As a rule, we choose to grow bush beans rather than pole beans. I cannot make up my mind whether or not this is from sheer laziness. In a city backyard the tall varieties might perhaps be a problem since it would be difficult to get poles. But these running beans can be trained along old fences and with little urging will run up the stalks of the tallest sunflowers. So that settles the pole question. There is an ornamental side to the bean question. Suppose you plant these tall beans at the extreme rear end of each vegetable row. Make arches with supple tree limbs, binding them over to form the arch. Train the beans over these. When one stands facing the garden, what a beautiful terminus these bean arches make.
Beans like rich, warm, sandy
soil. In order to assist the soil be sure to dig deeply, and work it over
thoroughly for bean culture. It never does to plant beans before the world has
warmed up from its spring chills. There is another advantage in early digging
of soil. It brings to the surface eggs and larvae of insects. The birds eager
for food will even follow the plough to pick from the soil these choice
morsels. A little lime worked in with the soil is helpful in the cultivation of
beans.
Bush beans are planted in drills
about eighteen inches apart, while the pole-bean rows should be three feet
apart. The drills for the bush limas should be further apart than those for the
other dwarf beans say three feet. This amount of space gives opportunity for
cultivation with the hoe. If the running beans climb too high just pinch off
the growing extreme end and this will hold back the upward growth.
Among bush beans are the dwarf,
snap or string beans, the wax beans, the bush limas, one variety of which is
known as brittle beans. Among the pole beans are the pole limas, wax and
scarlet runner. The scarlet runner is a beauty for decorative effects. The
flowers are scarlet and are fine against an old fence. These are quite lovely
in the flower garden. Where one wishes a vine, this is good to plant for one
gets both a vegetable, bright flowers and a screen from the one plant. When
planting beans put the bean in the soil edgewise with the eye down.
Beets like rich, sandy loam,
also. Fresh manure worked into the soil is fatal for beets, as it is for many
another crops. But we will suppose that nothing is available but fresh manure.
Some gardeners say to work this into the soil with great care and thoroughness.
But even so, there is danger of a particle of it getting next to a tender beet
root. The following can be done; Dig a trench about a foot deep, spread a thin
layer of manure in this, cover it with soil, and plant above this. By the time
the main root strikes down to the manure layer, there will be little harm done.
Beets should not be transplanted. If the rows are one foot apart there is ample
space for cultivation. Whenever the weather is really settled, then these seeds
may be planted. Young beet tops make fine greens. Greater care should be taken
in handling beets than usually is shown. When beets are to be boiled, if the
tip of the root and the tops are cut off, the beet bleeds. This means a loss of
good material. Pinching off such parts with the fingers and doing this not too
closely to the beet it is the proper method of handling.
There are big coarse members of
the beef and cabbage families called the mangel wurzel and ruta baga. About
here these are raised to feed to the cattle. They are a great addition to a
cow's dinner.
The cabbage family is a large
one. There is the cabbage proper, then cauliflower, broccoli or a more hardy
cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts and kohlrabi, a cabbage-turnip
combination.
Cauliflower is a kind of refined,
high-toned cabbage relative. It needs a little richer soil than cabbage and
cannot stand the frost. A frequent watering with manure water gives it the
extra richness and water it really needs. The outer leaves must be bent over,
as in the case of the young cabbage, in order to get the white head. The dwarf
varieties are rather the best to plant.
Kale is not quite so particular a
cousin. It can stand frost. Rich soil is necessary and early spring planting,
because of slow maturing. It may be planted in September for early spring work.
Brussels sprouts are a very
popular member of this family. On account of their size many people who do not
like to serve poor, common old cabbage will serve these. Brussels sprouts are
interesting in their growth. The plant stalk runs skyward. At the top, umbrella
like, is a close head of leaves, but this is not what we eat. Shaded by the umbrella
and packed all along the stalk are delicious little cabbages or sprouts. Like
the rest of the family a rich soil is needed and plenty of water during the
growing period. The seed should be planted in May, and the little plants
transplanted into rich soil in late July. The rows should be eighteen inches
apart, and the plants one foot apart in the rows.
Kohlrabi is a go-between in the
families of cabbage and turnip. It is sometimes called the turnip-root cabbage.
Just above the ground the stem of this plant swells into a turnip-like
vegetable. In the true turnip the swelling is underground, but like the
cabbage, kohlrabi forms its edible part above ground. It is easy to grow. Only
it should develop rapidly, otherwise the swelling gets woody, and so loses its
good quality. Sow out as early as possible; or sow inside in March and
transplant to the open. Plant in drills about two feet apart. Set the plants
about one foot apart or thin out to this distance. To plant one hundred feet of
drill buy half an ounce of seed. Seed goes a long way, you see. Kohlrabi is
served and prepared like turnip. It is a very satisfactory early crop.
Article by: Clem C. Benton, Jr.
http://www.12path.com/1/80/