i894- 



GARDENING. 



59 



The Vegetable Garden. 



THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. 



This (Ic-partiiicnt wniitsstrict attention 

 at this time (if the vcir. Crops do no 

 good in tlu- grouncl now and the sooner 

 we get them iiii and taken earc of the bet- 

 ter. Hegin with the root crops as beets, 

 carrots, salsify and the like, then lift and 

 store the celery, and after that bury the 

 cabbages: Never handle vegetables in 

 wet or frosty weather, choose dry weather 

 for lifting and storing crops, be they 

 root crops like beets or carrots, or leaf 

 crops like cabbage and celery. 



The Cell.^r. — People who haven't a 

 large supplj- or variety of vegetables over 

 winter generally store v. hat they have in 

 their cellars. For this purpose the cellar 

 should be cold, for vegetables will not 

 keep well in a warm furnace h> ated cellar. 

 If frost gets into the cellar, a little cover- 

 ing of ordinarilj- naoist sand or loam over 

 the roots will keep them safe, and some 

 Jiay, sti-aw, sacking or old mats laid over 

 'the cabbage or celery, and things stored 

 in barrels will keep them safe enough. If 

 there is no cellar room or the cellar is too 

 warm, and you have got a close shed or 

 bam, store the vegetables there and be 

 sure to cover them enough to compl tely 

 exclude frost. A barn cellar is an excel- 

 lent place to keep vegetables in. But if 

 you have neither cellar nor barn room 

 suitable or to spare, you will have to bury 

 the vegetables in the open ground and 

 dig them out as you want to get them 

 for use. This is best done by making a 

 pit for the root crops. Don't st' re the 

 roots in large bulk lest rot may set in 

 among them; put a ventilatihg tile into 

 every pit, even two or more if the pit is 

 large, and cover lightly to begin with but 

 enough to exclude both rain and frost, 

 and on the approach of severe weather 

 add largely to the covering either in the 

 way of more earth or a heavy mulching 

 of tree leaves. By using lots of leaves or 

 straw over the pits we can get at the 

 vegetables most anytime in winter, but 

 we should always take in enough at a 

 time to do for a week or a month accord- 

 ing to the weather, the harder it is the 

 more roots we sh: uld bring in to save us 

 opening the pits so often in hard weather. 

 Some people sink bottomless barrels into 

 the ground to near the brim, and near 

 together, filling one with turnips, another 

 with carrots, or parsnips, potatoes, and 

 so on, then put a common barrel top 

 cover on each, and pile leaves and litter 

 over them enough to exclude frost but not 

 so much as to cause them to heat and rot. 



A vegetable house or pit is a very nice 

 thing to have. It is made much in the 

 same way as you would make an ice 

 house, but is seldom as deep under ground 

 or high above it; six and one-half or 

 seven feet high in the clear is a good size, 

 and while it needn't all be under ground, 

 it should be sunk two to three feet or 

 more to get the warmth of the subsoil to 

 temper the atmosphere. By piling leaves, 

 sedge or hay on top we can keep out any 

 amount of frost. Digging a six feet pit is 

 no joke especially in clay land, and there 

 is no need for it. Anyone who has seen 

 the enormous ranges of celerj' houses in 

 the market gardens at Arlington, Boston 

 where they are nearly above ground, can 

 readily understand how easy it is to make 

 a shallow sunk house frost proof. Deep 

 pits too have to be strongly built to pre- 

 vent them from caving in, also in stifT 

 land they must be kept dry overhead or 

 they become cisterns rather than vegeta- 

 ble houses. 



Asparagus. — We cut the tops off close 

 to the ground and burn them up, then 

 spread a good coating of manure on the 

 beds, forking it in just deep enough to 

 cover it. Or the manure may be left on 

 the surface as a mulching. 



Globe Artichokes.— The jjlants are 

 now strong leaved and green, but cut 

 them over, then place a shovelful of earth 

 or ashes on top of each hill to help shed 

 the water and on the approach of hard 

 weather lay a large armful of tree leaves 

 on the top of each plant and some sedge 

 or litter over the leaves to prevent them 

 from being blown away. 



Jerusalem Artichokes.— They are per- 

 fectly hardy if left in the ground over 

 winter. We lift half the bed now, and 

 leave half, mulching part of it so that we 

 can get at it anytime we wish to in win- 

 ter. What tubers you dig up now should 

 be kept cool, stored in small bulk, and 

 not heavily covered to begin with, forthey 

 rot easily. 



Beans.— We have saved both dry beans 

 for seed and hard f:reen ones of the Limas 

 for use in winter. We have a lot of Sep- 

 tember sown snap beans in frames, but 

 they will not last long. Clear away old 

 poles, storing them for next year's use, 

 and have the land cleaned, manured and 

 dug. it will save considerable labor in 

 spring. 



Beets. If not up, get them out of the 

 ground at once. In topping them don't 

 cut off the leaves close into the flesh. Keep 

 each variety by itself, for mixed beets on 

 a plate don't look well; also keep each 

 sowing by itself, for the roots of the older 

 sowings are apt to be tougher and need 

 longer boiling than do the younger ones. 

 Store them in small bulk, and spread a 

 layer of moist earth or sand on top of the 

 heap to preserve the plumpness of the 

 beets. 



Carrots.— They should be up, topped 

 and in heaps covered with their own tops 

 for a while, or stored in pits or cellars. 

 .As in beets, keep the different varieties, 

 and the roots of the several kinds sepa- 

 rate. Although carrots will stand a 

 sharp frost when growing in the ground, 

 after they are pulled, a sharp frost will 

 materially injure them, hastening their 

 decay. They are always nicer in winter 

 when covered with a moist sod, or a thin 

 layer of sand or loam is laid over them. 



Cabbage. — If you have only a few heads 

 store them in the coolest part of the cel- 

 lar covering them with a little hay and a 

 piece of old matting or carpet. If you 

 have a good many bury them in a trench 

 on a dry piece of ground in the garden. 

 The way to do this is to throw out a 

 trench say eighteen inches wide and six 

 inches deep, and into this arrange two 

 rows of cabbages, heads down and root 

 stumps up; and the opposite stumps of 

 both rows leaning together till they 

 touch. Now throw the earth back up 

 against and over the cabbages burying 

 them four to six inches deep. Or if you 

 have a cold frame to spare heel the cab- 

 bages into it and so closethat their heads 

 press together, now keep them dry over- 

 head and hard frost out, and they will 

 keep nicelj' over winter. 



Savovs are treated like plain cabbages. 



Curled Kale should not be buried. 

 Lift it, dress off the lower leaves, then 

 heel it into a bed or frame as close as the 

 plants can well be packed, gathering the 

 crown leaves up together. Cover them 

 with some branches and sedge or leaves, 

 or with an empty cold frame. 



Cauliflower.— Break the outer leaves 

 in over the "flower" to keep it safe from 

 frost. The plants showing flower but not 



advanced enough to make usmg heads 

 before hard frost comes should be lifted 

 and planted thickly in a frame or into a 

 box of earth in a cool house cellar. If 

 moist at the root they will make good 

 enough using heads before New Years. 



Celery. — We generally lift and store 

 our celery in the second week of Novem- 

 ber, but north of and inland from here we 

 should advise you to get it up at once. A 

 little frost won't hurt it but sharp frost 

 will. There are four ordinary ways of 

 keeping it over winter, namely out of 

 doors in the ridges where it grew by ad- 

 ding more earth to the ridges, and then 

 covering with tree leaves and litter to 

 keep them in place, enough to exclude 

 frost, second by lifting and planting them 

 close together in regular vegetable houses 

 or celery pits, this is when there is a large 

 quantity. Third, by lifting them from the 

 present ridges, and preparing narrow 

 deep trenches out of doors on dry land, 

 with a board each side; into this trench 

 set the plants, their roots on the moist 

 earth but their tops upright and uncov- 

 ered except for the covering afforded by 

 the plants being all standing up and close 

 together. Over the top of this trench is 

 placed a board A like cap to shed water, 

 for it is necessary to keep the plants dry 

 overhead, even if they are moist at the 

 root. Having the earth well banked 

 against the sides and on the top a heavy 

 layer of tree leaves frostiseasily excluded. 

 Fourth, where only a few hundred heads 

 are grown it is vei-y easily taken care of. 

 Get a packing box, or any other box 20 

 to 24 inches deep, but otherwise of an}' 

 ordinary size; bore a few holes in it about 

 eight or ten inches from the bottom for 

 air holes, and put in two or three inches 

 deep of moistish soil in the bottom. Now 

 take the celery, strip off any decaying 

 outer leaves, and then lay the plants into 

 the box, roots on the ground and heads 

 up and erect, and all close together till 

 the box is full. Keep it in a cool cellar 

 or frost proof shed, and keep frost away 

 from it, and don't wet itoverh ad. If one 

 box won't hold it all use two or more. 



E.NDIVE sown about the middle of July 

 is in good form for using, large and leafy; 

 to blan.h it we tie the leaves up together 

 as one would a Cos lettuce. Or a piece of ' 

 wide board or slate laid over each plant 

 will whiten the leavi s, but tying up is the 

 easiest. We are so apt to confound endive 

 with lettuce that we areaptto sow ittoo 

 late, lettuce is a two months' crop in 

 summer, endive a three months' one. 

 Save it from frost by lifting and storing 

 it close in a frame, or boxes in the cellar. 



Horse Radish.— We leave it in the 

 ground, digging it as we want it as long 

 as there is no danger of frost locking the 

 ground, before hard winter weather sets 

 in however we dig up a lot, enough to 

 last through the winter, and store it in a 

 box or bin in a cool cellar orpit, covering 

 it with moi.st earth or sand to keep it 

 fresh and plump. 



Leeks are much abused vegetables. 

 They are so very hardy that wc may lift 

 them and heel them in close together in 

 a row or clump, covering it with leaves 

 and brush enough to keep frost out to 

 allow us pull some leeks anytime wcwish 

 to in winter. Or we can set a bunch of 

 them into a box of earth in the cellar. 



Lettuces are past outdoors, we must 

 now cut from frames or greenhous*. We 

 get 50 to 60 nice Big Boston heads from 

 a 3x6 feet sash. Wc fill every availalile 

 sash with lettuces at this time of year, the 

 plants are in all stages of growth from 

 newly planted to cutting size. Their 

 grow'th and succession are now regulated 

 i)v keeping warm or cool as the cases may 



