Page:How and what to grow in a kitchen garden of one acre (IA howwhattogrowin00darl).pdf/196

 the open ground, which should be especially prepared for the purpose by extra heavy manuring. Let the plants remain in this bed, to grow strong and stocky. Never let the ground in this bed become dry; give thorough cultivation and cut off the tops of the plants once or twice, to make them grow stocky. When six or eight inches high, lift the plants carefully and set them six or eight inches apart, in trenches a foot wide and fourteen or more inches in depth. Several inches of rotted stable manure should be mixed with the soil at the bottom of the trench. When planting, firm the ground well around each plant Supply enough water to keep the ground at the bottom of the trench very moist all the time. As the plants grow, press soil around the bottom of each plant and tie together at the top with string, to keep the stems straight and in an upright position. The blanching or earthing up is done by gradually filling up the trench with ground as the plants grow. Care should be taken not to get any ground into the hearts of the plants and never to earth up while they are wet. Sowing seed in the open ground and growing plants on the level surface may do for cool northern latitudes, but my experience is that it will not do here in southern Illinois. Boston Market and Crawford’s Half Dwarf are as good as any of the taller varieties, and are more easily blanched.