The Home Vegetable Garden - Softcover

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1914. Excerpt: ... cent if proper attention were paid to fall management. The fall is really the time to lay the foundation for a better garden the next season. No urgent planting or cultivating is pushing then, as in the spring. The days are cool and work can be done quickly with comfort. Briefly, fall operations in the garden may be divided into three parts: I, Taking care of crops on hand; 2, clearing the ground and digging for extra early spring crops; and 3, putting the soil in such shape that it gets the most benefit out of a short rest period. Save Everything. Soon after repeated frosts play havoc in the home garden all sorts of vegetables become more expensive. Save every fruit and every root and store in safe, frost-proof places. Pick all green tomatoes before they are touched by frost, wrap in paper and put on a dry shelf. They will ripen and color up nicely. Dig all root crops, such as carrots, beets, and turnips, and either bury them in trenches in the garden or put them in boxes with sand in the cellar. Parsnips and salsify are improved by frost, so you can let them wait until the last, or some of them even until spring. Celery should have been hilled throughout August and September. With the approach of very cold weather put boards along the rows, place straw over these and throw soil on top to hold the straw in place. Cut and burn all stalks of asparagus and cover the bed, also the rhubarb bed, with 4 inches of coarse manure. Where winters get severely cold without snow, it pays to scatter marsh or salt hay over the strawberry patch likewise. This is better than manure because of its freedom from dry land weed seeds. Clear the Ground. Don't permit dead plants, branches, vines, etc., to remain in the garden all winter. Rake everything into a pile and burn it. ...