Home Vegetable Gardening, F. F. Rockwell [popular novels .txt] 📗

CHAPTER XVIII

BERRIES AND SMALL FRUITS

 

Besides the tree-fruits discussed in the preceding chapters, there is

another class which should be represented in every home garden—the

berries and small fruits. These have the advantage of occupying much

less room than the former do and are therefore available where the

others are not.

 

The methods of giving berries proper cultivation are not so generally

known as the methods used with vegetables. Otherwise there is no reason

why a few of each should not be included in every garden of average

size. Their requirements are not exacting: the amount of skill, or

rather of attention, required to care for them is not more than that

required by the ordinary vegetables. In fact, once they are well

established they will demand less time than the annual vegetables.

 

Of these small fruits the most popular and useful are: the strawberry,

the blackberry, dewberry and raspberry, the currant, gooseberry and

grape.

 

The strawberry is the most important, and most amateurs attempt its

culture—many, however, with indifferent success. This is due, partly

at least, to the fact that many methods are advocated by successful

growers, and that the beginner is not likely to pick out one and

stick to it; and further, that he is led to pay more attention to how

many layers he will have, and at what distance he will set the plants,

than to proper selection and preparation of soil and other vital

matters.

 

The soil should be well drained and rich—a good garden soil being

suitable. The strawberries should not follow sod or corn. If yard

manure is used it should be old and well rotted, so as to be as free as

possible from weed seeds. Potash, in some form (see Fertilizers) should

be added. The bed should be thoroughly prepared, so that the plants,

which need careful transplanting, may take hold at once. A good sunny

exposure is preferable, and a spot where no water will collect is

essential.

 

The plants are grown from “layers.” They are taken in two ways: (1) by

rooting the runners in the soil; and (2) by layering in pots. In the

former method they are either allowed to root themselves, or, which

gives decidedly better results, by selecting vines from strong plants

and pushing them lightly down into the soil where the new crown is to

be formed. In the second method, two-inch or three-inch pots are used,

filling these with soil from the bed and plunging, or burying, them

level with the surface, just below where the crown is to be formed, and

holding the vine in place with a small stone, which serves the

additional purpose of marking where the pot is. In either case these

layers are made after the fruiting season.

 

SETTING THE PLANTS

 

In using the soil-rooted layers, it is generally more satisfactory to

set them out in spring, as soon as the ground can be worked, although

they are sometimes set in early fall—August or September—when the

ground is in very good condition, so that a good growth can at once be

made. Care should be used in transplanting. Have the bed fresh; keep

the plants out of the soil as short a time as possible; set the plants

in straight, and firm the soil; set just down to the crown—do not

cover it. If the soil is dry, or the season late, cut off all old

leaves before planting; also shorten back the roots about one-third and

be sure not to crowd them when setting, for which purpose a trowel, not

a dibble, should be used if the condition of the ground makes the use

of any implement necessary. If so dry that water must be used, apply it

in the bottom of the hole. If very hot and dry, shade for a day or two.

 

METHODS OF GROWING

 

I describe the three systems most valuable for the home garden: (1) the

hill, (2) the matted row, and (3) the pot-layered. (1) In the hill

system the plants are put in single rows, or in beds of three or four

rows, the plants one foot apart and the rows, or beds, two or three

feet apart. In either case each plant is kept separate, and all runners

are pinched off as fast as they form, the idea being to throw all the

strength into one strong crown. (2) In the matted row system the plants

are set in single rows, and the runners set in the bed at five or six

inches each side of the plants, and then trained lengthways of the row,

this making it a foot or so wide. The runners used to make these

secondary crowns must be the first ones sent out by the plants; they

should be severed from the parent plants as soon as well rooted. All

other runners must be taken off as they form. To keep the beds for a

good second crop, where the space between the rows has been kept

cultivated and clean, cut out the old plants as soon as the first crop

of berries is gathered, leaving the new ones—layered the year before—

about one foot apart. (3) The pot-layering system, especially for a

small number of plants, I consider the best. It will be seen that by

the above systems the ground is occupied three years, to get two crops,

and the strawberry season is a short one at best. By this third system

the strawberry is made practically an annual, and the finest of berries

are produced. The new plants are layered in pots, as described above.

The layers are taken immediately after the fruit is gathered; or better

still, because earlier, a few plants are picked out especially to make

runners. In either case, fork up the soil about the plants to be

layered, and in about fifteen days they will be ready to have the pots

placed under them. The main point is to have pot plants ready to go

into the new bed as soon as possible after the middle of July. These

are set out as in the hill system, and all runners kept pinched off, so

that a large crown has been formed by the time the ground freezes, and

a full crop of the very best berries will be assured for the following

spring. The pot-layering is repeated each year, and the old plants

thrown out, no attempt being made to get a second crop. It will be

observed that ground is occupied by the strawberries only the latter

half of the one season and the beginning of the next, leaving ample

time for a crop of early lettuce, cabbage or peas before the plants are

set, say in 1911, and for late cabbage or celery after the bed is

thrown out, in 1912. Thus the ground is made to yield three crops in

two years—a very important point where garden space is limited.

 

CULTIVATION

 

Whatever system is used—and each has its advocates—the strawberry bed

must be kept clean, and attention given to removing the surplus

runners. Cultivate frequently enough to keep a dust mulch between the

rows, as advocated for garden crops. At first, after setting, the

cultivation may be as deep as three or four inches, but as the roots

develop and fill the ground it should be restricted to two inches at

most. Where a horse is used a Planet Jr. twelve-tooth cultivator will

be just the thing.

 

MULCHING

 

After the ground freezes, and before severe cold sets in (about the 1st

to the 15th of December) the bed should be given its winter mulch. Bog

hay, which may be obtained cheaply from some nearby farmer, is about

the best material. Clean straw will do. Cover the entire bed, one or

two inches over the plants, and two or three between the rows. If

necessary, hold in place with old boards. In spring, but not before the

plants begin to grow, over each plant the mulch is pushed aside to let

it through. Besides giving winter protection, the mulch acts as a clean

even support for the berries and keeps the roots cool and moist.

 

INSECTS AND DISEASE

 

For white-grub and cutworm see pages elsewhere in the text. For rust,

which frequently injures the leaves so seriously as to cause practical

loss of crop, choose hardy varieties and change bed frequently.

Spraying with Bordeaux, 5-5-50, four or five times during first season

plants are set, and second season just before and just after

blossoming, will prevent it. In making up your strawberry list remember

that some varieties have imperfect, or pistillate blossoms, and that

when such varieties are used a row of some perfect-flowering (bi-sexual) sort must be set every nine to twelve feet.

 

VARIETIES

 

New strawberries are being introduced constantly; also, they vary

greatly in their adaptation to locality. Therefore it is difficult to

advise as to what varieties to plant. The following, however, have

proved satisfactory over wide areas, and may be depended upon to give

satisfaction. Early crop:—Michel’s Early, Haverland, Climax; mid-season crop:—Bubach No. 5, Brandywine, Marshall, Nic. Ohmer, Wm. Belt,

Glen Mary, Sharplesss; late crop:—The Gandy, Sample, Lester Lovett.

 

The blackberry, dewberry and raspberry are all treated in much the same

way. The soil should be well drained, but if a little clayey, so much

the better. They are planned preferably in early spring, and set from

three or four to six or seven feet apart, according to the variety.

They should be put in firmly. Set the plants in about as deep as they

have been growing, and cut the canes back to six or eight inches. If

fruit is wanted the same season as bushes are set, get a few extra

plants—they cost but a few cents—and cut back to two feet or so.

Plants fruited the first season are not likely to do well the following

year. Two plants may be set in a place and one fruited. If this one is

exhausted, then little will be lost. Give clean cultivation frequently

enough to maintain a soil mulch, as it is very necessary to retain all

the moisture possible. Cultivation, though frequent, should be very

shallow as soon as the plants get a good start. In very hot seasons, if

the ground is clean, a summer mulch of old hay, leaves or rough manure

will be good for the same purpose.

 

In growing, a good stout stake is used for each plant, to which the

canes are tied with some soft material. Or, a stout wire is strung the

length of the row and the canes fastened to this—a better way,

however, being to string two wires, one on either side of the row.

 

Another very important matter is that of pruning. The plants if left to

themselves will throw up altogether too much wood. This must be cut out

to four or five of the new canes and all the canes that have borne

fruit should be cut and burned each season as soon as through fruiting.

The canes, for instance, that grow in 1911 will be those to fruit in

1912, after which they should be immediately removed. The new canes, if

they are to be self-supporting, as sometimes grown, should be cut back

when three or four feet high.

 

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