May be classified under two heads: those that remain in the ground over winter and are ready for use as soon as the frost is out of the ground and those vegetables that, owing to the short time required to bring to maturity, are first available from the present year's planting; among the first may be cited such forms as asparagus, parsnips, salsify, parsley, kale, onions and a few others.
The latter class include such vegetables as beets, lettuce, radishes, endive and early peas, all of which may be planted as soon as the ground can be worked in spring, but for very earliest results use should be made of the hotbed, sowing the seed in February or March according to the latitude and transplanting as soon as the ground can be worked in spring. By doing this from three to six weeks' time may be gained. At the same87 time that plants from the hotbeds are transplanted seed may be sown in the open ground in adjoining rows or as a continuation of a short row of transplants, to come into use about the time the first planting is exhausted; in this way a succession may be maintained and the ground made to produce a more profitable amount of vegetables as seed may be sown where the transplanted vegetables were grown as soon as they are removed.
BEETS
Which may be planted in open ground as soon as it can be worked in spring, do best on a fibrous loamy soil, but any good, warm, rich loam will grow them satisfactorily; the cleaner the ground and the more thorough the cultivation, however, the more uniform the crop which will be produced. Sow the seed in drills fifteen to twenty inches apart and about ? inch deep, covering and tramping down the rows. It is customary to sow the seed rather freely when sown by hand, but if the seed is good rather better results follow88 sowing with a seeder, owing to the more even distribution and the lessened amount of thinning required; if vegetables of this class did not need thinning their cultivation would be robbed of its chief burden; unfortunately they do need it and quite drastic thinning at that; thinning should commence as soon as the beets are large enough to handle, leaving them standing about one inch apart. In about two weeks another thinning may be given. By this time the young beets will be large enough for greens and they may be thinned to stand two inches apart in the row; a third thinning will be final and should leave about four inches between the beets; this will allow room for full maturity and perfectly formed roots. Beets are at their best when about an inch to an inch and a quarter in diameter and this is the size which is utilized for canning; when used of this size about an inch of the top may be left on and they are served whole, dressed with butter and seasoning.
The old Egyptian beet has long been acknowledged as standard, but Crosby's Egyptian is a89 distinct improvement upon the old form. It is earlier, the color fine and the quality very sweet and tender. Early Model beet is a new comer with an excellent reputation and both are good selections for the home or the market garden.
In sowing in the hotbed it is not necessary to cover more than a fourth of an inch; scatter the seed thinly and transplant in about three to four weeks from the sowing of the seed, or when the plants and weather make the successful planting most assured; set the plants about an inch to an inch and a quarter apart and in using remove every other one; this leaves abundant room for them to develop and makes cultivating and freedom from weeds more assured.
A light application of nitrate of soda will work wonders in growing early beets; scatter the nitrate thinly along the rows and cultivate in, or the nitrate may be dissolved in water and applied from a watering can, care being taken to apply to the soil only and not to the plants. A handful of nitrate, about the usual quantity applied to a two-gallon watering-pot of water, will be90 sufficient, or a hundred pounds to the acre—this would amount to about twenty-five pounds to the ordinary garden.
Beets may be sown for succession up to the middle of July and will mature a crop for winter use. Late sown beets are less care to cultivate owing to the fact that the season's crop of weeds is by that time pretty well under control.
SWISS CHARD
Has been for several years much exploited by seedsmen as the one indispensable vegetable for the city garden. It is no doubt a dependable source of greens, making a rapid growth of succulent leaves and is one of the showy, effective things in the garden that gives an air of abundance and successful gardening unsurpassed by any other vegetable, but, in my opinion, its merit ends right there and if it were not for its value in furnishing green food in the greatest quantity in the least time I should not give it space in the garden; the midrib, so much recommended for cooking like asparagus, has an unpleasant, earthy91 taste that, to me at least, is very disagreeable.
Its culture, however, is so easy that it is worth while for any one who likes it to grow it. It can be planted in the open ground as soon as the ground can be worked in the spring, or sown in the hotbed and transplanted, thus gaining three weeks or more; sow in drill, scattering the seed thinly and thin out the plants to stand six inches apart in the rows. A light dressing of nitrate of soda will hasten the growth and render the leaves more tender and succulent. This plant does not need to have successive sowings made as by cutting down to the ground it will make a new growth, and the outside leaves may be gathered, the same as is done with spinach, and so produce a continuous growth of tender, crisp leaves.
There are two varieties of the chard, the Giant Lucullus and the Silver Beet; the latter variety being more delicate in flavor, having less of the earthy taste. A novel variety—a cross between the Swiss Chard and the table beet—is now offered by Luther Burbank which combines with92 the usual chard qualities, much beauty of foliage, the leaves being gorgeous in pink, yellow, green and white and it would certainly add to the joy of gardening to have so beautiful a thing to tend, for this reason and because the bunnies must have food, I am growing it in my garden this year.
CHINESE CABBAGE
Though not a spring vegetable it is so similar in some respects to Swiss Chard that it may well be a companion vegetable. It much resembles the Romaine or Coss lettuce in its lush, upright leaves. It should not, however, be planted until about the first of July as early plantings run quickly to seed and do not develop the fine big leaves of the type. It may be planted in short rows and transplanted to about nine inches apart when large enough to handle. Nitrate is again indicated for this quick-growing, succulent plant and as soon as the leaves have attained considerable size they should be confined by tying with bast or strips of soft cloth, to prevent their falling93 apart rather than to blanch them. The outer leaves may be gathered as they mature, leaving the inner leaves to grow and be gathered later. It is eaten raw or cooked like cabbage, being more delicate in flavor and without the objectionable cabbage odor when cooking. The large, fleshy midribs, stripped off the leaf, may be eaten raw with salt like celery or cooked like asparagus. When tied up the plant much resembles a very large, handsome stalk of celery, but with big, broad leaves instead of the feathery fronds of the latter plant.
ENDIVE
Classes with the foregoing vegetables, requiring practically the same treatment. It should be started in the hotbed for early use, transplanting to the open ground when the weather is favorable. As it does not make very rapid growth at first it may as well remain under the favorable guardianship of the warm hotbed until the middle of May, when it should be transplanted in rows, setting the plants six inches or94 more apart. When the plants are about two-thirds grown they must be drawn together and tied for blanching, without which they are unfit to use; this must be done when the plants are perfectly dry—in the middle of a bright, sunny forenoon, being the best time for the work, otherwise they will rot as they are very sensitive to moisture and prone to decay—as a Japanese friend said of chrysanthemum seed;—"They are very corruptible."
They are a most acceptable addition to salads and combine acceptably with lettuce having a tangy bitterness very piquant, but it is as a garnish that they excel; the fringed and curled fronds, pure white or tinged with green in the less well-blanched specimens, are beautiful indeed and they may well be grown for this alone.
Covering with boards is sometimes resorted to instead of tying, two boards being laid along either side of the row to form a cap. It takes about three weeks to properly blanch endive and the plants should be used as soon as ready. If desired plants may be taken up in the fall and95 planted in pots or boxes and placed in a light warm cellar or an upstairs window for winter use. As the endive makes a mass of fibrous roots it can be lifted without in any way checking its growth.
The Giant Fringed Endive is one of the best kinds. The Self-blanching Endive is not a satisfactory sort as it lacks the beautiful color of the blanched sort and is more prone to run to seed; either sort when running up can be cut and fed to the rabbits and so turned to good account, in fact I consider it worth planting for this purpose alone. The Staghorn Endive is an excellent sort for spring growing as, started in the hotbed and transplanted, it does not run to seed—a fault most other varieties are addicted to; this sort may be planted for early salads and the Giant Fringed later for fall and winter. Like all plants which depend upon rapid growth for crispness and flavor an application of nitrate is beneficial to endive and mellow, rich soil should be selected for its growth.
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LETTUCE
For the very earliest use plant seed in hotbed and transplant to open ground about the middle of May, setting the plants about a foot apart if head lettuce is desired and, of course, no one who is acquainted with the superior excellence of head lettuce over the leaf variety will care to grow the latter. There are so many excellent varieties of lettuce on the market that one hesitates to recommend any special sort but some are more reliable headers than others. One of the surest headers and an excellent sort to plant in summer as it is more resistant of heat than most sorts, is the Improved Hanson; this variety makes a large, globe-shaped head, so compact that the inner leaves are beautifully blanched and the quality is excellent. For those who like a brown-leaved lettuce and in my opinion this sort excels in flavor all others, the old May King is one of the best and should always find a place in the garden whatever other varieties are grown. It is not as large as lettuce and permits of closer97 planting than Hanson or All Season—another most excellent head lettuce—a sure header and slow to run to seed; it makes an immense head—almost as large as a Flat Dutch Cabbage, with beautifully blanched inner leaves and a fine, buttery flavor.
Ordered
Gratifying evidences of your own care and industry
Of the loose-leaved lettuce the Grand Rapids Forcing Lettuce is the best known. This is a good sort to grow in the hotbed and may be allowed to remain after the other vegetables are removed, resetting to stand a few inches apart. The leaves are upright and loose, beautifully green and curled and the flavor crisp and delicious. It may be grown to use while the other sorts are heading.
Romaine or Coss Lettuce is the sort served in the big hotels as Romaine salad. It requires transplanting either from the hotbed to the open ground or from the seed row in the open ground to another row. It should stand about four inches apart in the row as the growth is upright, rather than spreading, and when of sufficient size the leaves must be tied together to blanch.98 It is very crisp and delicious lettuce when quickly grown by the aid of much fertilizer, good culture and moisture, but lacking these is rather tough and bitter. Nitrates may be used to advantage, applied along the rows after the plants are transplanted.
All lettuce is at best in spring and early summer. It is very difficult to grow good lettuce in hot weather. If a width of cheese cloth is stretched over the row and the soil kept moist much better results can be secured. Leaf lettuce is more easily managed in mid-summer than head lettuce and unless one can give special attention this is a better sort to sow for succession.
ONIONS
Are an all-the-year-round vegetable and belong to each season according to how they are handled. For green onions, early in spring, the White Potato, or Multiplier, Onions are deservedly popular; these are usually raised from sets planted in drills where they are to form a permanent bed and cultivated during summer; they99 form a clump of tender shoots which are ready for use in May. If, however, the bed is neglected and allowed to form sod or weeds the onions deteriorate and become tough and woody; their principal merit consists in their earliness. For first class bunching onions, however, onions with bottoms, one should sow seed in August in a fine, clean seed bed that has been heavily manured, scattering the seed thinly in drills one foot or fifteen inches apart and thin the plants to stand two inches apart in the rows. Onions are quite hardy and will usually winter without protection but in severe climates a light covering of straw or of evergreen boughs will be beneficial; this practice gives very fine green onions early in the spring.
Another practice, very satisfactory for the home garden, consists in planting in early spring the old onions placed in storage for winter use; usually these will have begun to grow by March and are useless for cooking, but if pulled apart and each shoot planted out in good garden soil they will start at once into growth and in a few100 weeks' time produce a delicious green onion, sweet and of the utmost tenderness. I have found it a good thing to spade the flower beds intended for the growing of annuals and bedding plants early in the season and plant the onions in these, thus saving room in the garden and getting a greater use of the flower beds.
Unlike many vegetables the onion can be grown year after year on the same ground, providing it is well fertilized each year with barnyard manure, so that the humus content of the soil is not depleted. Clean tilth is essential, so that as little hand work as possible may be required for onions tops are exceedingly tender and injury to them checks the growth of the bulbs. The garden overalls adopted by many women for working is a distinct advantage in the onion bed. For onion sets sow seed in drills early in spring; gather the sets when ripe and store in a dry place till spring; slight freezing will not injure them but they must be protected from thawing and freezing.
But for winter onions of notable size and quality101 the New Onion Culture should be adopted:—This consists in sowing the seed in the hotbed in early spring and transplanting to the open ground when the weather is suitable. Set the tiny plants an inch apart in the rows, thin when big enough to use as green onions, removing every other one leaving them standing two inches apart, thin again to stand four inches apart and grow on until fall. If seed of Prizetaker or Ailsa Craig are used onions quite the equal of the fancy Spanish onions sold in the fruit stores will be produced. The soil must be more than ordinarily rich; besides the spring dressing given the garden before ploughing the space selected for the onions should have well-rotted manure trenched in at the rate of a wheelbarrow load to every square yard: in trenching lay back a spade's depth of soil across the end of the onion bed; fill this space with manure, trench a second row, throwing the soil on top of the manure, fill the fresh trench with manure and continue till the whole bed has been worked over. Rake the bed until the surface is perfectly fine and smooth and sow the102 seeds in drills fifteen inches apart or set the plants as directed.
Onions are occasionally attacked by root lice which if not at once exterminated will quickly destroy the plants; the lice work on the roots of the onion and the first evidence of their presence is a sickly yellowing of the tops; if an onion is pulled up and examined the presence of the tiny white lice will at once be evident: the remedy is salt and the method of applying is to open a shallow trench beside the rows and scatter salt quite plentifully along it, filling in the earth again; one application will exterminate the lice. Attacks of root lice are by no means common, but the fact that they do occur and are very deadly should make one watchful for the first sign of discoloration in the tops.
When the onion tops show signs of ripening they should be broken down; this is sometimes done by rolling a barrel over them. A light home-made roller may be easily constructed by taking a length of nine inch stove pipe, fitting a103 piece of wood in each end with a hole through the center to admit a bar of wood or iron which should be attached at the ends to a handle adjusted so as to allow the cylinder to roll; this being light can be rolled over the bed, leveling two or more rows at a time according to the length of the cylinder; it can be quickly constructed of waste material about the place and any piece of wood of suitable length—a couple of lathes, even, will answer, will do for handles. It is a good idea when it is found necessary to employ help in cultivating the garden to have a few little jobs like this on hand in case rain interferes with the work; in this way neither the time of the help nor the money of the employer is wasted and I have found that it gives far better satisfaction to the help if there is something of the kind for him to do so that he need not lose his day's or forenoon's work. Sharpening tools is another job that it pays to remember in the odd moments. A memorandum of things that can be done when it rains, tacked up in a conspicuous place in the104 work room, toolhous............