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

CHAPTER VII

THE SOIL AND ITS PREPARATION

 

Having considered, as thoroughly as the limited space available

permitted, the matter of plant foods, we must proceed to the equally

important one of how properly to set the table, on or rather in, which

they must be placed, before the plants can use them.

 

As was noted in the first part of the preceding chapter, most tillable

soils contain the necessary plant food elements to a considerable

extent, but only in a very limited degree in available forms.

They are locked up in the soil larder, and only after undergoing

physical and chemical changes may be taken up by the feeding roots of

plants. They are unlocked only by the disintegration and decomposition

of the soil particles, under the influence of cultivation—or

mechanical breaking up—and the access of water, air and heat.

 

The great importance of the part the soil must play in every garden

operation is therefore readily seen. In the first place, it is required

to furnish all the plant food elements—some seven in number, beside

the three, nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash, already mentioned. In

the second, it must hold the moisture in which these foods must be

either dissolved or suspended before plant roots can take them up.

 

The soil is naturally classified in two ways: first, as to the amount

of plant food contained; second, as to its mechanical condition—the

relative proportions of sand, decomposed stone and clay, of which it is

made up, and also the degree to which it has been broken up by

cultivation.

 

The approximate amount of available plant food already contained in the

soil can be determined satisfactorily only by experiment. As before

stated, however, almost without exception they will need liberal

manuring to produce good garden crops. I shall therefore not go further

into the first classification of soils mentioned.

 

Of soils, according to their variation in mechanical texture, I shall

mention only the three which the home gardener is likely to encounter.

Rocks are the original basis of all soils, and according to the degree

of fineness to which they have been reduced, through centuries of

decomposition by air, moisture and frost, they are known as gravelly,

sandy or clayey soils.

 

CLAY SOILS are stiff, wet, heavy and usually “cold.” For garden

purposes, until properly transformed, they hold too much water, are

difficult to handle, and are “late.” But even if there be no choice but

a clay soil for the home garden, the gardener need not be discouraged.

By proper treatment it may be brought into excellent condition for

growing vegetables, and will produce some sorts, such as celery, better

than any warm, light, “garden” soil. The first thing to do with the

clay soil garden, is to have it thoroughly drained. For the small

amount of ground usually required for a home garden, this will entail

no great expense. Under ordinary conditions, a half-acre garden could

be under-drained for from $25 to $50—probably nearer the first figure.

The drains—round drain tile, with collars—should be placed at least

three feet deep, and if they can be put four, it will be much better.

The lines should be, for the former depth, twenty to thirty feet apart,

according to character of the soil; if four feet deep, they will

accomplish just as much if put thirty to fifty feet apart—so it pays

to put them in deep. For small areas 2-1/2-inch land tile will do. The

round style gives the best satisfaction and will prove cheapest in the

end. The outlet should of course be at the lowest point of land, and

all drains, main and laterals, should fall slightly, but without

exception, toward this point. Before undertaking to put in the drains,

even on a small area, it will pay well to read some good book on the

subject, such as Draining for Profit and Draining for Health, by

Waring.

 

But drain—if your land requires it. It will increase the

productiveness of your garden at least 50 to 100 per cent.—and such an

increase, as you can readily see, will pay a very handsome annual

dividend on the cost of draining. Moreover, the draining system, if

properly put in, will practically never need renewal.

 

On land that has a stiff or clay subsoil, it will pay well to break

this up—thus making it more possible for the water to soak down

through the surface soil rapidly—by using the subsoil plow. (See

Chapter V.)

 

The third way to improve clay soils is by using coarse vegetable

manures, large quantities of stable, manures, ashes, chips, sawdust,

sand, or any similar materials, which will tend to break up and lighten

the soil mechanically. Lime and land plaster are also valuable, as they

cause chemical changes which tend to break up clayey soils.

 

The fourth thing to do in treating a garden of heavy soil is to plow,

ridging up as much as possible, in the fall, thus leaving the soil

exposed to the pulverizing influences of weather and frost. Usually it

will not need replowing in the spring. If not plowed until the spring,

care should be taken not to plow until it has dried out sufficiently to

crumble from the plow, instead of making a wet, pasty furrow.

 

The owner of a clayey garden has one big consolation. It will not let

his plant food go to waste. It will hold manures and fertilizers

incorporated with it longer than any other soil.

 

SANDY SOIL is, as the term implies, composed largely of sand, and is

the reverse of clay soil. So, also, with the treatment. It should be so

handled as to be kept as compact as possible. The use of a heavy

roller, as frequently as possible, will prove very beneficial. Sowing

or planting should follow immediately after plowing, and fertilizers or

manures should be applied only immediately before.

 

If clay soil is obtainable nearby, a small area of sandy soil, such as

is required for the garden, can be made into excellent soil by the

addition of the former, applied as you would manure. Plow the garden in

the fall and spread the clay soil on evenly, harrowing in with a disc

in the spring. The result will be as beneficial as that of an equal

dressing of good manure—and will be permanent.

 

It is one of the valuable qualities of lime, and also of gypsum to even

a greater extent, that while it helps a clay soil, it is equally

valuable for a sandy one. The same is true of ashes and of the organic

manures—especially of green manuring. Fertilizers, on sandy soils,

where they will not long be retained, should be applied only

immediately before planting, or as top and side dressing during growth.

 

Sandy soil in the garden will produce early and quick results, and is

especially adapted to melons, cucumbers, beans and a number of the

other garden vegetables.

 

GRAVELLY SOIL is generally less desirable than either of the others; it

has the bad qualities of sandy soil and not the good ones of clay,

besides being poorer in plant food. (Calcareous, or limestone pebble,

soils are an exception, but they are not widely encountered.) They are

not suited for garden work, as tillage harms rather than helps them.

 

THE IDEAL GARDEN SOIL is what is known as a “rich, sandy loam,” at

least eight inches deep; if it is eighteen it will be better. It

contains the proper proportions of both sand and clay, and further has

been put into the best of mechanical condition by good tilth.

 

That last word brings us to a new and very important matter. “In good

tilth” is a condition of the soil difficult to describe, but a state

that the gardener comes soon to recognize. Ground, continually and

properly cultivated, comes soon to a degree of fineness and

lightness at once recognizable. Rain is immediately absorbed by it, and

does not stand upon the surface; it does not readily clog or pack down;

it is crumbly and easily worked; and until your garden is brought to

this condition you cannot attain the greatest success from your

efforts. I emphasized “properly cultivated.” That means that the soil

must be kept well supplied with humus, or decomposed vegetable matter,

either by the application of sufficient quantities of organic manures,

or by green manuring, or by “resting under grass,” which produces a

similar result from the amount of roots and stubble with which the soil

is filled when the sod is broken up. Only by this supply of humus can

the garden be kept in that light, friable, spongy condition which is

absolutely essential to luxuriant vegetable growth.

 

PREPARING THE SOIL

 

Unless your garden be a very small one indeed, it will pay to have it

plowed rather than dug up by hand. If necessary, arrange the

surrounding fence as suggested in the accompanying diagram, to make

possible the use of a horse for plowing and harrowing. (As suggested in

the chapter on Implements), if there is not room for a team, the one-horse plow, spring-tooth and spike-tooth cultivators, can do the work

in very small spaces.

 

If however the breaking up of the garden must be done by hand, have it

done deeply—down to the subsoil, or as deep as the spading-fork will

go. And have it done thoroughly, every spadeful turned completely and