The Culture of Vegetables and Flowers From Seeds and Roots | Page 5

are
bound to say that a capital supply for a moderate table may be obtained
by preparing a piece of good ground in an open situation in a quite
ordinary manner with one deep digging in winter, adding at the time
some six inches or so of fat stable manure, and leaving it thus until the
time arrives for sowing the seed. Then it will be well to level down and
point in, half a spade deep, a thin coat of decayed manure to make a
nice kindly seed-bed.

Where soil known to be unsuitable, such as a damp clay or pasty loam,
has to be prepared for Asparagus, it will be found an economical
practice to remove the top spit, which we will suppose to be turf or old
cultivated soil, and on the space so cleared make up a bed of the best
possible materials at command. Towards this mixture there is the top
spit just referred to. Add any available lime rubbish from destroyed
buildings, sand, peat, leaf-mould, surface soil raked from the rear of the
shrubberies, &c., and the result should be a good compost obtained at
an almost nominal cost.
==Size of Bed, and Sowing Seed.==--At this juncture several questions
of considerable importance arise. And first, whether the crop shall be
grown on the flat or in raised beds. Where the soil is sufficiently deep,
and the drainage perfect, the flat system answers well. The advantages
of raised beds are that they deepen the soil, assist the drainage, promote
warmth, and thus aid the growth of an early crop. In fact, raised beds
render it possible to grow Asparagus on soils from which this vegetable
could not otherwise be obtained. The preparation is the same in either
case, and therefore we shall make no further allusion to flat beds, but
leave those to adopt them who find their soil and requirements suitable.
Now comes the question of distance, on which depends the width of the
beds. The first point may be settled by the measure of the plant, and the
second by the measure of the man. Monster sticks are valued at some
tables, and we shall refer to these later on, but an abundant crop of
handsome, though not abnormal, Asparagus meets the requirements of
most households. After many experiments, we have come to the
conclusion that the best mode of insuring a full return of really good
sticks, with the least amount of labour, is to lay out the land in
three-feet beds, with two-feet alleys between. In some instances, no
doubt, five-feet beds, containing three rows of roots, one down the
middle and one on each side at a distance of eighteen inches, are
preferable. For the majority of gardens, however, the three-feet bed is a
distinct advantage, were it only for the fact that all excuse for putting a
foot on the bed is avoided. On this narrow bed only two rows of plants
will be necessary. Put down the line at nine inches from the edge on
both sides, and at intervals of fifteen inches in the rows dibble holes
two inches deep, dropping two or three seeds in each. This will give a

distance between the rows of eighteen inches. In very strong land,
heavily manured, the holes may be eighteen inches apart instead of
fifteen. April is the right month for sowing.
==Thinning.==--When the 'grass' from seeds has grown about six
inches high, only the strongest plant must be left at each station, and
they should finally stand at a distance of fifteen or eighteen inches in
the row. Much of the injury reported to follow from close planting has
been the result of carelessness in thinning. The young plant is such a
slender, delicate thing, that, to the thoughtless operator, it seems folly
to thin down to one only. The consequence is that two or three, or
perhaps half a dozen, plants are left at each station to 'fight it out,' and
these become so intermixed as to appear to be one, though really many,
and of course amongst them they produce more shoots than can be fed
properly by the limited range of their roots. Severe, or may we say
mathematical, thinning is a =sine quâ non=, and it requires sharp eyes
and careful fingers; but it must be done if the Asparagus beds are to
become, as they should be, the pride of the Kitchen Garden.
==Blanching.==--The grave question of white =versus= green
Asparagus we cannot entertain, except so far as concerns the cultivator
only. On the point of taste, therefore, we say nothing; and it is a mere
matter of management whether the sticks are blanched to the very tip,
or allowed to become green for some few inches. Blanching is effected
in various ways. The