How and what to grow in a kitchen garden of one acre — John Shaqi
How and what to grow in a kitchen garden of one acreDarlington, E. D.
Science
How and what to grow in a kitchen garden of one acre
Darlington, E. D.
Kitchen gardens; Vegetable gardening
On no part of the farm is “_Pedigree Stock_” of more
importance than in the kitchen garden. I will speak further on of the
saving of seeds, and refer now only to those which it is necessary to
buy. First, it is often a saving of several days to have the seed on
hand, as it is sometimes impossible to foretell just when you will
need the seed to plant a certain plot, how soon the ground will be fit
to work, or how soon will come the opportunity, in the press of other
work; if you have the seed at hand that part is always ready, and this
is quite an item where the garden frequently has to be attended to in
the intervals of farm work. Next, it is a cash saving to order all
your seeds at one time. If, as is most frequently the case, you have
to send to some large city for your supply, by procuring all that you
need at one time, you have but one freight or express charge to pay.
In making up your order, stick to the old varieties that you know suit
your soil and your market; all the more if your market is your own
table, for the greatest pleasure in gardening is in testing the merits
of your fruits and vegetables with the appetite engendered by their
culture. Also take into consideration the preferences of the household
department as to the cooking merits of the different varieties. Do not
experiment with your main crop of any vegetable, but do not neglect
to try such new varieties as seem to possess merit, for the varieties
are being continually improved by good culture and selection, as well
as by hybridization or cross-breeding. To have a fine garden, the
gardener must know the merits of all new and old varieties, and be as
progressive as is the successful man in any other line of business. I
know of nothing so interesting as watching the growth and development
of some new and improved variety that has been recommended to the
gardening public in the most glowing terms, and often in glowing colors
on a beautiful colored plate. Although I have been “taken in” fully
as often as the average gardener of my experience, I have been many
times repaid all trouble and outlay by the numerous successes that I
have met with and the great improvement in some of the varieties grown.
Sometimes I have made quite a nice little sum out of these novelties,
when I have been able to sell the selected seed of the new variety to
some other seedsman or to my neighbors. In these new varieties, more
than in any others, do you need to order early, or, instead of the seed
that you desire and which is to make reputation and money for you,
“being something superior to anything ever grown before,” you may get
one of those provoking little slips stating that the seedsman “regrets
to inform you that, owing to the great demand, the supply is exhausted
for this season, and hopes that the substituted kind will do as well.”
HOTBEDS AND COLD FRAMES.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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