Page:How and what to grow in a kitchen garden of one acre (IA howwhattogrowin00darl).pdf/44

 room for the roller to be used after sowing a row, I always have it pressed in by the broad sole of the gardener’s boot, which nature usually provides shall be of generous size. It is even more important that the soil should be firmly pressed around the roots of newly-set plants, as if this is not done the first heavy rain uses the roots as water courses, and deprived of contact with the soil, the roots rot off and the plants are stunted or die.

Among the first things to be planted in the spring are the small fruits, such as grapes, blackberries, raspberries, currants, strawberries, etc. These should all be in the kitchen garden, and with them the rhubarb and asparagus beds, where they can and will be cultivated as well as the vegetables, the soil kept loose and free from weeds, that they may devote their energies to making strong canes and bearing fine fruit, instead of wasting their strength in a continuous battle for life with grass and weeds, leaving them an easy prey to insects and disease. Those who have never given them this thorough cultivation will be surprised at the large crops and superior quality of the fruit that can be raised under these favorable circumstances. These fruits, when once planted, with the exception of strawberries, last for many years if well manured, trimmed and cultivated. They should all be at one side of the garden, where they will not be in the way of working the garden with the large plow in the spring and fall, but should have their own plowing with the small plow, two to four inches in depth, spring and fall. In the fall plowing the furrows should be turned toward the row, which will