Part 5

A garden line should always be stretched across the plot as a guide when making the drills. This insures straight rows, resulting in an enhanced appearance of the garden and greater ease in subsequent cultivation. A variety of tools can be used for making the drills or furrows. For those seeds which require to be planted deeply, a draw-hoe is a useful tool, or, if this is not available, the corner of a rake will suffice. The shallow drills can be made with a hoe or rake handle or with a pointed stick.

The seeds should be planted immediately after the drill is made, before the soil dries up. Consult the table in the Appendix showing the quantity of seed required to plant a row one hundred feet long, and refrain from planting too thickly. Being too liberal with seeds at planting-time is not only wasteful, but also involves a great deal of extra labor later on when the young seedlings have to be thinned in order to give them room for proper development. Sow the seeds as evenly as possible and cover by raking the soil over them. The soil over the seeds must be firmed. In the case of the larger seeds, such as peas and beans, this can be done by walking along the row. The earth over the smaller seeds is best compacted by means of the back of a hoe or rake. This firming process is carried out in order that the earth may come in close contact with the seeds, so that they may absorb the moisture contained in it; also to establish capillary action with the soil below, resulting in moisture being drawn up to the surface.

There is a tendency among beginners to plant their seeds either on raised ridges or, sometimes at the other extreme, in deep trenches. The first method is liable to result in the plants suffering from drought, and the latter in flooding, if it happens to be a wet season. There are times when it is advisable to make use of these practices, as will be described when the methods of cultivation are taken up in detail, but speaking generally, level cultivation is best.

After the seeds are planted we are enabled to sit back and have a breathing-spell until the young plants appear, when it is necessary to proceed with thinning and cultivating as described in the following chapter.

It is the common practice, in connection with some crops, not to plant the seeds directly where they are to mature, but to sow them elsewhere at first and to transplant the young plants to their permanent quarters later.

In the Northern states the growing-season is not sufficiently long to get best results from such tropical plants as tomato, egg-plant and pepper if the seeds are sown outside. A longer growing-season is afforded to these plants by raising them in a greenhouse or hotbed, and transplanting them to the garden when the earth has warmed up and danger of frost is over.

Cabbage is transplanted for the reason that if the seed was sown directly in the field it would be necessary to plant much more seed than was actually needed, and because the ground can be profitably occupied with another crop while the young cabbage plants are reaching a sizable condition. Early cabbage is also sown in a greenhouse or cold-frame in order to hasten the time of maturity.

Although it is possible to raise these transplanted crops with no other facilities than those provided by the ordinary dwelling-house, it is not worth while when only a few plants are required. Young plants of tomato, egg-plant, pepper, and cabbage can be obtained at such a trifling expense from seedsmen who make a business of raising them that it does not pay to bother with raising them yourself.

An eye should be given to weather conditions when transplanting. The plants will feel the check less if a cloudy, humid day is chosen on which to do the work. The soil should be moist, but not so wet as to be sticky. The hole for the reception of the roots can conveniently be made with a trowel. Make it large enough so that the roots may be spread out and then press the earth gently but firmly around them. If the soil is dry leave a shallow depression around the stem of each plant to facilitate watering. Sufficient water should be applied to soak the ground for a depth of six inches or more, and when it has drained away from the surface, the depression may be filled with loose dry earth to prevent the moisture escaping by evaporation.

If for any reason it is necessary to do the work of transplanting on a dry, sunny day, the young plants should be shaded. This can be accomplished by covering them with inverted flower-pots, or with newspapers weighted at the corners with stones to keep them from blowing away, or a shingle or thin piece of board may be stuck in the ground on the sunny side so that its shadow falls on the plant.

In most cases, unless they are grown in earthen or paper pots, the root system of the plants is injured in transplanting. In order to restore the balance between root and shoot it is advisable, and customary, to cut off part of the leaves. If the whole of the leaves are left on the plant they wilt and sometimes die because the reduced number of roots is unable to supply their demands for moisture.

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See Appendix, Table III, for the depth to plant various seeds.

IX HOEING AND THINNING

When the young plants appear above the ground it is time to commence cultivating. This consists of breaking up and pulverizing the surface crust. There are several reasons for doing this. It allows air to enter the soil, which, it will be remembered, is a necessity for the roots of plants and has an important bearing on the formation of plant food. It keeps down the weeds, and, most important of all, it helps to conserve the moisture in the soil.

All who have had anything to do with the cultivation of the soil will have noticed that when its surface is stirred up after a rain it quickly dries out. It will also have been noticed that, if any one has walked over this soil just after it has been stirred up, the soil in the footprints remains moist. Why is this? It is simply that capillary action has been broken by the loosening of the surface, and the soil-water rises to the loosened soil and no farther. On the other hand, capillary action has been restored in those places where the soil has been compacted by walking on it, and the surface here is moist because moisture is continually being supplied from the store below. This moisture just as continually evaporates during dry weather and is lost as far as the plant roots are concerned.

Breaking up the surface soil provides a dust mulch or soil blanket which shades the moist soil below from the sun’s rays, and in a large measure prevents evaporation. Therefore, after every rain, just as soon as the soil has dried out sufficiently so that it does not stick to the tool used, the surface should be cultivated.

Various tools are used for this purpose. When working close to young plants the small hand weeders are useful. Between the rows a hoe should be used. These are of three types. The scuffle-hoe, which is pushed through the soil just underneath the surface, the operator walking backward. This is a handy tool for small gardens if the soil is not too hard, and its use gives the advantage of it not being necessary to walk on the loosened soil.

The ordinary draw-hoe is used with a chopping motion and the operator walks forward over the loosened soil. It is a good tool for getting rid of weeds, and is better than the preceding for use in hard or stony ground.

There are many forms of wheel-hoes which enable the work of cultivating to be done very expeditiously. They are pushed forward with a jerky motion, one step at a time, pulling the implement toward you before making the forward thrust, thus gaining momentum before the teeth enter the ground. Do not attempt to push a wheel-hoe in the same way that you would a perambulator—it’s too hard work.

To water or not to water is sometimes a debatable point in vegetable-growing. There is this much to be said about the application of water to the garden. If thorough cultivation has been properly attended to there will be much less need of watering, and when it is decided that watering is necessary, let it be thorough, so that the soil is soaked to a depth of a foot or so. Then as soon as the soil has dried out somewhat, stir up the surface so that the moisture is not lost by evaporation. The best way to apply water is by means of a sprinkler, throwing a fine spray, which can be left operating for two or three hours. This insures a proper wetting of the soil without washing away any of the loose soil on the surface. The next best thing is to use a hose. The watering-pot is of little use except in a very small garden, because one gets tired of toting water before the plants have been given nearly enough.

In order to obtain good crops it is necessary to allow the plants sufficient room to attain their full development. They must have space in the earth for their roots to ramify in search of food, and room above to spread their leaves to the air and sunshine. A number of seeds, including beet, carrot, corn, lettuce, onion, parsnip, radish, spinach, and Swiss chard, are sown in such a way (in order to insure a good stand) that when they germinate the young plants stand too close together. These have to be thinned out. This operation should be carried out as soon as the seedlings are large enough to handle. Choose a cloudy day when the soil is fairly moist, and pull out the weak, spindly plants, leaving the strong, healthy ones.

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See Appendix, Table III, for distance these plants should stand apart.

X STAKING AND TYING

Some of our vegetable crops need supports of some kind to obtain best results from them. Peas, and beans of some varieties, and tomatoes are of this nature.

The dwarf peas, which need no supports, are the best for the small garden, but if the taller kinds, which are more productive, are grown it is necessary to supply them with something on which to climb. Twiggy brush-wood is the best for the purpose, as the pea tendrils attach themselves readily to this. The bases of the branches should be sharpened with a knife and then stuck firmly into the ground on either side of the row when the peas are a few inches high. Chicken netting stretched along the row and supported on strong stakes is also suitable.

Pole beans climb by means of twining, and poles from six to eight feet high and about two inches in diameter are usually supplied for them. These poles are inserted in the ground by first making a hole with a crowbar. Another method of supporting beans is by means of V-shaped frames about six feet high and three feet wide at the bottom. They can be made of light lumber, such as three by one or two by two inch rough pine. These are spaced from eight to ten feet apart and connected by thin strips of lumber along the top and along the bases. Strings are fastened on one of the base strips, carried over the top and fastened to the base strip on the other side. These strings should be from six to nine inches apart. The beans are planted so that there is one bean-plant to each string.