132 AROUND THE YEAR IN THE GARDEN 



Potash is particularly desirable when a crop does not 

 ripen so fast as it should. It is often used late in the season 

 round small fruits or in orchards to hasten the ripening of 

 the wood as well as the crop. Either muriate or sulphate of 

 potash, or good unleached wood ashes, may be used as the 

 top-dressing under such conditions. 



Make the First Weeding Thorough 



The most critical period in growing most of the vegetable 

 crops is during the week or ten days after they break ground. 

 Every hour of work neglected at this time means several 

 hours of drudgery later. The best time to kill weeds is 

 before they are large enough to be seen. With the wheel 

 hoe, iron rake or ordinary hoe you can destroy a hundred 

 weeds that have just sprouted and have not yet got their 

 true leaves in the time required later to pull out half a 

 dozen by the roots. Weed early — that is the secret of being 

 able to take care of your garden with the least possible 

 trouble. And weed clean. 



Presumably your garden was planted on a freshly raked 

 surface. Any weeds that had started at the time were 

 destroyed, so vegetable and weed seeds had an even start. 

 But some vegetables take a comparatively long time to 

 come up — ^notably onions, parsley, celery, and most of the 

 root crops. It is therefore a good plan, if the rows are 

 plainly enough marked, to go over the ground between the 

 rows before the seed crops are up. 



In any case you should begin operations as soon as the 

 vegetable seeds have sprouted. The wheel hoe should be 

 used and care must be taken not to throw any dirt over the 

 tiny seedKngs. Either the disk attachment, or hoes with 

 high guards at the sides, should be used. 



The first hoeing will make your garden look very neat and 

 clean, but don't deceive yourself — hand weeding will be 

 necessary for all row crops, and to a lesser extent for the 

 things planted in hills. This hand weeding is often poorly 

 done in two respects: Some weeds are broken off instead of 



