The Busy Woman's Garden Book

by Ida D. Bennett

CHAPTER VIII
EARLY SPRING VEGETABLES

May be classified under two heads: those that remain in the ground over winter and are ready for use as soon as the frost is out of the ground and those vegetables that, owing to the short time required to bring to maturity, are first available from the present year's planting; among the first may be cited such forms as asparagus, parsnips, salsify, parsley, kale, onions and a few others.

The latter class include such vegetables as beets, lettuce, radishes, endive and early peas, all of which may be planted as soon as the ground can be worked in spring, but for very earliest results use should be made of the hotbed, sowing the seed in February or March according to the latitude and transplanting as soon as the ground can be worked in spring. By doing this from three to six weeks' time may be gained. At the same time that plants from the hotbeds are transplanted seed may be sown in the open ground in adjoining rows or as a continuation of a short row of transplants, to come into use about the time the first planting is exhausted; in this way a succession may be maintained and the ground made to produce a more profitable amount of vegetables as seed may be sown where the transplanted vegetables were grown as soon as they are removed.

BEETS

Which may be planted in open ground as soon as it can be worked in spring, do best on a fibrous loamy soil, but any good, warm, rich loam will grow them satisfactorily; the cleaner the ground and the more thorough the cultivation, however, the more uniform the crop which will be produced. Sow the seed in drills fifteen to twenty inches apart and about ½ inch deep, covering and tramping down the rows. It is customary to sow the seed rather freely when sown by hand, but if the seed is good rather better results follow sowing with a seeder, owing to the more even distribution and the lessened amount of thinning required; if vegetables of this class did not need thinning their cultivation would be robbed of its chief burden; unfortunately they do need it and quite drastic thinning at that; thinning should commence as soon as the beets are large enough to handle, leaving them standing about one inch apart. In about two weeks another thinning may be given. By this time the young beets will be large enough for greens and they may be thinned to stand two inches apart in the row; a third thinning will be final and should leave about four inches between the beets; this will allow room for full maturity and perfectly formed roots. Beets are at their best when about an inch to an inch and a quarter in diameter and this is the size which is utilized for canning; when used of this size about an inch of the top may be left on and they are served whole, dressed with butter and seasoning.

The old Egyptian beet has long been acknowledged as standard, but Crosby's Egyptian is a distinct improvement upon the old form. It is earlier, the color fine and the quality very sweet and tender. Early Model beet is a new comer with an excellent reputation and both are good selections for the home or the market garden.

In sowing in the hotbed it is not necessary to cover more than a fourth of an inch; scatter the seed thinly and transplant in about three to four weeks from the sowing of the seed, or when the plants and weather make the successful planting most assured; set the plants about an inch to an inch and a quarter apart and in using remove every other one; this leaves abundant room for them to develop and makes cultivating and freedom from weeds more assured.

A light application of nitrate of soda will work wonders in growing early beets; scatter the nitrate thinly along the rows and cultivate in, or the nitrate may be dissolved in water and applied from a watering can, care being taken to apply to the soil only and not to the plants. A handful of nitrate, about the usual quantity applied to a two-gallon watering-pot of water, will be sufficient, or a hundred pounds to the acre—this would amount to about twenty-five pounds to the ordinary garden.

Beets may be sown for succession up to the middle of July and will mature a crop for winter use. Late sown beets are less care to cultivate owing to the fact that the season's crop of weeds is by that time pretty well under control.

SWISS CHARD