Home Vegetable Gardening

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Home Vegetable Gardening, by F. F. Rockwell

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Title: Home Vegetable Gardening A Complete And Practical Guide To The Planting And Care Of All Vegetables, Fruits And Berries Worth Growing For Home Use
Author: F. F. Rockwell
Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7123] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on March 12, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-Latin-1
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HOME VEGETABLE GARDENING
A COMPLETE AND PRACTICAL GUIDE TO THE PLANTING AND CARE OF ALL VEGETABLES, FRUITS AND BERRIES WORTH GROWING FOR HOME USE
BY
F. F. ROCKWELL
Author of Around the Year in the Garden, Gardening Indoors and Under Glass, The Key to the Land, etc., etc.

PREFACE
With some, the home vegetable garden is a hobby; with others, especially in these days of high prices, a great help. There are many in both classes whose experience in gardening has been restricted within very narrow bounds, and whose present spare time for gardening is limited. It is as "first aid" to such persons, who want to do practical, efficient gardening, and do it with the least possible fuss and loss of time, that this book is written. In his own experience the author has found that garden books, while seldom lacking in information, often do not present it in the clearest possible way. It has been his aim to make the present volume first of all practical, and in addition to that, though comprehensive, yet simple and concise. If it helps to make the way of the home gardener more clear and definite, its purpose will have been accomplished.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I
INTRODUCTION II WHY YOU SHOULD GARDEN III REQUISITES OF THE HOME VEGETABLE GARDEN IV THE PLANTING PLAN V IMPLEMENTS AND THEIR USES VI MANURES AND FERTILIZERS VII THE SOIL AND ITS PREPARATION
PART TWO--VEGETABLES
VIII STARTING THE PLANTS IX SOWING AND PLANTING X THE CULTIVATION OF VEGETABLES XI THE VEGETABLES AND THEIR SPECIAL NEEDS XII BEST VARIETIES OF THE GARDEN VEGETABLES XIII INSECTS AND DISEASE, AND METHODS OF FIGHTING THEM XIV HARVESTING AND STORING
PART THREE--FRUITS
XV THE VARIETIES OF POME AND STONE FRUITS XVI PLANTING; CULTIVATION; FILLER CROPS XVII PRUNING, SPRAYING, HARVESTING XVIII BERRIES AND SMALL FRUITS XIX A CALENDAR OF OPERATIONS XX CONCLUSION
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Formerly it was the custom for gardeners to invest their labors and achievements with a mystery and secrecy which might well have discouraged any amateur from trespassing upon such difficult ground. "Trade secrets" in either flower or vegetable growing were acquired by the apprentice only through practice and observation, and in turn jealously guarded by him until passed on to some younger brother in the profession. Every garden operation was made to seem a wonderful and difficult undertaking. Now, all that has changed. In fact the pendulum has swung, as it usually does, to the other extreme. Often, if you are a beginner, you have been flatteringly told in print that you could from the beginning do just as well as the experienced gardener.
My garden friend, it cannot, as a usual thing, be done. Of course, it may happen and sometimes does. You might, being a trusting lamb, go down into Wall Street with $10,000 [Ed. Note: all monetary values throughout the book are 1911 values] and make a fortune. You know that you would not be likely to; the chances are very much against you. This garden business is a matter of common sense; and the man, or the woman, who has learned by experience how to do a thing, whether it is cornering the market or growing cabbages, naturally does it better than the one who has not. Do not expect the impossible. If you do, read a poultry advertisement and go into the hen business instead of trying to garden. I have grown pumpkins that necessitated the tearing down of the fence in order to