How and What to Grow in a Kitchen Garden of One Acre (10th Ed)/Tools
TOOLS.
Although not positively necessary, it is of great advantage to have a variety of tools for thoroughly working the soil and to facilitate the labor of planting and harvesting the crops, and exterminating weeds. If, however, the garden is as well cultivated as it should be, there will be no chance for weeds to start, as they will all be destroyed in their earliest stages.
While there is a general assortment of tools on every farm suitable for use in the garden, I will give a short list of some especially adapted for use in the kitchen garden and the modes and purposes of using them.
First is the Plow. For the first plowing in the spring, and for the general plowing in the fall, I use a large two-horse plow, which takes a generous slice and will put the manure down as may be wished and return the enriched soil to the surface in the spring, again turning in another coat of manure, if it is to be had in sufficient quantities to do so. So long as the fresh manure does not come in direct contact with the young plants, I do not think it is possible to put in too much, at least in the first three years of the garden. In my soil, which is rather heavy, I plow six to eight inches deep; in light soil I would plow deeper, as the roots penetrate it much more rapidly. For working among the strawberries and permanent rows of small fruits, I use a light one-horse plow, with a swingle tree just wide enough to permit the horse to move freely; this plow is also used in plowing out the potatoes and in preparing the ground for a second crop. If the share is kept sharp, as it always should be, it will be found very useful in the cultivation of the berries, melons, etc., as with a good plowman it will go deep or shallow, or will slip around some point to be missed much easier than the cultivator.
When these plows are not in use I give the mouldboard and all bright parts a coat of thick whitewash; this keeps them from rusting, so that plowing a single round leaves them bright and shining. A coat of this on all bright tools, spades, hoes, etc., in the fall, will keep them in the best order through the winter, so that no time will be lost getting them into good working condition in the spring.
A good companion to the light plow is a one-horse Harrow, of a V shape, with long, slender teeth. It is a splendid tool for making a good, deep bed of fine earth for seed sowing or setting out small plants. Where more land has been plowed than is needed for immediate planting, I run over it with this implement when working the balance of the garden, so keeping it clear of weeds and in fine condition for planting. It is especially convenient to have the ground in this shape for planting cabbage, celery, tomatoes, etc., as you can take advantage of a good shower to set them out while the ground is thoroughly wet. My plan is to commence planting when the rain begins, the fresh plants having the full benefit of the shower.
The Roller and the Harrow generally go in succession, and a light one-horse roller will be found very convenient, but the large farm roller will do equally good work where one is at hand and there is room for it to be used. A small hand roller, about three feet in width, for rolling in small drilled seeds, such as beets, onions, turnips, etc., and by which the dirt can be settled over a row of peas or corn when only a few rows are planted at once, will many times repay the labor of making it. A piece of six- or eight-inch drain pipe, with the bell knocked off, an iron bar run through the centre for an axle, and the whole inside filled with mortar or concrete and allowed to get perfectly hard, will make as fine a hand roller as need be, or one can very easily be made from a smooth section of a tree trunk. This implement would probably be much more useful than the one-horse roller. It always pays to roll ground every time it is plowed, and too much stress cannot be laid on the value of firmly compacting the soil around freshly sown seed.
The Cultivator is the most important and most frequently used tool in the garden, and should be of the best make obtainable. I consider the Iron Age or Planet, Jr., the best, they having a light iron frame which is very strong without being clumsy; the spreading bars close inward, so that they do not catch or interfere with the plants in narrow rows, and admit of working rows not more than two feet apart, so that the ground can be cropped to its full capacity. They have a variety of adjustable and reversible tooth, including plow, shovel and cutting tooth, which will throw the soil to or from the row, or leave it loose and level; in light soil this cultivator will loosen and let in the air seven or eight inches deep. These adjustable teeth are all sharpened at each end so that they can be turned around, so saving the number of times that they will need grinding, as both ends can be used and one grinding suffice where it would take two in the ordinary style of teeth. When worn out, the whole set can be taken off and new ones purchased at a very moderate cost. This part of the implement should be well watched and the teeth kept in good cutting condition, as it will not only kill the weeds a great deal more thoroughly when sharp, but will also be much lighter of draft.
Next to the cultivator comes the Wheel Hoe or hand cultivator. By the use of this implement, roots and small growing vegetables, such as onions, beets, parsnips, lettuce, radishes, parsley, etc., may be planted and thoroughly worked in rows from six to twenty-four inches apart; thus more than doubling the amount that can be raised by horse cultivation. A good implement will not throw dirt over the small plants as the larger cultivatior does, so that the rows can be worked closely enough to avoid having to be gone over with the hand hoe after the thinning out has been done. In my experience, I have found that a man can hoe more ground and do it twice as deep and well in one hour with one of these implements hoe. There are numerous styles of wheel hoes on the market, but the only good one that I have ever seen is “Lee’s Wheel Hoe,” which is made in Philadelphia under the patent of the inventor, who is himself a prominent trucker. It is strong, light and well built; it has five sharp, finger-shaped teeth back of the wheel, which loosen and pulverize the soil, and a broad hoe blade behind, which travels beneath the surface, turning the soil over and cutting off under ground any weeds which may be in its track. When the soil is in good order, it leaves it as smooth and fine as would a steel rake. To obtain the best results with this tool or with the cultivator, you should go through each row three or four times, so as to pulverize and work over the soil thoroughly. The hoe blades are of different widths, for working rows of different widths, a set of three going with each implement. These hoes can easily be sharpened by any blacksmith. Keep them well sharpened, and it will be surprising to note how much less muscle it takes to push them and how much better the work is done. I have tried several different makes, as I work an acre or more each year with one of these hoes and a “Fire-fly” hand plow, which is run before the wheel hoe when the ground is very hard, and Lee’s is the only one that works satisfactorily. When the ground is in the best condition a man can hoe the acre in a single day, so that it will readily be seen what a labor saver it is.
The Fire-Fly Hand Plow just spoken of is a very convenient tool for making drills, and will plow out a furrow from one to four inches deep, for sowing peas, corn, beans, etc., and coming back alongside of the open furrow will cover them nicely, not taking one-quarter of the time necessary to make the drill with a hoc and cover with a rake, as it is ordinarily done. It is also very handy to strike out a furrow in this way when planting strawberries, cabbages, tomatoes, etc., especially where two are employed on the same work, as one can strike out the furrows, and drop a plant whore each one is to stand, while the other, following, sets the plant with one hand and with the other pulls in and places the loose covering dirt, and finally tramps the soil firmly round the new-set plants with his feet. These two last-mentioned tools are very useful in the ordinary small garden; they enable the work to be done much more quickly and very much more thoroughly than is often the case, the spring spading being generally the only good stirring the soil gets in the season.
A Seed Drill is a very handy tool, but it is quite expensive. In the kitchen garden there is seldom more than one or two rows across the garden to be sown with any one kind of seed, and this can be done almost in the time it would take to adjust the drill, although the drill works a great deal more evenly than the seed can be sown by hand. On a farm where root crops are raised for soiling, the drill will be a measure of economy, even for a single season, and can readily be used in the garden. The combined implements, with plowing and hoeing attachments, are “a delusion and a snare;” if you want a tool that will do good work, and will not get out of order or break, do not have it “combined” with anything else.
Of Hand-hoes, Steel Rakes, Trowels, Spades, Shovels, etc., there should be enough to furnish each man employed, as it is frequently desirable to have all hands working on the same job. Of these, the hoes, spades and trowels should have an intimate and frequent calling acquaintance with the grindstone. It is much easier to work with a sharp hoe or spade, and the work is much better when done.
There should be a good stout cotton Line, long enough to reach across the garden, and a real to keep it on is a great convenience, as it takes such a short time to wind it up that there is not the same temptation to leave it out all night. A good cotton line, carefully housed, will last for years, and is one of the most important requisites in the garden. Neatness is one of the essentials of good gardening, and I have never known a gardener successful who was “hit or miss” in laying out his rows; every plant must be squarely in the row to admit of close working with the cultivator. If it is necessary to keep a few inches away from the row to avoid cutting the stragglers, either the soil is not loosened around the plant as it should be, or it has to be gone over with the hand hoe, which consumes time in a large garden.