness are over. Too often we neglect our gardens until they are in such a debilitated condition that we get but slight returns from them, and then we set to work to make them all over, and in this way we fail to get as much out of them as we ought to. By planting something each season we keep them up to bearing-point, and have no "off seasons."

I wonder how many housewives who may read this little book have ever dried sweet-corn for winter use. Not many, I think. But if they were to do so one season I am quite confident that thereafter they would not willingly be without a generous supply of it, for it will be found far more delicious than the ordinary canned article. In drying it, some cook it for a few minutes, and then cut it from the cob and spread it out on plates to dry. Others do not think it worth while to cook it, but cut it from the cob as soon as gathered, and dry it by first putting it in the oven for a few minutes before exposing it to the sun to dry. The little time in the oven is equivalent to the partial cooking spoken of. Turn it on the plates on which it is spread every day, and do not consider it dry enough to store away until it appears to have parted with all its moisture. Then put it into paper bags or glass jars, and set away in a cool, dark place to remain until you desire to use it. Soak it for two or three hours before putting it on the stove to cook. When properly cooked it will be tender and have a more delicious flavor than canned corn. The generous use of butter and cream will make it a dish that is fit to set before a king.

Those who happen to live in places where it is not possible to have cellars, because of low ground, can have places in which to store vegetables for winter use that are really preferable to the ordinary cellar, by constructing what might be called above-ground pits, for want of a better name. Build up a wall four or five feet high, and bank up about it with so much earth that frost cannot penetrate it. Cover with a roof that will keep out cold and rain. Have a doorway opening into it from an entry built after the fashion of the little storm-vestibules we put over the front doors of our dwellings in winter. In other words, an entry into which we can step and close one door behind us before we open the one that lets us into the place where our vegetables are. Such a room can be constructed with but little expense. Because of its being above ground it will be drier than a cellar, and in the majority of cases it will be more convenient to get at. It should be boarded up with a good quality of matched boarding, and its walls should be lined with two or three thicknesses of sheathing paper put on in such a manner as to show no cracks or openings.

The best place for a vegetable-garden is where the soil is naturally well drained and where there is a slope to the south. Such a slope enables it to get the full benefit of sunshine, and sunshine, it will be found, is an important factor in successful gardening. If such an exposure is out of the question, aim to make conditions as favorable as possible. A closely boarded fence on the north side of a garden affords excellent protection from cold winds early in the season, and helps greatly in keeping away frost in fall, when many plants are maturing.

Mention is made in the above paragraph of good drainage. This is quite important. If the soil of a garden is not well drained, many kinds of vegetables cannot be grown in it, and few will attain to even a partial degree of success. Therefore see to it that by ditching, or the use of tile, all surplus water is properly disposed of. Much good can be done to a heavy soil by adding to it sharp, coarse sand, old mortar—anything that will have a tendency to counteract the heaviness resulting from undue retention of water or a naturally too close character of soil. If sand is obtainable, and your garden is one in which clay predominates, use it in generous quantities. You will find it as beneficial as manure. Spread it over the surface before plowing or spading, and work it in thoroughly. A few seasons' application will bring about a very marked change for the better in any garden whose soil cannot be made fine and mellow without the addition of some disintegrating matter. Good drainage must be secured in order to grow good vegetables, and the use of tile will be found a most effective remedy for the evil of a soil unduly retentive of moisture.

In almost all localities there will be families who have no garden, but who would make liberal use of vegetables if they were easily procurable. There is a chance for boys and girls to earn an "honest penny." If it is found that there is likely to be more in the home garden than the family can make use of, canvass the neighborhood for customers for the probable surplus. It will be found an easy matter to dispose of it. I know several amateur child gardeners who secure enough in this way to pay for all the seed they need. Some of them have regular customers each season, and gardening begins to look to them like a profitable occupation. I don't know that they will become professional gardeners, but they will be learning something as well as earning something while they are fitting themselves for whatever occupation in life they may decide on, and what they learn in the garden will be of benefit in after-life in more ways than one.

Don't neglect to save everything that can be made use of for fertilizing purposes. In many a home the "suds" of washing-day are disposed of as worthless. If applied to growing things in the garden they will often prove as beneficial as the application of a fertilizer that costs quite a little sum of money. Especially is this the case if the season happens to be a dry one. If there does not seem to be a need of more moisture in the soil on wash-day, save the soapy water against a time of need. It will be sure to "come handy" during the season.

Some families are so unfortunate as to have no cellar. Few vegetables can be kept well, or for a great length of time, in ordinary rooms, unless something is done to modify the conditions usually existing there. If a large box is filled with dry sand, potatoes, parsnips, salsify, beets, and carrots can be buried in it and made to retain their freshness for an indefinite period. Of course this storage-box should be kept as far as possible from artificial heat, and no dampness should be allowed to come in contact with it, as sand absorbs moisture almost as readily as a sponge, and the satisfactory keeping of the vegetables named depends upon dryness more than anything else. The lower the temperature of the place in which vegetables are stored the better, provided it never gets below the freezing-point. Where boxes of sand are used, slight freezings are not likely to seriously injure vegetables, as the sand extracts the frost so gradually that but little harm is done. But hard freezing must be guarded against or premature decay will result.