Vegetable Culture
As a rule, we choose to grow bush beans rather
than pole beans. I cannot make up my mind whether or not this is
from sheer laziness. In a city backyard the tall varieties might
perhaps be a problem since it would be difficult to get poles. But
these running beans can be trained along old fences and with little
urging will run up the stalks of the tallest sunflowers. So that
settles the pole question. There is an ornamental side to the bean
question. Suppose you plant these tall beans at the extreme rear end
of each vegetable row. Make arches with supple tree limbs, binding
them over to form the arch. Train the beans over these. When one
stands facing the garden, what a beautiful terminus these bean
arches make.
Beans like rich, warm, sandy soil. In order to assist the soil be
sure to dig deeply, and work it over thoroughly for bean culture. It
never does to plant beans before the world has warmed up from its
spring chills. There is another advantage in early digging of soil.
It brings to the surface eggs and larvae of insects. The birds eager
for food will even follow the plough to pick from the soil these
choice morsels. A little lime worked in with the soil is helpful in
the cultivation of beans.
Bush beans are planted in drills about eighteen inches apart, while
the pole-bean rows should be three feet apart. The drills for the
bush limas should be further apart than those for the other dwarf
beans say three feet. This amount of space gives opportunity for
cultivation with the hoe. If the running beans climb too high just
pinch off the growing extreme end, and this will hold back the
upward growth.
Among bush beans are the dwarf, snap or string beans, the wax beans,
the bush limas, one variety of which is known as brittle beans.
Among the pole beans are the pole limas, wax and scarlet runner. The
scarlet runner is a beauty for decorative effects. The flowers are
scarlet and are fine against an old fence. These are quite lovely in
the flower garden. Where one wishes a vine, this is good to plant
for one gets both a vegetable, bright flowers and a screen from the
one plant. When planting beans put the bean in the soil edgewise
with the eye down.
Beets like rich, sandy loam, also. Fresh manure worked into the soil
is fatal for beets, as it is for many another crop. But we will
suppose that nothing is available but fresh manure. Some gardeners
say to work this into the soil with great care and thoroughness. But
even so, there is danger of a particle of it getting next to a
tender beet root. The following can be done; Dig a trench about a
foot deep, spread a thin layer of manure in this, cover it with
soil, and plant above this. By the time the main root strikes down
to the manure layer, there will be little harm done. Beets should
not be transplanted. If the rows are one foot apart there is ample
space for cultivation. Whenever the weather is really settled, then
these seeds may be planted. Young beet tops make fine greens.
Greater care should be taken in handling beets than usually is
shown. When beets are to be boiled, if the tip of the root and the
tops are cut off, the beet bleeds. This means a loss of good
material. Pinching off such parts with the fingers and doing this
not too closely to the beet itself is the proper method of handling.
There are big coarse members of the beet and cabbage families called
the mangel wurzel and ruta baga. About here these are raised to feed
to the cattle. They are a great addition to a cow's dinner.
The cabbage family is a large one. There is the cabbage proper, then
cauliflower, broccoli or a more hardy cauliflower, kale, Brussels
sprouts and kohlrabi, a cabbage-turnip combination.
Cauliflower is a kind of refined, high-toned cabbage relative. It
needs a little richer soil than cabbage and cannot stand the frost.
A frequent watering with manure water gives it the extra richness
and water it really needs. The outer leaves must be bent over, as in
the case of the young cabbage, in order to get the white head. The
dwarf varieties are rather the best to plant.
Kale is not quite so particular a cousin. It can stand frost. Rich
soil is necessary, and early spring planting, because of slow
maturing. It may be planted in September for early spring work.
Brussels sprouts are a very popular member of this family. On
account of their size many people who do not like to serve poor,
common old cabbage will serve these. Brussels sprouts are
interesting in their growth. The plant stalk runs skyward. At the
top, umbrella like, is a close head of leaves, but this is not what
we eat. Shaded by the umbrella and packed all along the stalk are
delicious little cabbages or sprouts. Like the rest of the family a
rich soil is needed and plenty of water during the growing period.
The seed should be planted in May, and the little plants
transplanted into rich soil in late July. The rows should be
eighteen inches apart, and the plants one foot apart in the rows.
Kohlrabi is a go-between in the families of cabbage and turnip. It
is sometimes called 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 edible part above ground. It is easy to grow.
Only it should develop rapidly, otherwise the swelling gets woody,
and so loses its good quality. Sow out as early as possible; or sow
inside in March and transplant to the open. Plant in drills about
two feet apart. Set the plants about one foot apart, or thin out to
this distance. To plant one hundred feet of drill buy half an ounce
of seed. Seed goes a long way, you see. Kohlrabi is served and
prepared like turnip. It is a very satisfactory early crop.
Before leaving the cabbage family I should like to say that the
cabbage called Savoy is an excellent variety to try. It should
always have an early planting under cover, say in February, and then
be transplanted into open beds in March or April. If the land is
poor where you are to grow cabbage, then by all means choose Savoy.
Carrots are of two general kinds: those with long roots, and those
with short roots. If long-rooted varieties are chosen, then the soil
must be worked down to a depth of eighteen inches, surely. The
shorter ones will do well in eight inches of well-worked sandy soil.
Do not put carrot seed into freshly manured land. Another point in
carrot culture is one concerning the thinning process. As the little
seedlings come up you will doubtless find that they are much, much
too close together. Wait a bit, thin a little at a time, so that
young, tiny carrots may be used on the home table. These are the
points to jot down about the culture of carrots.
The cucumber is the next vegetable in the line. This is a plant from
foreign lands. Some think that the cucumber is really a native of
India. A light, sandy and rich soil is needed I mean rich in the
sense of richness in organic matter. When cucumbers are grown
outdoors, as we are likely to grow them, they are planted in hills.
Nowadays, they are grown in hothouses; they hang from the roof, and
are a wonderful sight. In the greenhouse a hive of bees is kept so
that cross-fertilization may go on.
But if you intend to raise cucumbers follow these directions: Sow
the seed inside, cover with one inch of rich soil. In a little space
of six inches diameter, plant six seeds. Place like a bean seed with
the germinating end in the soil. When all danger of frost is over,
each set of six little plants, soil and all, should be planted in
the open. Later, when danger of insect pests is over, thin out to
three plants in a hill. The hills should be about four feet apart on
all sides.
Before the time of Christ, lettuce was grown and served. There is a
wild lettuce from which the cultivated probably came. There are a
number of cultivated vegetables which have wild ancestors, carrots,
turnips and lettuce being the most common among them. Lettuce may be
tucked into the garden almost anywhere. It is surely one of the most
decorative of vegetables. The compact head, the green of the leaves,
the beauty of symmetry all these are charming characteristics of
lettuces.
As the summer advances and as the early sowings of lettuce get old
they tend to go to seed. Don't let them. Pull them up. None of us
are likely to go into the seed-producing side of lettuce. What we
are interested in is the raising of tender lettuce all the season.
To have such lettuce in mid and late summer is possible only by
frequent 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 gets old it becomes bitter and tough.
Melons are most interesting to experiment with. We suppose that
melons originally came from Asia, and parts of Africa. Melons are a
summer fruit. Over in England we find the muskmelons often grown
under glass in hothouses. The vines are trained upward rather than
allowed to lie prone. As the melons grow large in the hot, dry
atmosphere, just the sort which is right 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 pretty sight I can
assure you. Over here usually we raise our melons outdoors. 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 allowance of eight to ten feet.
Make the soil for these hills very rich. As the little plants get
sizeable say about four inches in height reduce the number of plants
to two in a hill. Always in such work choose the very sturdiest
plants to keep. Cut the others down close to or a little below the
surface of the ground. Pulling up plants is a shocking way to get
rid of them. I say shocking because the pull is likely to disturb
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 sprinkled about the hills tends to keep
bugs away.
The word pumpkin stands for good, old-fashioned pies, for
Thanksgiving, for grandmother's house. It really brings more to mind
than the word squash. I suppose the squash is a bit more useful,
when we think of the fine Hubbard, and the nice little
crooked-necked summer squashes; but after all, I like to have more
pumpkins. And as for Jack-o'-lanterns why they positively demand
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
tendency to run together. Plant the pumpkins in between the hills of
corn and let the squashes go in some other part of the garden.
About the Author: D. Benjamin is the owner of
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