SPRING WORK IN THE GARDEN.Whenspring comes, everybody begins to think of the garden. A little of the experience of one who has learned some by making many mistakes will do you no harm.Too much Work laid out.—When the winter lets us out, and we are exhilarated with fresh air, singing birds, bland weather, and newly-springing vegetation, our ambition is apt to lay outtoo much work.Webegan with anacre, in garden; we could not afford to hire help except for a few days; and we were ambitious to do things as they ought to be done. By reference to a Garden Journal (every man should keep one), we find that we planted in 1840,sixteenkinds of peas;seventeenkinds of beans;sevenkinds of corn;sixkinds of squash;eightkinds of cabbage;sevenkinds of lettuce;eightsorts of cucumber, andsevenof turnips—seventy-six varieties of only eight vegetables! Besides, we had fruit-trees to transplant in spring—flowers to nurture, and all the etceteras of a large garden. Although we worked faithfully, early and late, through the whole season, the weeds beat us fairly; and every day or two some lazy loon, who had not turned two spadefuls of earth during the season, would lounge along and look over, and seeing the condition of things, would very quietly say:“Why, I heard so much about your garden—whew! what regiments of weeds you keep. I say, neighbor, do you boil thatparsleyfor greens?” It nettled us, and we sweat at the hoe and spade all the harder, but in vain; for wehadlaid out more thancouldbe well done. Nobody asked how much wehaddone—they looked only at what we hadnotdone. To be sure so many sorts were planted only to test their qualities; but the laying out of so large a work in spring is not wise.AHALFwell done is better than aWHOLEhalf done. Remember there is aJulyas well as an April; andlayout in April as you canholdout in July and August. We have profited by our own mistakes and have no objections that others should do it.Vegetable Garden.—Before you meddle with the garden, do two things: first inspect your seeds, assort them, rejecting the shrunk, the mildewed, the sprouted, and, generally, the discolored. Buy early, such as you need to purchase. Do not wait till the minute of planting before you get your seeds. Second, make up your mind beforehand just what you mean to do in your garden for the season.Preparation.—Haul your manure and stack it in a corner; do not spread it till the day that you are ready to turn it under; cut your pea-brush and put it under shelter; inspect your bean-poles and procure such as are necessary to replace the rotten or broken ones; inspect every panel of the garden fence; one rail lost, may ruin, in a night, two months’ labor, and more temper and grace than you can afford to spare in a whole year. Clean up all the stubble, haulm, straw, leaves, refuse brush, sticks and rubbish of every sort, and cast it out, or burn it and distribute the ashes. If you intend to do your work in the best manner, see that you have thesortsof manure that you may need through the season: ashes, fine old barn-yard manure, green long manure, leaf-mold from the wood, top-soil from pastures, etc., etc. Every florist understands the use of these.Coarse manure may be put upon your pie-plant bed, as a strong and succulent leaf-stalk is desirable. Let it be thoroughly forked, gently near the stools and deeply between the rows.With an iron-toothed rake go over your old strawberry beds that are matted together, and rake them severely. Strawberries that have been kept in hills and cleanly tended should be manured between the rows and gently spaded or forked.Early Sowings.—Tomatoes, egg-plant, early cucumbers, cabbage, cauliflowers, broccoli, lettuce, melons, celery for an early crop, should have been, before this, well advanced in a hot-bed. If not, no time is to be lost; and if a first sowing is well along, a second sowing should be made.You cannot get too early into the ground after the frost is out and the wet a little dried, onions for seed or a crop, lettuce, radishes, peas, spinage, parsnip, early cabbage, and small salads.Asparagus.—The beds should be attended to; remove all weeds and old stalks; give a liberal quantity of salt to the bed—if you have old brine, or can get fish brine at the stores, that is better than dry salt. Asparagus is amarineplant, growing upon sandy beaches along the sea coast, and is therefore benefited by salt, to which, in itshabitat, it was accustomed. Put about three or four inches of old, thoroughly rotted manure upon the bed; fork it in gently, so as not to wound the crowns of the plant. Directions for forming beds belong to a later period in the season.Onions.—Should be sown or set early.If you prefer seed, sow, across beds four feet wide, in drills eight inches apart; young gardeners are apt to begrudgeroom—give it freely to everything, and it will repay you; when they come up, thin out to one for every inch; as you wish young and tender onions for your table, draw these, leaving, at least, one every five inches in the row. If your soil is deep and very rich, onions can be grown in oneseason from the seed as well as from the set—we try it almost every year andnever fail, although told a hundred times: “You could do that in the old States, but it won’t do out here.” It had to do, and did do, and always will do, where there is no lazy men about; but nothing ever does well in a slack and lazy man’s garden; plants have an inveterate prejudice against such, and won’t grow; but he is a darling favorite among weeds.The white or silver skin, and the yellow Portugal have been favorite kinds with us to raise from seed. They are tender, mild flavored, but do not keep as well as theRed.Strong onions always keep better than mild ones.If you prefer top-onion sets, or sets of any other kind, plant them out at the same distances,viz.eight inches between the row and five or six between the sets. Inexperienced gardeners are afraid thatlittlesets no bigger than a pea, will not do well. It is a mistake—they will make large onions; put themallin, if they are sound. Plant the sets so that the top shall just appear above the surface.If you plant out old onions forseed, let them be at least a foot apart and stake them when they begin to blossom. If you plant thetop-onionfor sets you need not stake them, for they cannot shed out their seed if they fall over. It is not generally known that the same onions may be kept for seed for many years.Transplanting.—All fruit-trees, most kinds of shade trees, shrubs,hardyroses, honeysuckles, pinks, lilacs, peonies, etc., may be raised, divided, and transplanted in April unless your soil isvery wet. Allhardyplants may be safely transplanted just as soon as the ground is dry enough to crumble freely—and not till then. In planting out shrubs, remember that they willgrow; if you put them near together, for the sake of present effect, in a year or two they will be crowded. We set at ample distances and fill up the spaces with lilies, peonies, phlox, gladiolus, and herbaceous plants which are easily removed.Flower Garden.—Remove the covering from your bulb beds; as soon as the earth is dry enough to crumble, with a small hoe carefully mellow the earthbetweenthe rows of bulbs, and work it loose withyour hands, in the row itself. Leave the surface convex, that superfluous rain may flow off. Transplant roses that are to be moved. Divide the roots of such lilies, peonies, irises, etc., as are propagated by division, and replant.As fast as the soil allows, spade up your borders, and flower compartments, giving first a good coating of very fine, old, pulverized manure.If you have hot-beds you may bring forward most of your annuals, so as to turn them out into the open beds as soon as frosts cease.But defer sowing in the open air until the first of April; and then, sparingly; sow again the middle of April, and on the first of May. Only thus, will you besureof a supply. If you gain more than you need by three sowings, should all succeed, you have friends and neighbors enough, if you are a reasonably decent man, who will be glad to receive the surplus.Manure.—Corn and potatoes will bear green and unfermented manure. But all ordinary garden vegetables requirethoroughlyrotted manure. If the soil is sandy, leached ashes may be applied with great profit at the rate of seventy or eighty bushels the acre. The soil is made more retentive of moisture, and valuable ingredients are secured to it. Salt may be used with great advantage on all garden soils, but especially upon light and sandy ones. Thus treated, soils will resist summer droughts and be moist when otherwise they would suffer. Salt has also a good effect in destroying vermin, and it adds very valuable chemical ingredients to the soil. Soapsuds should be carefully saved and poured about currants, gooseberries and fruit-trees. Charcoal, pulverized, is excellent, as it absorbs ammonia from the atmosphere, or from any body containing it, andyields it to the plants. Let a barrel be set near the house filled with powdered charcoal. Empty into it all thechamber-ley. The ammonia will be taken up by the charcoal, and the barrel will be without any offensive smell. But as soon as the charcoal is saturated, it will begin to give out the peculiar odor of urine. Let the charcoal then be mixed with about five times its bulk of fresh earth and well worked together, and it will afford a very powerful manure for vegetables and flowers. In Europe, where manure is precious, it is estimated that the excrementitious matter, slops, suds, scraps, etc., of a family, will supply one acre, for each member, with manure.[3]There are few families whose offal would not afford abundant material for enriching the garden, and with substances peculiarly fitted for flowers, fruits, and esculent roots.[3]See note,p.98, Colman’s Tour,2dpart, where is given an estimate by a distinguished agricultural chemist, Mr. Haywood.
Whenspring comes, everybody begins to think of the garden. A little of the experience of one who has learned some by making many mistakes will do you no harm.
Too much Work laid out.—When the winter lets us out, and we are exhilarated with fresh air, singing birds, bland weather, and newly-springing vegetation, our ambition is apt to lay outtoo much work.Webegan with anacre, in garden; we could not afford to hire help except for a few days; and we were ambitious to do things as they ought to be done. By reference to a Garden Journal (every man should keep one), we find that we planted in 1840,sixteenkinds of peas;seventeenkinds of beans;sevenkinds of corn;sixkinds of squash;eightkinds of cabbage;sevenkinds of lettuce;eightsorts of cucumber, andsevenof turnips—seventy-six varieties of only eight vegetables! Besides, we had fruit-trees to transplant in spring—flowers to nurture, and all the etceteras of a large garden. Although we worked faithfully, early and late, through the whole season, the weeds beat us fairly; and every day or two some lazy loon, who had not turned two spadefuls of earth during the season, would lounge along and look over, and seeing the condition of things, would very quietly say:“Why, I heard so much about your garden—whew! what regiments of weeds you keep. I say, neighbor, do you boil thatparsleyfor greens?” It nettled us, and we sweat at the hoe and spade all the harder, but in vain; for wehadlaid out more thancouldbe well done. Nobody asked how much wehaddone—they looked only at what we hadnotdone. To be sure so many sorts were planted only to test their qualities; but the laying out of so large a work in spring is not wise.AHALFwell done is better than aWHOLEhalf done. Remember there is aJulyas well as an April; andlayout in April as you canholdout in July and August. We have profited by our own mistakes and have no objections that others should do it.
Vegetable Garden.—Before you meddle with the garden, do two things: first inspect your seeds, assort them, rejecting the shrunk, the mildewed, the sprouted, and, generally, the discolored. Buy early, such as you need to purchase. Do not wait till the minute of planting before you get your seeds. Second, make up your mind beforehand just what you mean to do in your garden for the season.
Preparation.—Haul your manure and stack it in a corner; do not spread it till the day that you are ready to turn it under; cut your pea-brush and put it under shelter; inspect your bean-poles and procure such as are necessary to replace the rotten or broken ones; inspect every panel of the garden fence; one rail lost, may ruin, in a night, two months’ labor, and more temper and grace than you can afford to spare in a whole year. Clean up all the stubble, haulm, straw, leaves, refuse brush, sticks and rubbish of every sort, and cast it out, or burn it and distribute the ashes. If you intend to do your work in the best manner, see that you have thesortsof manure that you may need through the season: ashes, fine old barn-yard manure, green long manure, leaf-mold from the wood, top-soil from pastures, etc., etc. Every florist understands the use of these.
Coarse manure may be put upon your pie-plant bed, as a strong and succulent leaf-stalk is desirable. Let it be thoroughly forked, gently near the stools and deeply between the rows.
With an iron-toothed rake go over your old strawberry beds that are matted together, and rake them severely. Strawberries that have been kept in hills and cleanly tended should be manured between the rows and gently spaded or forked.
Early Sowings.—Tomatoes, egg-plant, early cucumbers, cabbage, cauliflowers, broccoli, lettuce, melons, celery for an early crop, should have been, before this, well advanced in a hot-bed. If not, no time is to be lost; and if a first sowing is well along, a second sowing should be made.
You cannot get too early into the ground after the frost is out and the wet a little dried, onions for seed or a crop, lettuce, radishes, peas, spinage, parsnip, early cabbage, and small salads.
Asparagus.—The beds should be attended to; remove all weeds and old stalks; give a liberal quantity of salt to the bed—if you have old brine, or can get fish brine at the stores, that is better than dry salt. Asparagus is amarineplant, growing upon sandy beaches along the sea coast, and is therefore benefited by salt, to which, in itshabitat, it was accustomed. Put about three or four inches of old, thoroughly rotted manure upon the bed; fork it in gently, so as not to wound the crowns of the plant. Directions for forming beds belong to a later period in the season.
Onions.—Should be sown or set early.
If you prefer seed, sow, across beds four feet wide, in drills eight inches apart; young gardeners are apt to begrudgeroom—give it freely to everything, and it will repay you; when they come up, thin out to one for every inch; as you wish young and tender onions for your table, draw these, leaving, at least, one every five inches in the row. If your soil is deep and very rich, onions can be grown in oneseason from the seed as well as from the set—we try it almost every year andnever fail, although told a hundred times: “You could do that in the old States, but it won’t do out here.” It had to do, and did do, and always will do, where there is no lazy men about; but nothing ever does well in a slack and lazy man’s garden; plants have an inveterate prejudice against such, and won’t grow; but he is a darling favorite among weeds.
The white or silver skin, and the yellow Portugal have been favorite kinds with us to raise from seed. They are tender, mild flavored, but do not keep as well as theRed.Strong onions always keep better than mild ones.
If you prefer top-onion sets, or sets of any other kind, plant them out at the same distances,viz.eight inches between the row and five or six between the sets. Inexperienced gardeners are afraid thatlittlesets no bigger than a pea, will not do well. It is a mistake—they will make large onions; put themallin, if they are sound. Plant the sets so that the top shall just appear above the surface.
If you plant out old onions forseed, let them be at least a foot apart and stake them when they begin to blossom. If you plant thetop-onionfor sets you need not stake them, for they cannot shed out their seed if they fall over. It is not generally known that the same onions may be kept for seed for many years.
Transplanting.—All fruit-trees, most kinds of shade trees, shrubs,hardyroses, honeysuckles, pinks, lilacs, peonies, etc., may be raised, divided, and transplanted in April unless your soil isvery wet. Allhardyplants may be safely transplanted just as soon as the ground is dry enough to crumble freely—and not till then. In planting out shrubs, remember that they willgrow; if you put them near together, for the sake of present effect, in a year or two they will be crowded. We set at ample distances and fill up the spaces with lilies, peonies, phlox, gladiolus, and herbaceous plants which are easily removed.
Flower Garden.—Remove the covering from your bulb beds; as soon as the earth is dry enough to crumble, with a small hoe carefully mellow the earthbetweenthe rows of bulbs, and work it loose withyour hands, in the row itself. Leave the surface convex, that superfluous rain may flow off. Transplant roses that are to be moved. Divide the roots of such lilies, peonies, irises, etc., as are propagated by division, and replant.
As fast as the soil allows, spade up your borders, and flower compartments, giving first a good coating of very fine, old, pulverized manure.
If you have hot-beds you may bring forward most of your annuals, so as to turn them out into the open beds as soon as frosts cease.
But defer sowing in the open air until the first of April; and then, sparingly; sow again the middle of April, and on the first of May. Only thus, will you besureof a supply. If you gain more than you need by three sowings, should all succeed, you have friends and neighbors enough, if you are a reasonably decent man, who will be glad to receive the surplus.
Manure.—Corn and potatoes will bear green and unfermented manure. But all ordinary garden vegetables requirethoroughlyrotted manure. If the soil is sandy, leached ashes may be applied with great profit at the rate of seventy or eighty bushels the acre. The soil is made more retentive of moisture, and valuable ingredients are secured to it. Salt may be used with great advantage on all garden soils, but especially upon light and sandy ones. Thus treated, soils will resist summer droughts and be moist when otherwise they would suffer. Salt has also a good effect in destroying vermin, and it adds very valuable chemical ingredients to the soil. Soapsuds should be carefully saved and poured about currants, gooseberries and fruit-trees. Charcoal, pulverized, is excellent, as it absorbs ammonia from the atmosphere, or from any body containing it, andyields it to the plants. Let a barrel be set near the house filled with powdered charcoal. Empty into it all thechamber-ley. The ammonia will be taken up by the charcoal, and the barrel will be without any offensive smell. But as soon as the charcoal is saturated, it will begin to give out the peculiar odor of urine. Let the charcoal then be mixed with about five times its bulk of fresh earth and well worked together, and it will afford a very powerful manure for vegetables and flowers. In Europe, where manure is precious, it is estimated that the excrementitious matter, slops, suds, scraps, etc., of a family, will supply one acre, for each member, with manure.[3]There are few families whose offal would not afford abundant material for enriching the garden, and with substances peculiarly fitted for flowers, fruits, and esculent roots.
[3]See note,p.98, Colman’s Tour,2dpart, where is given an estimate by a distinguished agricultural chemist, Mr. Haywood.