The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-07-06
FaII veoetabIe earden crops.


 better than the early crops and they eer- tainly afford a great amount of home | comfort There is not much trouble for the good house wife in preparing nasty meal if she has a good garden full of vegetables ready at hand to draw supplies from.
 Now there are a few general conditions which every grower should fully under stand in order to make fall gardening a success. l will name here a few of these conditions and hope by so doing to be able to assist all who are interested in making the growing of a good supply | of fall vegetables success. What can we plant this late with any certainty of success?' Now one of the first things for the grower to consider Is. will the varieties of vegetables which I wish to 1 plant have ample time to mature? In or der to answer this question it becomes necessary for one to know something of the time required for each and all kinds ! of vegetables to mature. Of course the time will vary according to conditions of the soil, seasons and cultivation. But us- ualy vegetables will grow much faster and mature in a much shorter period in the late summer and early fall than they will in the early spring and summer.
 Now it would be well for the grower to reason this way in this matter. Suppose the grower should want to plant pole 1 beans He should ask himself the uues- ton: How long from planting until these are ready for use?" In the early season pole snap beans are ready for use in from six to ten weeks owing, of course to general conditions. What time of year may we expect to have frost that would injure a crop of beans? To this question we would say we may expect good wealth CT up to the middle of October, so that it would be perfectly safe to plant pole beans up to the middle of July. Now this same line of reasoning may be carried out for line of vegetables.
 But we have a large line of vegetables which are not at all injured by our first light freezes and many of these can be left out to grow until late in the fall I will mention these in the regular order | as I treat of them. Another important | matter is to compromise the general re- | quirements of a large line of fall vege- tables-on the best time for planting this l general line. Perhaps the best time for l planting a line of fall vegetables in this | section is August-the first days of this month would be about the proper time. July is likely to be hot and too dry to get seed to germinate well. However, if 1 July should be reasonable, 1t would be well to make continuous paintings of some | crops, especially of both bunch and pole beans, including snap and butter beans.
 Soil and Soil Preparation.
 Like early spring gardening the first step to success will depend largely on having the soil thoroughly prepared and put In a high state of cultivation. What is needed is a deep, loose, fine, well pull verized, rich soil.
 Now 1t frequently happens that land which has been used for growing crop of early vegetables is all that is at ha-1 for using for the fall crop. Where this is the case one must know what amount of plant food If any, the first crop has left In the soil. Where all the available plant food has been used in producing the early crop it will be useless to try to grow a fall crop without supplying plant food in some form. Some fertilizers must be used, and if the grower has provided him self with good compost heap on the farm, this mixed Gas recommended in last weeks article on fall potato crop with bone meal or some good high grade guano, will answer all purposes for all fall crops. But the question of when and how to apply fertilizers at this season to obtain best results is rather perplexing one and one that depends largely on con- dltions.
 I should prefer spreading the fertilizer broadcast at the last working of the soil, just before time for planting the seed As soon as the first or early crops
 
 narrowed and rolled, and this should be repeated once each week until time to plant. The land If not previously done) should be cleared of all brush, stumps and stones These are a great inconven- fence in the cultivation of all crops They take up room and moisture, and besides make the fields and gardens look ragged and bad.
 Moisture.
 Here comes another very important matter, for our lands which have pro- duced one crop are generally dried out. and then, too this work of preparing the soil for a fall garden comes on usually during our dry season. Hence the i'm portance of our assisting in restoring and in helping the soil retain moisture. This we can do by first making the soil fine and then harrow at least once each week, keeping a good dust covering Fortunately 1 our drouth periods here in the South are of that duration. and there is but short time when moisture is not to be found near the surface. Now by this fining of l the soil. and with regular shallow culti- vation this moisture Is attracted or brought up near the surface Where a deep loose seed bed has been prepared | the roots of the plants can and will go | deeper and down until they find moisture l can now furnish ample proof of this | statement on our experimental grounds. | where we broke the soil deep, using the sub-soil blow. and narrowed ,he land fine. | Our crops came through the late severe drouth and when the rains came the | plants took a new growth, and we will have some crops where we thought ey- erything past recovery. This Is especially true of our potato crop. Now if every one had an ample supply of water on hand and was able to use the system of sub-irrgation, we would bridge over these short drouth periods with very lit tie damage to crops. But as 1t is not at all possible for many to have this sub- soil irrigation, the next best thing to do in assiting the soil in retaining moisture is thorough system of cultivation, and keeping the surface covered during our | dry weather with a good dust mulch | Then again, as our rains generally fall fast and furious, the soil must be pre- pared by deep sub-soiling and loose, so | that 1t may take up at once and fast. too, large portion of the rain as 1t falls | Unless the soil Is so prepared the water will run off and be entirely lost. This | is especially true of our stiff, red clay soils. Prepare the soil for storing and | holding moisture
 | Sowing the Seed.
 Now if all the conditions of preparing the soil has been complied with, the seed ing may be commenced. Seed as a rule are not so quick to germinate at this sea- | son as they are in the early spring. This | no doubt Is owing largely to a want of | moisture. The seed should be planted deeper than in early spring and the dirt pressed firmly over them to prevent the | ax.xl ntt fr@