VEGETABLE CULTURE

Speaking in general, most crops which are well-adapted to our cool climate can be direct-seeded into the garden; this can actually be an easier way to grow them. Heat-loving crops, if you want them to produce well, need the six-to-eight-week head start that growing transplants can produce.

As a rule, we select to grow shrub beans instead of pole beans. I cannot catch up with my mind whether or not this is from complete laziness. In a urban area backyard the big varieties might perhaps be a trouble as it would be hard to get poles. But these growing beans may be be directed along old fencings and with little cheering will run up the stems of the longest sunflowers. Thus that resolves the pole query. There is an nonfunctional side to the bean query. Suppose you plant these tall beans at the utmost back end of each vegetable row. Form curves with flexible tree branches, tying it over to build the curve. Direct the beans over these. When one stands looking the garden, what an attractive terminal these bean curves make.

Beans like rich, warm, sandy soil. In order to attend the soil make certain to dig deeply, and work it over exhaustively for bean cultivation. It never acts to plant beans before the world makes warmed from its spring cools. There has some other advantage in early prodding of soil. It brings around the Earth’s surface eggs and larvae of worms. The birds anxious for food will even follow the plough to pick from the soil these titbits. A bit lime processed in with the soil is assistive in the cultivation of beans.

Shrub beans are planted in bores nearly eighteen inches apart, while the pole-bean rows should be three feet apart. The bores for the shrub limas should be far apart than those for the other dwarf beans say three feet. This number of space brings about opportunity for cultivation with the hoe. If the growing beans mount too high just catch off the running extreme end, and this will conceal the upward growth.

One of shrub beans are the dwarf, snap or train beans, the wax beans, the shrub limas, one kind of which is called brittle beans. One of the pole beans are the pole limas, wax and scarlet runner. The scarlet runner is a beauty for decorative events. The flowers are scarlet and are elegant versus an old fencing. This is quite beautiful in the blossom garden. Where one wishes a vine, this is advantageous to plant for one gets both a vegetable, brilliant flowers and a shield by one plant. While planting beans set the bean in the soil edgewise with the eye down.

Beetroots like rich, sandy loam, also. Unspoiled manure put to work into the soil is fatal for beetroots, equally it is for many other crop. But we will suppose that nothing is available merely fresh manure. Many gardeners tell to do this into the soil with great care and thoroughness. But however, there has risk of a particle of it getting next to a young beet root. The following may be be done; prod a ditch about a foot deep, scatter a thin layer of manure in that, cover it with soil, and plant preceding this. Along the time the main root falls down to the manure layer, there will be small damage made. Beetroots should not be grafted. If the rows are one foot apart there is sufficient space for cultivation. If the weather condition is really set, then these seeds may be planted. New beetroot tops create very well greens. Much care should be adopted handling beetroots than typically is shown. While beetroots are to be cooked, if the tip of the root and the tops are chop off, the beet bleeds. These represents a loss of good material. Abstracting off such parts with the fingers and doing this not too nearly to the beetroot itself is the suitable way of handling.

There are big coarse members of the beetroot and cabbage classes known as the mangel wurzel and ruta baga. Just about here these are evoked to give to the cows. It is a big addition to a cow’s dinner party.

The cabbage class is a big one. There has the cabbage suitable, then cauliflower, broccoli or a more hardy cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts and kohlrabi, a cabbage-turnip combination.

Cauliflower is a sort of purified, high-class cabbage relative. It requires a bit richer soil than cabbage and cannot resist the frost. A regular watering with manure water gives it the extra richness and water it truly requires. The outward leaves must be bended over, as in the case of the childly cabbage, in order to get the white forefront. The dwarf forms are quite the best to plant.

Kale is not rather so specific a cousin. It can resist frost. Rich soil is requisite, and early spring planting, because of dull maturing. It can planted in September for too soon spring work.

Brussels sprouts are a very common member of this class. On explanation of their size several people who do not wish to serve poor, common old cabbage will serve these. Brussels sprouts are concerning in their development. The plant straw runs up. At the crest, umbrella like, is a end head of leaves, but this is not what we eat. Umbrageous by the umbrella and bundled right along the straw are tasteful small cabbages or sprouts. Suchlike the rest of the family a rich soil is required and lot of water during the growing period. The seed should be planted in May, and the little plants grafted into rich soil in late July. The rows should be eighteen inches apart, and the plants one foot apart in the rows.

Kohlrabi is lies between in the categories of cabbage and turnip. They are some of the times known as the turnip-root cabbage. Just above the ground the stem of this plant swells into a turnip-like vegetable. In the true turnip the swelling is underground, but like the cabbage, kohlrabi forms its eatable part above ground. It is easy to produce. But it should grow speedily, otherwise the swelling gets woody, and so loses its good quality. Sow out as early as possible; or sow exclusive in March and graft to the open. Plant in drills about two feet apart. Arrange the plants about one foot apart, or reduce to this space. To plant one hundred feet of bore purchase half an ounce of seed. Seed goes a long way, you see. Kohlrabi is processed and developed suchlike turnip. It is a very comforting early crop.

Prior to exiting the cabbage category I should like to say that the cabbage known as savoy cabbage is a first-class variety to use. It should all of the time have an early planting under cover, say in February, and then be grafted into open layers in March or April. If the land is deficient where you want to grow cabbage, then by all means choose Savoy.

Carrots are of two general forms: those with long roots, and those with short roots. If long-rooted varieties are chosen, then the soil must be cropped down to a depth of eighteen inches, certainly. The shorter ones will had best in eight inches of well-worked sandy soil. Do not place carrot seed into freshly manured land. Another tip in carrot cultivation is one concerning the cutting process. As the small seedlings come up you will without doubt get that they are much, much too close together. Wait a minute, cut a little at once, so that young, tiny carrots may be used on the home table. These are the tips to tinge down about the cultivation of carrots.

The cucumber is the succeeding vegetable in the line. This is a plant from abroad farmings. Just about believe that the cucumber is truly a native of India. A gentle, sandy and rich soil is needed I mean rich in the sense of richness in organic matter. When cucumbers are farmed outside, as we are probably to grow them, they are planted in hills. Nowadays, they are grown in indoor garden*; they cling from the roof, and are a marvellous view. In the nursery a hive of bees is kept so that cross-fertilization may go on.

But if you think to farm cucumbers adopt these instructions: Sow the seed inside, cover with one inch of rich soil. In a little space of six inches diameter, plant six seeds. Set like a bean seed with the germinating end in the soil. Once all risk of frost is finished, each set of six small plants, soil and all, should be planted in the open. Later, once risk of worm pests is terminated, thin out to three plants in a hill. The hills should be about four feet apart on all sides.

Prior to the time of Christ, lettuce was farmed and served. There has a wild lettuce from which the cultured likely came. There are a number of cultured vegetables which have wild roots, carrots, turnips and lettuce being the most common among them. Lettuce may be puckered into the garden about anyplace. It is certainly among the most decorative of vegetables. The compact head, the green of the leaves, the beauty of proportion all these are fascinating characteristics of lettuces.

As the summertime gets on and as the early sowings of lettuce get old they tend to go to seed. Don’t let them. Draw them up. No from us are expected to move into the seed-producing side of lettuce. What we are interested in is the growing of tender lettuce all the season. To have such lettuce in middle and late summer is possible only by regular plantings of seed. If seed is planted every ten days or two weeks all summer, you can have tender lettuce all the season. When lettuce becomes older it turns bitter and hard.

Melons are most absorbing to experiment with. We say that melons originally came from Asia, and parts of Africa. Melons are a summer fruit. Over in England we find the muskmelons frequently grown under glass in indoor garden*. The vines are groomed up instead of allowed to lie inclined. Since the melons grow great in the hot, dry atmosphere, just the sort which is good for their growth, they become too heavy for the vine to hold up. So they are held by little bags of netting, just like a tennis net in size of mesh. The bags are supported on nails or pegs. It is a very beautiful view I can ascertain you. Over here normally we grow our melons outside. They are planted in hills. Eight seeds are placed two inches apart and an inch deep. The hills should have a four foot sweep on all sides; the watermelon hills ought to have an adjustment of eight to ten feet. Get the soil for these hills very rich. As the little plants get sizeable say about four inches in height shorten the number of plants to two in a hill. All of the time in such job select the very most robust plants to keep. Cut the others down just about or a little below the surface of the ground. Drawing out plants is a shocking way to remove it. I say shocking because the draw is probably to upset the roots of the two remaining plants. When the melon plant has reached a length of a foot, pinch off the end of it. This pinch means this to the plant: just stop growing long, take time now to grow branches. Sand or lime scattered about the hills is given to keep germs away.

The word autumn pumpkin intends good, unstylish pies, for Thanksgiving, for grandmother’s house. It really brings more to mind than the word squash. I think the squash is a bit more useful, when we dream up the fine Hubbard, and the nice little crooked-necked summer squashes; but after all, I wish to have more pumpkins. And as for Jack-o’-lanterns why they positively ask pumpkins. In planting these, the same general directions hold good which were given for melons. And use these same for squash-planting, too. But do not plant the two cousins together, for they have a trend to move together. Plant the pumpkins in between the hills of corn and let the squashes go in some other part of the garden.