Instructions in gardening for ladies

by Mrs. Loudon

Coleworts are young cabbages gathered before they form a head; and they are generally sown in June or July for an autumn, winter, or early spring crop. As they are always eaten young, they need not be planted more than ten or twelve inches apart every way; and when they are gathered the stalks are always pulled up and thrown away.

Savoys and Brussels sprouts.—Savoys are large cabbages with wrinkled leaves, the seed of which is sown about the end of March, in order that the crop may be ready for the table in November. The culture is the same as that of cabbages, except that as the savoys are large, they should be planted out in the bed where they are to cabbage, two feet apart every way. Brussels sprouts are a variety of the savoy cabbage; the plants first produce a small savoy on an elongated stalk, and when this is cut off, the long stalk throws out a number of little cabbages from its sides, which are the Brussels sprouts. The culture is the same as for the Savoys, except that the plants, as they do not spread, need not be more than a foot or eighteen inches apart every way; and that the seed is generally procured from Brussels, as that ripened in England is said to produce inferior plants. Both savoys and Brussels sprouts are much better if not cut till there has been some frost upon them; and they are consequently of great value as winter vegetables.

Brocoli and Cauliflower.—The cauliflower (the name of which is supposed to be derived from caulis, a stalk, and florens, flowering,) is a native of Cyprus, introduced in 1694; and no one unacquainted with the details of its culture, and who has seen the immense quantities brought to the London market, could credit the extraordinary care bestowed on each plant to bring it to perfection. Cauliflowers take nearly a year from their first sowing to bring them into a state fit for the table; and as the plants are too tender to bear an English winter without protection, they require to be grown in frames, or sheltered by hand glasses during frosty weather. The seed is sown in August, in a bed of rich light earth, and the ground is occasionally watered till the plants appear. They are then shaded with mats during the heat of the day, and thinned out, so as to leave the plants a little distance apart. In September they are pricked out into beds of rich earth, and watered and shaded; and about the end of October, or beginning of November, they are transplanted into frames, or into beds, richly manured with rotten dung, spread over the ground three or four inches thick, and trenched in, a spade deep; after which, they are watered and covered with hand-glasses. During the whole winter they require constant attention, slightly watering them, and raising the glasses to give them air in fine weather; and covering up the glasses closely with mats or straw in severe frosts, and during the continuance of sharp winds. They must also be frequently looked at, to pick off decayed leaves, &c., which might rot the stem; and the ground in which they grow must be strewed with a mixture of lime and soot, to protect them from the attacks of caterpillars and slugs. Care must also be taken by giving air, &c., to prevent them from being drawn up, or running to flower too soon. At length spring arrives, and the plants which have safely survived the winter must be looked over, and thinned out so that only one or two may be left to each glass; the earth is then loosened, the plants regularly watered, and the glasses taken off in the middle of the day, but carefully replaced at night. At last, towards the end of April, the glasses are removed altogether, and in May some of the plants will begin to make heads; but even then the care bestowed on them must not cease. The plants must be examined daily, and some of the leaves turned down over the flowers, to preserve them from the rays of the sun, which would turn them brown, and from the rain which would rot them. At length, about the end of May, or in June and July, the cauliflowers are ready for the market; and little do the purchasers of them think of the labour and unremitting attention which, for so many months, have been required to rear them. A second crop, sown in February and planted out in April, will be ready in August; and a third crop, sown in May and planted out in July, will be in perfection about Michaelmas or October, and may be preserved in mild weather till near Christmas.

Brocoli is generally supposed to be a variety of the cauliflower; but it differs essentially, both in being much hardier, and in being very apt to vary. Thus, while only two kinds of cauliflower are known, the early and the late, and even these can hardly be distinguished from each other,—there are ten or twelve distinct sorts of brocoli, and more are being raised every day. All these kinds, however, appear to have sprung from two, the purple and the green, which are said to have been brought from Italy. Brocoli is grown for the table in autumn, winter, and early spring; but there is no summer crop. The principal seasons for sowing are February and April for the autumn and winter crops, and June for the spring crop; and the plants succeed best in fresh loamy soil, or, if this cannot be procured, in ground that has been deeply trenched and well manured. The culture is like that of cabbages, except that, in very severe winters, the plants require a little protection.

The Borecole is generally known in England by the name of Scotch kale, and in Scotland by that of German greens. There are many different sub-varieties, fourteen of which are enumerated in the Ency. of Gard.; but all the kinds agree in being generally sown in April, and transplanted in June. They require no other culture, except hoeing and earthing up; and, as they are exceedingly hardy, they are very valuable vegetables for winter use.

The Leguminous tribe.—Vegetables belonging to this tribe generally occupy the ground but a few months in the summer, and are thus very suitable, in the rotation of crops, to precede or follow those of the cabbage tribe, which occupy the ground the greater part of a year.

Peas.—The list of peas is almost interminable, and it is continually changing; so that what may be considered the fashionable peas of one season are generally superseded the next by some others, to which every possible merit is attributed. There are, however, some very distinct kinds, the principal of which are—the dwarf early kinds, which are dry and mealy when full-grown, and become whitish when they are old; the Prussian and marrow-fat peas, which are soft and juicy, with a rich marrowy flavour, and which remain green even when quite ripe; and the sugar peas, which are boiled, like kidney beans, in their pods. The soil for peas should be a light, dry, sandy loam, tolerably rich, but not freshly-manured; and, for this reason, they are particularly well adapted to succeed any of the cabbage-tribe, for which a great deal of manure is required. They should generally have an open sunny situation; and the early crops should be sheltered from the prevailing winds of the district. If peas are sown in freshly-manured, very moist, or clayey soil, they will run to haulm, that is, they will produce more leaves and stalks than peas: and, if grown in calcareous soil, they will boil hard and tough, even when young, and when old will never become floury.

The early peas are small, and few in each pod, and with so little flavour, that we never have them sown in our little garden, but have the green Prussians sown early for a first crop, and again, a little later, for a second. The early dwarf peas are, indeed, of little use, except for forcing. They are, however, frequently sown in November and December, to stand the winter in the open border, in order that they may produce a crop the following May or June. When forced, they are sown in pots plunged in a hotbed, and transplanted into the open border in March; turning them out of the pots into holes made to receive them, without breaking the balls of earth round the roots. In some cases, they are fruited in pots placed in a greenhouse, or even stove; by which means, when it is thought worth while to incur the expense, fresh green peas may be had at Christmas. The main crop of early peas is, however, sown in February. A pint of small early peas will sow twenty yards of drills; each drill being one inch and a half deep, and the drills two or three feet asunder. The drills are marked out by stretching a garden-line lengthways along the bed, and then making a drill or furrow along it with a dibber; the earth is pressed firm at the bottom of the drill by the very act of making it, and the peas are then distributed along it, two or three to every inch, or wider apart, according to their size, and covered with soil, which is generally trodden down or rolled. When attacks are apprehended from mice, dried furze is generally strewed over the peas as soon as they are put into the ground, and before they are covered with earth; and this is efficacious, not only in protecting the peas from their enemies, but in keeping enough air about them to allow them to vegetate. They should then be well watered, and will require no further care till they come up. When they are two or three inches high, they should be hoed; that is, the weeds which may have sprung up between the rows should be hoed up, and the earth drawn up to the roots of the peas. When about six inches high, they should be staked, with two rows of sticks to each row of peas; the sticks being about a foot higher than the average height of the peas, and care being taken never to let them cross at top.

Late peas only differ in their culture from the early crops in having their drills farther apart, and in being placed farther apart in the drills. A pint of these peas is calculated to sow thirty-three yards of rows, and the peas of the larger kinds should be from one inch to two inches, or even more apart in the drills. Dwarf Marrowfats and Blue Prussians are, however, frequently sown about three in two inches. The time of sowing usually varies from April to July; but where no early peas are grown, even the late kinds may be sown as early as February or March. The tall-growing kinds should, however, never be suffered to stand the winter; and they should not be sown before March, unless the weather appear likely to be open, on account of the greater difficulties attending tall-growing plants. It may indeed be here observed, though the fact is obvious, that all dwarf-growing plants are much better adapted for forcing, than the tall-growing kinds; from their being much more easily sheltered and protected. Peas should always be eaten when freshly gathered, as they are perhaps more injured by keeping than any other vegetable. The pea is a native of the south of Europe, and it is supposed to have been introduced in the reign of Henry VIII.

Beans, though belonging to the same natural order as peas, and generally classed with them by persons speaking of garden products, yet differ in several very important particulars: for instance, they will grow in much stronger soil; they do not require sticks; and they are generally topped, that is, the leading shoot of each plant is cut off, an operation that would be fatal to peas. There are many different kinds of beans, though not so many as of peas; and the different varieties may be divided into the early and the late. The early beans may be sown in drills in November or December, to stand the winter; but the main crop is generally sown in January or February. The late beans are sown in March and April, and some even so late as June; and instead of drills, a hole is made for each bean separately with a dibber. Both sorts are covered with earth, which is pressed down and then watered; and they require no further care till the beans are three or four inches high, when they should be hoed and earthed up. As soon as the plants come into blossom, the tops are cut off; and this is said not only to increase the crop, but to prevent the plants from being attacked with the insect called the black blight. The crop should be gathered when the beans are about half ripe. The bean is said to be a native of Egypt; and it is supposed to have been brought to England by the Romans.