Manual of Gardening (Second Edition) / A Practical Guide to the Making of Home Grounds and the Growing of Flowers, Fruits, and Vegetables for Home Use

by L. H. Bailey

Being one of the hardiest of spring vegetables, the seed may be sown as early in the spring as the ground can be worked. A light, sandy soil is the best on which to grow beets to perfection, but any well-tilled garden land will raise satisfactory crops. On heavy ground the turnip beet gives the best results, as the growth is nearly all at or above the surface. The long varieties, having tapering roots running deep into the soil, are liable to be misshapen unless the physical condition of the soil is such that the roots meet with little obstruction. A succession of sowings should be made, at intervals of two to three weeks, until late summer, as the beets are much more desirable in their young stage than when they have become old and woody. The mangel-wurzel and the sugar-beet are usually grown as a field crop, and will not enter into the calculations of the home garden.

In order to hasten the season of the extra-early crop of beets, the seeds may be sown in boxes or in the soil of a hotbed in February or March, transplanting the small plants to the open ground at the time the first sowing of seed is made. As the flat or turnip-rooted varieties grow at the surface of the ground, the seed may be sown thickly, and as the more advanced roots are large enough to use they may be pulled, leaving room for the later ones to develop, thus growing a large quantity in a small area and having a long season of small beets from one sowing.

For winter use the late July-sown seed will give the best roots, growing through the cool months of the fall to a medium size and remaining firm without being tough or stringy. These may be dug after light frosts and before any severe cold weather, and stored in barrels or boxes in the cellar, using enough dry dirt to fill spaces between the roots and cover them to the depth of 6 inches. These roots, thus packed in a cool cellar, will be fit to use through the entire winter months. When it can be had, florists’ or sphagnum moss is an excellent medium in which to pack roots for winter.

The early round or turnip varieties (Fig. 297) are best for early and summer use. The long blood beets may be used for storing, but these require a longer season of growth.

Broccoli—is almost identical with the cauliflower, except that it usually requires a longer season and matures in the fall. It is grown more generally in Europe than in this country. The special merit of broccoli is its adaptability for late summer planting and its rapid growth in the late season. It is said that a large proportion of broccoli is used in the manufacture of pickles. The culture is the same as for cauliflower,—deep, moist soil well enriched, cool weather, and the destruction of the cabbage worm.

Brussels sprouts.—The plant is grown for the buttons or sprouts (miniature cabbage heads) that grow thickly along the stem (Fig. 298). It should be more generally known, as it is one of the choicest of the cabbage family, and may be had at its best after the season for cauliflower has passed. It is the better for being touched by the fall frosts. The buttons should be cut off rather than broken. The very small hard “sprouts” or buttons are the best. The culture is essentially the same as for late cabbage or broccoli. One ounce will sow 100 feet of drill, or make upward of 2000 plants. Set plants in field 2 to 3 feet apart, or dwarf varieties closer. They require the entire season in which to grow.

Cabbage.—The cabbage is now so extensively grown as a field crop, from which the market is supplied, and the plants require so much room that many home-gardeners incline to give up its culture; but the early varieties, at least, should be grown at home.

For an early crop in the North, the plants must be started either in February or early March, or the previous September and wintered over in coldframes. This latter method was once a common practice by gardeners near large cities, but the building of greenhouses to replace the many hotbeds of the market-gardener has changed the practice in many localities, and now most of the early cabbages in the North are grown from seed sown in January, February, or March. The plants are hardened off in March and early April and planted out as early as possible. The private grower, or one with a small garden, may often procure his early plants from the market-gardener much cheaper than he can grow them, as usually only a limited number of early cabbage plants are wanted; but for the midseason and main crop, the seed may be sown in May or June in a seed-bed, setting the plants in July.