Your seeds are now all in. At this juncture take your rake and cover the seeds, leaving the whole bed level and smooth.
There is nothing more to be done just at present except to leave these seeds to the forces of nature, to the darkness and the moisture and the warmth of their earthy bed. They are put to bed not that they may sleep, but in order to wake them up. Soon the delicate shoots will begin to appear above the ground, and with them will also appear the shoots of many weeds whose seeds were in the soil. These weeds constitute a call to your next operation which is
Cultivation
Declare war on the weeds. Use your hand weeder between the rows of smaller vegetables and let not a weed escape. If they are in the rows so near to the seedlings that you cannot use the weeder without danger to the delicate little plants that you are attending, then employ your fingers.
For a time you may use the hoe or rake between the rows of beans, but even here near the paths themselves the weeder or hands should be preferred.
There is one caution that old gardeners give which is not to work among beans when they are wet with dew or rain for fear of "rust." Wait till the sun has dried the foliage.
Frequent and thorough cultivation not only destroys the weeds, thus giving your vegetables a better chance and giving your garden a tidy, well-kept appearance, but it keeps the soil loose and forms a sort of mulch whereby the moisture is conserved. The dryer the season the greater the need of cultivation.
It may seem to you that you are obliged to wait long and spend a good deal of labor without results, but when you have for the breakfast table some cool, crisp radishes and for dinner a head of fresh lettuce, and later a dish of sweet, luscious beets or mess of string beans, you will feel well repaid.