Home Vegetable Gardening
A Complete &
Practical Guide To The Planting & Care Of Vegetables,
Fruits & Berries
Chapter 7: 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 potassium, 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 is 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.
But drain — if your land
requires it. It will increase the productiveness of your
garden at least 50% to 100% — 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 sub-soil, 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
sub-soil plow. (See Chapter
5: Implements And Their
Uses)
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, tilling 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's 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 ei ghteen 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
tilling.
That last word brings us to a new and very
important matter. "Good tilling" 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 is a very
small one, it will pay to have a rototiller
or to have it plowed rather than dig it up by hand. If large
enough to make it necessary, arrange the surrounding fence to
make possible the use of a tractor for plowing and tilling. If
there is not room for a tractor, the rototiller 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 sub-soil, or as deep as the spading-fork will go. And have
it done thoroughly, every spadeful turned completely and every
inch dug. It is hard work, but it must not be slighted.
Plowing
If the garden can be
plowed in the fall, by all means have it done. If it
is in sod, it must be done at that time if good results are to
be secured the following season. In this latter case, plow a
shallow furrow four to six inches deep and turning flat, as
early as possible in the fall, turning under a coating of
horse manure, or dressing of lime, and then going over it with
a smoothing-harrow to fill in all crevices. The object of the
plowing is to get the sods rotted thoroughly before the
following spring; then apply manure and plow deeply, six to
twelve inches, according to the soil.
Where the old garden
is to be plowed up, if there has not been time to get in one
of the cover crops suggested elsewhere in this text, plow as
late as possible, and in ridges.
If the soil is light
and sandy, fall plowing will not be advisable.
In beginning the spring work
it is customary to put on the manure and plow only once. But
the labor of double plowing will be well repaid, especially on
a soil likely to suffer from drought, if the ground is plowed
once, deeply, before the manure is spread on, and then
cross-plowed just sufficiently to turn the manure well under —
say five or six inches.
On stiff lands, and especially
for root crops, it will pay if possible to have the sub-soil
plow follow the  regular plow. This is, of course, for thoroughly
rotted and fined manure; if coarse, it had better be put under
at one plowing, making the best of a handicap. If you have
arranged to have your garden plowed "by the job," be on hand
to see that no shirking is done, by taking furrows wider than
the plow can turn completely; it is possible to "cut and
cover" so that the surface of a piece will look well enough,
when in reality it is little better than half
plowed.
Tilling
That is the
first step toward the preparation of a successful garden out
of the way. Next comes the tilling; if the soil after plowing
is at all stiff and lumpy, get a rototiller or hand
cultivator and go over the soil until it is no longer
lumpy. If, even after tilling, the soil remains
lumpy, get a roller somewhere, ( you can rent on at a hardware
or rental store and go over the piece with that. The roller
should be used also on very sandy and light soils, after the
first tilling (or after the plowing, if the land turns over
mellow) to compact it.
Fining
This treatment will reduce to
a minimum the labor of finally preparing the seed- or
plant-bed with the iron rake. After the finishing touches, the
soil should be left so even and smooth that you can with
difficulty bring yourself to step on it. Get it "like a table"
— and then you are ready to begin gardening.
Whatever implements are used,
do not forget the great importance of making the soil
thoroughly fine, not only at the surface, but as far as
possible below Even under the necessity of
repetition.
I want to emphasize this again by stating
the four chief benefits, of this thorough pulverization:
First, it adds materially in making the plant foods in the
soil available for use; secondly, it induces the growing
plants to root deeply, and thus to a greater extent to escape
the drying influence of the sun; thirdly, it enables the soil
to absorb rain evenly, where it falls, which would otherwise
either run off and be lost altogether, or collect in the lower
parts of the garden; and last, and most
important, it enables the soil to retain moisture
thus stored, as in a subterranean storage tank, but where the
plants can draw upon it, long after carelessly prepared and
shallow soils are burning up in the long protracted vermouths
which we seem to be increasingly certain of getting during the
late summer.
Prepare your garden deeply,
thoroughly, carefully, in addition to making it rich, and you
may then turn to those more interesting operations outlined in
the succeeding sections, with the well founded assurance that
your thought and labor will be rewarded by a garden so
remarkably more successful than the average garden is, that
all your extra pains-taking will be richly repaid.
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