The Busy Woman's Garden Book. Ida D. Bennett
hard weed to pull once it has got a grip on the ground and it must be taken out root and all or it will come up again with not one but several stout stalks, and a more tenacious hold than ever on the soil; it is one of the weeds which are constantly eluding detection until they have gained several inches in height when they defy the hoe and cultivator and call for strenuous hand work!
Many of the garden weeds may be utilized for feeding stock. Belgian hares are fond of the fresh green leaves of malice and pigs enjoy both that and the purslaine and as the former comes at a time when there is little green feed available for the hares it may be pulled and fed rather than turned under. Ragweed is relished by horses and they will frequently go into a patch of it and eat it in preference to good clover growing near by.
2 Common name "malice" from its bad reputation; properly, mallow (malva rotundifolia).
CHAPTER IV
TRANSPLANTING
Transplanting is one test of a good gardener, another is the care of the plants after they are gotten into the ground—the careful cultivation that forbids a weed to show its head above ground, or a crust to form on the soil after a rain; these two successful operations spell success in the garden—their absence failure.
For several days before the young plants in the hotbed are to be put into the ground they should be hardened by leaving the sash entirely off and by occasionally withholding water that they may be accustomed to the irregular water supply of the open ground, but the beds should be well watered the night before transplanting that the plants may absorb enough moisture to carry them through the ordeal of transplanting and that the soil may have sufficient moisture to adhere to the roots.
The planting lines in the garden should be drawn and the holes for those plants which are to stand some distance apart—such as tomatoes, peppers and the like, should be already dug and, where extra fertilizing is called for, the hills enriched with a good spadeful of well decayed manure and the ground all ready for the plants. In this way transplanting will go forward with the least possible delay and the plants will suffer little, if any, from the change.
It is not at all necessary to wait for a rainy spell as so many think desirable; the most successful planting can be done on a clear, bright day if the work is handled properly; indeed this is just the weather that gives best results, a period of rainy weather with cloudy intervals between is also favorable except for the discomfort of working in the wet but when planting time comes one must not think too much of one's personal comfort—it is up to one to get things into the ground and growing; we can be comfortable later on when there is time for it.
A rainy spell, broken by hot, sunshiny, muggy days is of all times the worst for transplanting; plants wilt and die in spite of one, fairly cooked by the hot steam engendered by the rain and sunshine, and such planting weather should be avoided unless the season is late and the planting urgent. Only as many plants should be lifted at one time as can be put into the ground before they wilt. Do not try to lift plants separately but lift them in clumps, pressing the trowel well down below the roots and lifting the plants with as little disturbance as possible—never pull up the plants by the tops as one sometimes sees done; this strips off the tender, fibrous roots on which the plant depends for gathering its food. The tap root which remains has little foraging value, it serves, principally, to hold the plant in the ground while the fine, lateral roots are busy collecting food to feed the growing top; if these little feeding roots are destroyed the plant must make a new supply before top growth can be resumed.
Do not attempt to separate the plants at once but carefully release each plant as it is required; in this way they retain their freshness and loss from wilting is minimized.
Make a hole large and deep enough for the roots, setting them deeper than they were in the hotbed, and fill in part of the earth, pressing it down firmly, fill in the hole with water and when it has seeped away fill in the remainder of the earth, leaving it dry, fine and smooth about the plant. Each of these three operations may be completed for the entire row of plants before going on to the next: the plants set in the hole and the first earth drawn up, then all the holes filled with water and by the time the last hole is filled the first will be ready for final filling in with earth. This is a more efficient method than to complete one hole at a time and keeps the plants in better shape.
When the whole planting of one variety of vegetable is completed go over them carefully, noting any wet spots that may appear on the surface and cover them with more dry earth. Remember that it is upon the integrity of the dry mulch that the success of the planting depends. Do not try to protect the plants in any way; if sufficient water has been placed in the hole, the earth firmed sufficiently and an efficient dry mulch provided the plant will be much better off than if protected in any way. Do not water after transplanting until the plants have become established and need it. If for any cause some of the plants show signs of wilting while the dust-mulch is still perfect a hole should be made at one side of the plant and water poured in, recovering the spot with dry earth. If it rains immediately after planting, clearing off with fair weather, the beds must be gone over with the scuffle-hoe to replace the dust-mulch as soon as it can be worked to advantage. One has only to bear in mind that the secret of successful planting is moisture at the roots and dry earth above to succeed.
CHAPTER V
GARDEN TOOLS
Are so important in the proper care of the garden and for the ease with which it may be worked that only the best should be considered; the best, however, need not be the most expensive, but they should be the best adapted to the work to be attempted. It is not necessary that their number be large, indeed, the number of tools really indispensable is relatively small, but definite. A good steel garden rake will be one of the first tools required and this should be of the steel variety, neither too light nor too heavy. Get a good spade with a "D" handle that fits the hand and foot. A wheelbarrow of the wooden sideboard construction will also be required; to these will be added a garden line and a hand cultivator and as this is the most expensive and important tool its selection is of much moment. There are three forms of wheel hoes on the market: the high single wheel, the medium wheel and the low double wheel made to straddle the rows. The double wheeled machines have the advantage of working each side of the row, close to the plants as well as between the rows and if the hoes or cultivator teeth are properly adjusted will do twice the work of a single wheel. Some of the double wheeled cultivators are readily changed into single wheels by removing one wheel. Too high a wheel is not desirable, and as the wheel is the part of the cultivator that bears most of the strain it should be of substantial construction. Most of the machines on the market have as attachments a set of plough blades, four harrow teeth and hoe. My own—a Planet Junior, two-wheel cultivator has also an attachment for creating a dust-mulch, similar to a scuffle-hoe, but this was made especially for the machine by a local blacksmith and is a very useful addition to the outfit.
If one does not object to the extra expense a seeding attachment can be added that will minimize the work of planting the garden. A good machine with seeder that will plant in rows and with all the attachments can be purchased for $16.00 or the same machine which will sow in rows and also in hills 4, 6, 8, 12, or 24 inches apart can be purchased for $19.00 and is a good buy, for a good machine of this kind, if properly cared for, kept under shelter when not in use, oiled occasionally, the attachments kept sharpened and given an occasional coat of paint as required is good for twenty years at least. There are still cheaper machines on the market, single wheel implements with the usual attachments, that will do good work, for as little as $5.25 and $7.50, and two wheelers at $10.00 and one single wheel that is especially designed for wear, with an iron instead of wire wheel, built for service at $7.00.
To this assortment of tools should be added a straight edged garden hoe,