Manual of Gardening (Second Edition) · Chapter 26Chapter X the Growing of the Vegetable Plants (3)
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Garlic is little known in this country except amongst those of foreign birth. It is multiplied the same as multiplier onions—the bulb is broken apart and each bulbule or “clove” makes a new compound bulb in a few weeks. Hardy; plant in early spring, or in the South in the fall. Plant 2 to 3 inches apart in the row.
Horseradish.—Widely used as an appetizer, and now grown commercially. As a kitchen-garden vegetable, this is usually planted in some out-of-the-way spot and a piece of the root dug as often as needed, the fragments of roots being left in the soil to grow for further use. This method results in having nothing but tough, stringy roots, very unlike the product of a properly planted and well-cared-for bed. A good horseradish root should be straight and shapely (Fig. 309).
The best horseradish is secured from sets planted in the spring at the time of setting early cabbage, and dug as late the same fall as the weather will permit. It becomes, therefore, an annual crop. The roots for planting are small pieces, from 4 to 6 inches long, obtained when trimming the roots dug in the fall. These pieces may be packed in sand and stored until wanted the following spring.
In planting, the roots should be set with the upper end 3 inches below the surface of the ground, using a dibber or sharp-pointed stick in making the holes. The crop may be planted between rows of early-sown beets, lettuce, or other crop, and given full possession of the ground when these crops are harvested. When the ground is inclined to be stiff or the subsoil is near the surface, the roots may be set in a slanting position. In fact, many gardeners practice this method of planting, thinking that the roots make a better growth and are more uniform in size.
Kale.—Under this name, a great variety of cabbage-tribe plants is grown, some of them reaching a height of several feet. Usually, however, the name is applied to a low-growing, spreading plant, extensively used for winter and spring greens.
The culture given to late cabbage is suitable. At the approach of severe freezing weather a slight protection is given in the North. The leaves remain green through the winter and may be gathered from under the snow at a time when material for greens is scarce. Some of the kales are very ornamental because of their blue and purple curled foliage. The Scotch Curled is the most popular variety. Let the plants stand 18 to 30 inches apart. Young cabbage plants are sometimes used as kale. Collards and borecole are kinds of kale. Sea-kale is a wholly different vegetable (which see).
Kales are extensively grown at Norfolk, Va., and southward, and shipped North in winter, the plants being started in late summer or in fall.
Kohlrabi is little known in the United States. It looks like a leafy turnip growing above ground.
If used when small (2 to 3 inches in diameter), and not allowed to become hard and tough, it is of superior quality. It should be more generally grown. The culture is very simple. A succession of sowings should be made from early spring until the middle of summer, in drills 18 inches to 2 feet apart, thinning the young plants to 6 or 8 inches in the rows. It matures as quickly as turnips. One ounce of seed to 100 feet of drill.
Leek.—The leek is little grown in this country except by persons of foreign extraction. The plant is one of the onion family, and is used mostly as flavoring for soups. Well-grown leeks have a very agreeable and not very strong onion flavor.
Leek is of the easiest culture, and is usually grown as a second crop, to follow beets, early peas, and other early stuff. The seed should be sown in a seed-bed in April or early May and the seedlings planted out in the garden in July, in rows 2 feet apart, the plants being 6 inches apart in the rows. The plants should be set deep if the neck or lower part of the leaves is to be used in a blanched condition. The soil may be drawn towards the plants in hoeing, to further the blanching. Being very hardy, the plants may be dug in late fall, and stored the same as celery, in trenches or in a cool root-cellar. One ounce of seed to 100 feet of drill.
Lettuce is the most extensively grown salad vegetable. It is now in demand, and is procurable, every month in the year. The winter and early spring crops are grown in forcing-houses and coldframes, but a supply from the garden may be had from April to November, by the use of a cheap frame in which to grow the first and last crops, relying on a succession of sowings for the intermediate supply.
Seed for the first crop may be sown in a coldframe in March, growing the crop thick and having many plants which are small and tender; or, by thinning out to the distance of 3 inches and allowing the plants to make a larger growth, the plants pulled up may be set in the open ground for the next crop.
Sowings should be made in the garden from April to October, at short intervals. A moist location should be chosen for the July and August sowings. The early and late sowings should be of some loose-growing variety, as they are in edible condition sooner than the cabbage or heading varieties.
The cabbage varieties are far superior to the loose-growing kinds for salads. To be grown to perfection, they should have very rich soil, frequent cultivation, and an occasional stimulant, such as liquid manure or nitrate of soda.
The cos lettuce is an upright-growing type much esteemed in Europe, but less grown here. The leaves of the full-grown plants are tied together, thus blanching the center, making it a desirable salad or garnishing variety. It thrives best in summer.
One ounce of seed will grow 3000 plants or sow 100 feet of drill. In the garden, plants may stand 6 inches apart in the rows, and the rows may be as close together as the system of tillage will allow.
Mushroom.—Sooner or later, the novice wants to grow mushrooms. While it is easy to describe the conditions under which they may be grown, it does not follow that a crop may be predicted with any certainty.
Latterly, careful studies have been made of the growing of mushrooms from spores and of the principles involved in the making of spawn, with the hope of reducing the whole subject of mushroom growing to a rational basis. A good idea of this work may be had by reading Duggar’s contribution on the subject in Bulletin 85 of the Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Department of Agriculture. In this place, however, we may confine ourselves to the customary horticultural practice.
The following paragraphs are from “Farmers’ Bulletin,” No. 53 (by William Falconer), of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (March, 1897):—
Mushrooms are a winter crop, coming in from September till April or May—that is, the work of preparing the manure begins in September and ends in February, and the packing of the crop begins in October or November and ends in May. Under extraordinary conditions the season may begin earlier and last longer, and, in fact, it may continue all summer.
Mushrooms can be grown almost anywhere out of doors, and also indoors where there is a dry bottom in which to set the beds, where a uniform and moderate temperature can be maintained, and where the beds can be protected from wet overhead, and from winds, drought, and direct sunshine. Among the most desirable places in which to grow mushrooms are barns, cellars, closed tunnels, sheds, pits, greenhouses, and regular mushroom houses. Total darkness is not imperative, for mushrooms grow well in open light if shaded from sunshine. The temperature and moisture are more apt to be equable in dark places than in open, light ones, and it is largely for this reason that mushroom houses are kept dark.
The best fertilizer for mushrooms, so far as the writer’s experience goes, is fresh horse manure. Get together a lot of this material (short and strawy) that has been well trampled and wetted in the stable. Throw it into a heap, wet it well if it is at all dry, and let it heat. When it begins to steam, turn it over, shake it well so as to mix thoroughly and evenly, and then tramp it down solid. After this let it stand till it again gets quite warm; then turn, shake, trample as before, and add water freely if it is getting dry. Repeat this turning, moistening, and trampling as often as it is needful to keep the manure from “burning.” If it gets intensely hot, spread it out to cool, after which again throw it together. After being turned in this way several times, and the heat in it is not apt to rise above 130° F., it should be ready to make up in the beds. By adding to the manure at the second or third turning one-fourth or one-fifth of its bulk of loam, the tendency to intense heating is lessened and its usefulness not at all impaired. Some growers prefer short manure exclusively, that is, the horse droppings, while others like a good deal of straw mixed in with this. The writer’s experience, however, is that, if properly prepared, it matters little which is used.
Ordinarily the beds are only 8 to 10 inches deep; that is, they are faced with 10-inch-wide hemlock boards, and are only the depth of this board. In such beds put a layer of fresh, moist, hot manure, and trample it down firm until it constitutes half the depth of the bed; then fill up with the prepared manure, which should be rather cool (100° to 115°F.) when used, and pack all firmly. If desired, the beds can be made up entirely of the prepared manure. Shelf beds are usually 9 inches deep; that is, the shelf is bottomed with 1-inch boards and faced with 10-inch wide boards. This allows about 8 inches for manure, and 1 inch rising to 2 inches of loam on top. In filling the shelf beds the bottom half may be of fresh, moist or wettish, hot manure, packed down solid, and the top half of rather cool prepared manure, or it may be made up of all prepared manure. As the shelf beds cannot be trodden and cannot be beaten very firm with the back of the fork, a brick is used in addition to the fork.
The beds should be spawned after the heat in them has fallen below 100° F. The writer considers 90° F. about the best temperature for spawning. If the beds have been covered with hay, straw, litter, or mats, these should be removed. Break each brick into twelve or fifteen pieces. The rows should be, say, 1 foot apart, the first one being 6 inches from the edge, and the pieces should be 9 inches apart in the row. Commencing with the first row, lift up each piece, raise 2 to 3 inches of the manure with the hand, and into this hole place the piece, covering over tightly with the manure. When the entire bed is spawned, pack the surface all over. It is well to cover the beds again with straw, hay, or mats, to keep the surface equally moist. The flake spawn is planted in the same way as the brick spawn, only not quite so deep.
At the end of eight or nine days the mulching should be removed and the beds covered with a layer of good loam 2 inches thick, so that the mushrooms can come up in and through it. This gives them a firm hold, and to a large extent improves their quality and texture. Any fair loam will do. That from an ordinary field, wayside, or garden is generally used, and it answers admirably. There exists an idea that garden soil surfeited with old manure is unfit for mushroom beds because it is apt to produce spurious fungi. This, however, is not the case. In fact, it is the earth most commonly used. For molding the beds the loam should be rather fine, free, and mellow, so that it can be easily and evenly spread and compacted firmly into the manure.
If an even atmospheric temperature of from 55° to 60° F. can be maintained, and the house or cellar containing the mushroom beds is kept close and free from drafts, the beds may be left uncovered, and should be watered if they become dry. But no matter where the beds are situated, it is well to lay some loose hay or straw or some old matting or carpet over them to keep them moist. The covering, however, should be removed just as soon as the young mushrooms begin to appear above ground. If the atmosphere is dry, the pathways and walls should be sprinkled with water. The mulching should also be sprinkled, but not enough to cause the water to soak into the bed. However, if the bed should get dry, do not hesitate to water it.
Mustard.—Almost all the mustards are good for greens, though white mustard is usually best. Chinese mustard is also valuable.
Seed should be sown in drills, 3 to 3-1/2 feet apart, and covered with a half inch of soil. The ease with which they may be grown, and the abundance of herbage which they yield, mark their special utility. Sow very early for spring greens, and in late summer or early September for fall greens.
Muskmelon.—The most delicious of all garden vegetables eaten from the hand, and of simple cultivation; but like many another plant that is easy to grow it often fails completely. The season and soil must be warm and the growth continuous.
The natural soil for melons is a light, sandy loam, well enriched with rotted manure, although good crops may be grown on land naturally heavy if the hills are specially prepared. When only heavy soil is available, the earth where the seeds are to be planted should be thoroughly pulverized and mixed with fine, well-rotted manure. A sprinkling of leafmold or chip-dirt will help to lighten it. On this hill from ten to fifteen seeds may be sown, thinning to four or five vines when danger of insects is over.
The season may be advanced and the damage from insects lessened by starting the plants in hotbeds. This may be done by using fresh sod, cut into 6-inch pieces, placing them grass-side down in the hotbed, sowing eight to ten seeds on each piece, and covering with 2 inches of light soil. When all danger of frost is over, and the ground has become warm, these sods may be carefully lifted and set in the prepared hills. The plants usually grow without check, and fruit from two to four weeks ahead of those from seed planted directly in the hill. Old quart berry-boxes are excellent to plant seeds in, as, when they are set in the ground, they very quickly decay, causing no restriction to the roots.
Netted Gem, Hackensack, Emerald Gem, Montreal, Osage, and the Nutmeg melon are popular varieties. One ounce of seed will plant about fifty hills.
Okra.—A plant of the cotton family, from the green pods of which is made the well-known gumbo soup of the South, where the plant is more extensively grown than in the North. The pods are also used in their green state for stews, and are dried and used in winter, when they are nutritious, and form no little part of the diet in certain sections of the country.
The seeds are very sensitive to cold and moisture, and should not be sown until the ground has become warm—the last week in May or the first of June being early enough in New York. The seed should be sown in a drill 1 inch deep, the plants thinned to stand 12 inches in the row. Give the same culture as for corn. One ounce will sow 40 feet of drill. Dwarf varieties are best for the North. Green Density and Velvet are leading varieties.
Onion.—A few onions, of one kind or another, give character to every good kitchen-garden. They are grown from seeds (“black seed”) for the main crop. They are also grown from sets (which are very small onions, arrested in their development); from “tops” (which are bulblets produced in the place of flowers); and from multipliers or potato onions, which are compound bulbs.
The extremely early crop of onions is grown from sets, and the late or fall crop is grown from seed sown in April or early May. The sets may be saved from the crop harvested the previous fall, saving no bulbs measuring over three-fourths of an inch in diameter, or, better, they may be purchased from the seedsman. These sets should be planted as early as possible in the spring, preferably on land that has been manured and trenched in the fall. Plant in rows 12 inches apart, the sets being 2 or 3 inches in the row. Push the sets well down into the ground and cover with soil, firming them with the feet or a roller. In cultivating, the soil should be thrown towards the tops, as the white stems are usually sought as an indication of mildness. The crop will be in condition to use in three to four weeks, and may be made to last until small seed onions are to be had. Tops or multipliers may also be used for the early crop.
In growing onions from seed, it is only necessary to say that the seed should be in the ground very early in order that the bulbs make their growth before the extreme hot weather of August, when, for want of moisture and because of the heat, the bulbs will ripen up while small. Early in April, in New York, if the ground is in condition, the seed should be sown thickly in drills from 12 to 16 inches apart, and the ground above the seeds well firmed. Good cultivation and constant weeding is the price of a good crop of onions. In cultivating and hoeing, the soil should be kept away from the rows, not covering the growing bulbs, but allowing them to spread over the surface of the ground. When the crop is ready to be harvested, the bulbs may be pulled or cultivated up, left to dry in double rows for several days, the tops and roots taken off, and the bulbs stored in a dry place. Later in the season they may be allowed to freeze, covering with chaff or straw to hold them frozen, and kept until early spring; but this method is usually unsafe with beginners, and always so in a changeable climate. Onion seed should always be fresh when sown—preferably of the last year’s crop. One ounce of onion seed will sow 100 feet of drill.
One of the recent methods of securing extra large and also early bulbs from seed is to sow the seed in a hotbed in February or early March, and transplant to the open ground in April. A bunch of onions, for eating from hand, is shown in Fig. 310.
The Danvers, Prizetaker, Globe, and Wethersfield are favorite varieties, with the addition of White Queen or Barletta for pickling.
Parsley.—This is the most universal of garnishes. It is used also as a flavoring in soups.
The seed is slow to germinate, and often the second or third sowing is made, thinking the first is a failure; but usually after what would seem a long time the young plants will be seen. When sown in the open ground, it should be thinned to stand 3 or 4 inches in the row, the rows being 10 to 12 inches apart. A few plants in a border will give a supply for a large family, and with a little protection will live over winter.
Roots may be lifted in the fall, put into boxes or old cans, and grown in a sunny window for winter use. The Curled parsley is the form commonly used.
Parsnip.—A standard winter and spring vegetable, of the easiest culture in deep soil (Fig. 311).
Parsnips are the better for the winter’s freeze, although they are of good quality if taken up after the fall frosts and packed in soil, sand, or moss in the cellar.
The seed, which must be not over one year old, should be sown as early as possible in well-prepared soil, firmed with the feet or roller. As the seed germinates rather slowly, the ground often becomes crusted or baked over the seeds, in which case it should be broken and fined with a garden rake. This operation often means the success of the crop. Radish or cabbage seeds may be sown with the parsnip seed to mark the row and break the crust. One ounce of seed will sow 200 feet of drill. Thin to 6 inches apart in the row.
Pea.—Perhaps no vegetable is planted in greater expectancy than the pea. It is one of the earliest seeds to go into the ground, and the planting fever is impatient.
There is great difference in quality between the smooth and the wrinkled peas. The first are a little the earliest to be planted and to become fit for use, and on that account should be planted in a small way; but the wrinkled sorts are much superior in quality.
The early crop of peas may be forwarded by sprouting the seeds indoors. Soil may be made too rich or strong for peas.
For the kitchen-garden the dwarf and half-dwarf varieties are the best, as the tall kinds will need brush or wire to support them, causing considerable trouble and labor and not being as neat in appearance. The dwarf varieties should be planted four rows in a block, each row being only 6 or 8 inches apart. The peas on the two center rows may be picked from the outside. Leave a space of 2 feet and plant the same.
The tall varieties yield a larger crop than the dwarfs, but as the rows must be made from 3 to 5 feet apart, the dwarf ones, which are planted only 6 to 8 inches apart, will give as large a yield on the same area. Always plant double rows of the tall varieties; that is, two rows from 4 to 6 inches apart, with the brush or wire between, the double rows being from 3 to 5 feet apart, according to varieties.
At the time of the first planting only the smooth varieties should be sown, but by the middle of April in New York the ground will be warm and dry enough for wrinkled sorts. Succession crops should be sown that will come to maturity one after the other, extending the season six or eight weeks. If a further supply is wanted, the early quick-maturing varieties may be sown in August, usually giving a fair crop of peas in September and early October. In the hot weather of midsummer they do not thrive so well. One quart of seed will plant about 100 feet of drill.
Pepper.—The garden pepper is not the pepper of commerce; it is more properly known as red pepper (though the pods are not always red), chilli, and capsicum. The pods are much used in the South, and most Northern households now employ them to some extent.
Peppers are tender while young, although they will endure a heavy frost in the fall. Their culture is that recommended for egg-plants. A small seedsman’s packet of seed will be sufficient for a large number of plants, say two hundred. The large bell peppers (Fig. 312) are the mildest, and are used for making “stuffed peppers” and other dishes. The small, hot peppers are used for seasoning and sauces.
Potato.—The potato is rather more a field crop than a home-garden product; yet the home-gardener often desires to grow a small early lot.
The common practice of growing potatoes on elevated ridges or hills is wrong, unless the soil is so wet that this practice is necessary to insure proper drainage (but in this case the land is not adapted to the growing of potatoes), or unless it is necessary, in a particular place, to secure a very early crop. If the land is elevated into ridges or hills, there is great loss of moisture by means of evaporation. During the last cultivating the potatoes may be hilled up slightly in order to cover the tubers; but the hills should not be made in the beginning for the main crop if land and conditions are right.
Land for potatoes should be rather loamy in character, and ought to have a liberal supply of potash, either naturally or supplied in the drill, by means of an application of sulfate of potash. See that the land is deeply plowed or spaded, so that the roots can penetrate deeper. Plant the potatoes 3 or 4 inches below the natural surface of the ground. It is ordinarily best to drop the pieces in drills. A continuous drill or row may be made by dropping one piece every 6 inches, but it is usually thought best to drop two pieces about every 12 to 18 inches. The drills are far enough apart to allow good cultivation. If horse cultivation is used, the drills should be at least 3 feet apart.
Small potatoes are considered not to be so good as large ones for planting. One reason is because too many sprouts arise from each one, and these sprouts are likely to crowd each other. The same is true of the tip end or seed end of the tuber. Even when the tip is cut off, the eyes are so numerous that one secures many weak shoots rather than two or three strong ones. It is ordinarily best to cut the potatoes to two or three eyes, leaving as much tuber as possible with each piece. From 7 to 10 bushels of potatoes are required to plant an acre.
For a very early crop in the garden, tubers are sometimes sprouted in the cellar. When the sprouts are 4 to 6 inches high, the tubers are carefully planted. It is essential that the sprouts are not broken in the handling. In this practice, also, the tubers are first cut into large pieces, so that they will not dry out too much.
The staple remedy for the potato bug is Paris green, 2 pounds or more of poison to 150 to 200 gallons of water, with a little lime. For the blight, spray with bordeaux mixture, and spray thoroughly. Bordeaux mixture will also keep away the flea beetle to a large extent.
Radish (Plate XXV).—In all parts of the country the radish is popular as a side-dish, being used as an appetizer and for its decorative character. It is a poor product, however, if misshapen, wormy, or tough.
Radishes should be grown quickly in order to have them at their best. They become tough and woody if grown slowly or allowed to stay in the ground too long. A light soil, well enriched, will grow most of the early varieties to table size in three to five weeks. To have a supply through the early months, sowings should be made every two weeks. For spring use, the French Breakfast is still a standard variety (Fig. 313).
For summer, the large white or gray varieties are best. The winter varieties may be sown in September, harvested before severe frosts, and stored in sand in a cool cellar. When they are to be used, if thrown into cold water for a short time they will regain their crispness.
Sow radishes thickly in drills, 12 to 18 inches apart. Thin as needed.
Rhubarb, or Pie plant.—A strong perennial herb, to be grown in a bed or row by itself at one end or side of the garden. It is a heavy feeder.
Rhubarb is usually propagated by division of the fleshy roots, small pieces of which will grow if separated from the old established roots and planted in rich mellow soil. Poor soil should be made rich by spading out at least 3 feet of the surface, filling with well-rotted manure to within 1 foot of the level, throwing in the top soil and setting the roots with the crowns 4 inches below the surface, firming them with the feet. The stalks should not be cut for use until the second year. See that the plant does not want for water when it is making its heavy leaf growth. In fall, coarse manure should be thrown over the crowns, to be forked or spaded in lightly when spring opens.
In growing seedling rhubarb, the seed may be sown in a coldframe in March or April, protected from freezing, and in two months the plants will be ready to set in rows, 12 inches apart. Give the plants good cultivation, and the following spring they may be set in a permanent place. At this time the plants should be set in well-prepared ground, at a distance each way of 4 to 5 feet, and treated as those set with pieces of roots.