Part 6

Potatoes may also be stored outdoors in sections where the winters are not too severe. A high-lying sandy piece of ground should be chosen on which to make the “pit.” Dig out the soil for a depth of about six inches and line the excavation with three inches of straw. Place the potatoes in a pile on this and cover with a similar thickness of straw or hay. Place over this a layer of earth three inches thick to prevent the straw from blowing away. Gradually increase the covering as the weather becomes more severe, until a thickness of a foot or eighteen inches is reached. A layer of manure over this is advisable in very cold climates. If the pile is a large one it is important that ventilation should be provided for. This may be accomplished by sticking a stovepipe into the center of the pile and allowing the top to project above the covering of earth, or by allowing a tuft of the straw that forms the first covering to extend in the same manner. This vent-hole must be covered with a board, a piece of oilcloth, or something similar to prevent rain from entering.

Other vegetables that may be stored in this way are _beets, carrots, turnips, salsify_, and _parsnips_.

Rutabagas and Turnips require to be dug up before severe frost. They can be stored the same way as potatoes.

Sweet Potatoes are very difficult to store over the winter. The loss through decay in storage is enormous every year, even though proper facilities are obtainable. They need a warm, dry room and a constant temperature. The less they are handled after being stored the better. The best advice for those who have raised a crop of this vegetable is to avoid loss by eating them as quickly as possible.

Onions should be properly “cured” before they are stored. This is accomplished by harvesting them during dry, settled weather, and allowing them to lie in windrows two or three days before bringing them indoors. They should then be placed in a cool, airy room in slatted crates, so that air has free access to them. If wet weather is prevalent at harvesting-time they may be “cured” by placing them in a single layer under cover until they are thoroughly dry. The dead leaves and loose scales should be pulled off before storing them.

_Leaf Crops_

Cabbages can be stored by digging them up with some soil attached to the roots, and packing them close together on the floor of a cool cellar. Treated in this way, they are a rather “smelly” vegetable, and, unless the cellar is tightly shut off from the rest of the house, likely to cause some unpleasantness. They can be stored outside in the way recommended for potatoes by placing them head downward in a trench or pit.

Cauliflower.—It is possible to preserve cauliflower, for a short time only, by digging them with roots attached and suspending them head downward in a cool, moist cellar.

Celery can be dug in the fall and packed closely in boxes in an upright position in a cool cellar. The more roots and soil adhering to the plants the better the chance of success. When the soil dries out it must be watered, but be very careful not to get any water on the leaves or leaf-stalks. Another way of caring for celery is to dig a trench deep enough to accommodate the plants when they are placed upright. Pack them as tightly as possible in this and cover with boards to keep out rain. In severe weather it will be necessary to put on an additional covering of straw and earth.

Parsley.—In sections where the winter is not too severe parsley may be kept green through the greater part of the winter by covering the patch with a bottomless box, with a pane of glass for covering the top. The box should be banked with manure or leaves, and the glass covered with straw in very cold weather. Parsley can also be dug up, placed in plant-pots, making the soil firm about the roots, and kept in a cool, sunny room.

_Seed or Fruit Crops_

Beans.—Dry-shell beans should be allowed to stay on the plants until the pods dry up and become yellow. They may then be gathered, and shelled when convenient. If they are infested with weevils they should be dry baked in a temperature of about 145° Fahr. Care must be taken not to allow the temperature to rise above this figure, or the beans will be roasted and spoiled. Fumigating with carbon disulphide is also an efficacious expedient, but somewhat dangerous because of the explosive properties of the fumigant.

Pumpkin and Winter Squash can be stored in a warm, dry room. It is advisable to turn over the fruits selected for storing two weeks or so before they are harvested, so that the side that has been lying on the ground may have its rind hardened by exposure to sun and air.

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Although concerned primarily with “war gardens,” the methods advocated can be used by all vegetable growers who practise intensive cultivation. The fundamental principles of soil management also apply equally to flower-gardens.

The writer has found in his experience that good crops can be raised, on what would be usually considered poor soil, by men and women who know little of horticultural practices. Larger crops could have been produced had they known more of the art of growing vegetables. It is to help such people that this book has been written, from information gained during twenty years of professional experience.

It is the earnest hope of the author that the crops raised by “war gardeners” will be of such a size as to cause this last chapter to be the one that is most consulted.

APPENDIX

Table I

Approximate quantities of vegetables obtainable from a row fifty feet long. This table is based on actual yields obtained from a plot of moderate fertility by using standard varieties of vegetables.

Beets 40 bunches (5 in a bunch) Bush beans (pods) 27 quarts Cabbage 25 heads Carrots 45 pounds Cauliflower 25 heads Corn 100 ears Egg-plant 100 fruits Lettuce 50 heads Onions 20 pounds Parsnips 40 pounds Peas (pods) 20 quarts Potatoes 5 pecks Tomatoes 240 pounds

Table II

Approximate number of days from seed-sowing to first picking of crops. Variation is caused by temperature and character of variety—early, midseason, or late.

Beans (bush) 45 to 65 days Beans (pole) 60 ” 80 ” Beets 60 ” 80 ” Cabbage (early) 95 ” 120 ” Cabbage (late) 100 ” 130 ” Carrots 75 ” 110 ” Cauliflower 100 ” 130 ” Celery 125 ” 150 ” [5]Chard 60 ” 80 ” Corn (sweet) 60 ” 100 ” [5]Cucumber 60 ” 80 ” [5]Egg-plant 125 ” 160 ” Kale 100 ” 120 ” Kohlrabi 60 ” 80 ” Lettuce 65 ” 100 ” [5]Muskmelon 115 ” 140 ” [5]Okra 90 ” 100 ” [5]Onion (seed) 130 ” 150 ” [5]Onion (sets) 90 ” 120 ” If “sets” are planted for use as bunch onions they are ready in about 40 days. [5]Parsley 90 to 100 days Parsnips 125 ” 150 ” Peas 45 ” 80 ” [5]Peppers 120 ” 150 ” Potato (Irish) 80 ” 140 ” Potato (sweet) 100 ” 130 ” Pumpkin 100 ” 130 ” Radish 25 ” 50 ” Salsify 125 ” 150 ” Spinach 30 ” 60 ” [5]Spinach New Zealand 60 ” 70 ” [5]Squash (summer) 60 ” 80 ” Squash (winter) 125 ” 130 ” [5]Tomato 100 ” 125 ” Turnip 60 ” 80 ”

[5] Continue to bear until frost.

Table III

Showing the correct depth to plant seeds and the amount of space required by the plants in and between rows.

Depth to Distance Distance between plant between rows plants in the rows Bean (pole) 2 in. 3-4 ft. 3-4 ft. if in hills, 9 ins. if in rows. Bean (dwarf) 2 in. 15-18 in. 3-6 in. Bean (dwarf Lima) 2 in. 2-2½ ft. 6-10 in. Beet 1 in. 15-18 in. 4 in. Cabbage (early) ¼ in. 2-3 ft. 1½-2 ft. Cabbage (late) ¼ in. 3 ft. 2 ft. Carrot ½ in. 15-18 in. 4 in. Celery 1/8 in. 2½-5 ft. 4-6 in. Chard 1 in. 15-18 in. 6-12 in. Corn 2 in. 2½-3 ft. 2½-3 ft. if in hills, 1 ft. if in rows. Cucumber 1 in. 4-5 ft. 15 in. Egg-plant ¼ in. 2½-3 ft. 2 ft. Kale ¼ in. 18-24 in. 8-10 in. Kohlrabi ¼ in. 15-18 in. 6 in. Lettuce ¼ in. 1 ft. 9-12 in. Muskmelon 1 in. 6 ft. 18 in. Okra 1 in. 3 ft. 2 ft. Onion (seed) 1 in. 1 ft. 4 in. Onion (sets) 2 in. 1 ft. 2 in. Parsley ½ in. 1 ft. 6-9 in. Parsnip 1 in. 15-18 in. 6 in. Peas (dwarf) 2 in. 18-24 in. 2 in. Peas (tall) 2 in. 4-6 ft. 3 in. Peppers ¼ in. 2 ft. 12-18 in. Potato 4-6 in. 2½-3 ft. 12-18 in. Radish ½ in. 9-12 in. 2 in. Salsify 1 in. 15-18 in. 2 in. Spinach 1 in. 12-15 in. 4 in. Spinach New Zealand 1 in. 2 ft. 1 ft. Squash (bush) 1 in. 3-4 ft. 3-4 ft. Squash (vine) 1 in 7-10 ft. 7-10 ft. Swiss Chard _see_ Chard. Tomato ½ in. 3 ft. 1 ft. if trained to single stem, 2-3 feet if allowed to grow naturally. Turnip ½ in. 15-18 in. 6 in.

Table IV

Quantity of seeds required to plant a row one hundred feet long, and time of planting.

Time to plant Quantity required Bean (pole) Late May or early June ½ pint Bean (dwarf) May 10 to August 1 pint [6]Beet April to August 2 oz. [6]Cabbage (early) Feb. indoors; plants set out 1 pkt. in March or April Cabbage late) May; plants set out in June or 1 pkt. July [6]Carrot April to July 1 oz. Cauliflower (early) Treat like Cabbage 1 pkt. Cauliflower (late) Treat like Cabbage 1 pkt. Celery March indoors; plants set out 1 pkt. in June or July [6]Chard April 1 oz. Corn May 10 to July 10 ½ pint Cucumber Late May or early June ½ oz. Egg-plant March indoors; plants set out 1 pkt. early in June Kale, _see_ Cabbage (late). Kohlrabi April to August ¼ oz. [6]Lettuce April to August ½ oz. Muskmelon Early June ½ oz. Okra May or June 2 oz. Onion (seed) April and May 1 oz. Onion (sets) March 15 to May 15 1 quart [6]Parsley April ¼ oz. [6]Parsnip April ½ oz. [6]Peas March 15 to May and August 1 1 quart to 20 Peppers March indoors; plants set out 1 pkt. in late May or early June [6]Potato April to June 1 peck [6]Radish March to September 1 oz. [6]Salsify April 1 oz. [6]Spinach March and September 1 oz. Squash Late May or early June ½ oz. [6]Swiss Chard, _see_ Chard. Tomato March indoors; plants set out 1 pkt. in late May or early June Turnip April, July and August ½ oz.

[6] Are hardy vegetables, and will stand slight frost. Should be planted as soon as the ground can be worked. Dates given are approximate and apply in the vicinity of New York. Other localities should take into consideration the effects of elevation and latitude.

THE END

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Transcriber’s Notes:

A few obvious punctuation and typesetting errors have been corrected without note. Chemicals mentioned for insect control should not be used in modern day gardens since they are not considered to be safe.

[End of _War Gardens_ by Montague Free]