GARDENING ON THE EDGE OF THE PLAINS 



CRAIG S. THOMS 



Where Nothing is so Certain as Weather Extremes and the Uncertainty of Each 

 Season's Advance; and Gardeners Would do Well to Cultivate a Sixth Sense 



IHE Great Plains — that belt of country running 

 north and south through the Dakotas, Nebraska, 

 Kansas, and on to the Gulf — formerly a grazing 

 country, has of late years become largely a place of 

 fields and gardens as settlers and cultivation have pushed 

 westward. But the risk of late and early frosts is so great 

 and midsummer is so hot and dry that gardening is tricky — 

 and gardeners must be also. 



These facts make numerous garden suggestions miscarry 

 here which would be valuable farther east where seasons are 

 less erratic and where there is also greater humidity in the 

 atmosphere and the nights are warmer. To think of having 

 lettuce in this region all summer, for instance, and until 

 after frost, is a delusion. A few successive sowings in the 

 spring are all that is worth while; but an excellent substit- 

 ute for summer and fall lettuce on the Plains is the Chinese 

 cabbage. It grows like Cos lettuce, but is larger and more 

 vigorous and stands both heat and cold well. It must not 

 be used until quite fully grown and then only the bleached 

 inside parts. 



Large lima beans are disappointing in this region. They 

 require a long season with considerable moisture and warm 

 nights. During our hot, dry months, they do little, and 

 they are caught in immaturity by our early frosts. The 

 Henderson limas, both bush and pole (Sieva) varieties, do 

 well, however, and though frost finds many still undeveloped 

 on the pole variety, yet an abundant crop is matured. 



Few ideas are more alluring than that of "ever-bearing" — 

 ever-bearing raspberries, ever-bearing strawberries and 

 so on. But owing to our hot, dry summers nothing of an 

 ever-bearing sort meets with success enough to be worth 

 while here unless given special attention. Ever-bearimg 

 strawberries simply dribble along throughout the season, 

 bearing a small crop at the usual time, doing practically 

 nothing in the heated season, and picking up a little in the 

 cool of autumn. If, however, they are well fertilized and 

 frequently watered, the results are not to be despised. But 

 unless one is willing to pay the price of abundant and constant 

 care he would better give up the ever-bearing idea. 



MOST that is said in catalogues and pamphlets, about 

 "successive plantings" applies in this region only be- 

 fore hot and dry weather sets in. Two or three plantings 

 of radishes, beets, lettuce, carrots, peas, etc., are all that is 

 profitable. A hot-weather radish, however, has been found 

 in Hansen's Turkestan radish, the seed of which was brought 

 from Siberia by Professor Hansen in 191 3. When other 

 radishes are hard and stringy by reason of heat and dryness, 

 this radish is in prime condition. I planted it last year at 

 the same time as other radishes. When it was as large as 

 the ordinary it was so peppery as to be almost distasteful. 



But it kept on growing, and when it had attained the size of 

 a hen's egg, which was during the warm season, it had lost 

 its peppery quality without becoming hard and stringy. One 

 radish was enough for a whole family — and they were mild, 

 crisp, and juicy. 



Owing to our hot, dry summers large onions are not raised 

 from seed with much success. Their growing season, which 

 must be cool and damp, is not long enough. The best suc- 

 cess in onion raising comes from planting small sets raised 

 from seed sown thickly the year before. Cauliflower may 

 be raised with success if the quick-maturing varieties be used, 

 such as Early Favorite, Gurney's Early Market, Burpee's 

 Best Early, or other like varieties. It is not worth while to 

 raise cauliflower late in the season. While it will head, the 

 cabbage worms find their way into the seams of the coral- 

 like heads and render them practically unfit for food. Brus- 

 sels sprouts, like cabbage, grow well in this region, but in 

 some sections it is useless to plant them because a certain 

 small fly congregates in large numbers upon the finely 

 leaved sprouts, and the wind so fills the half-opened leaves 

 with dirt that it is practically impossible to make them fit 

 for food. 



In small home gardens of this region celery may be at- 

 tempted with good promise of success. Here again it is the 

 hot, dry summer that is the drawback, but it can be overcome 

 if the plants are properly handled. It has been my custom to 

 use the Giant Paschal variety, to raise my own plants, and to 

 sow the seed in a hotbed by March first. It is important to 

 give the plants an early start so that they acquire a good 

 rootage before hot weather sets in. The danger from early 

 planting is that many of the plants may run to seed, but if 

 two transplantings be made this danger becomes negligible. 

 It is important to mulch the young plants with well-rotted 

 manure when they are first set out in the garden. The rows 

 should be about 18 inches apart, and the plants set 6 inches 

 apart in the rows. The mulch fertilizes them and holds 

 the moisture about their roots. It also keeps the soil from 

 baking after watering. Celery requires abundance of water. 

 In the second transplanting each plant should be taken up 

 with a solid cube of soil about its roots four or five inches 

 through each way. The season is then becoming warm and 

 the growth of the plant must not be checked. Only the 

 strongest plants should be used. 



For the second transplanting it is my custom to dig a 

 trench between sweet corn rows wide enough to hold four 

 rows of celery a foot apart and then set the plants a foot 

 apart in the rows. The corn on either side partially shades 

 the newly set plants; later, when the plants have become 

 established in their new location, the corn will be harvested 

 and the stalks cut. Before using the ground thus trenched 

 for celery two rows of early peas may be harvested. 



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