Sometimes it is called Wild Camomile. Sow in any good garden soil when the ground is fit, depth about an inch, rows two feet apart, plants one foot apart in the rows. Give ordinary culture and pick the leaves as wanted.
FOXGLOVE, PURPLE (Digitalis purpurea), is the common Foxglove, a biennial plant, rarely perennial, raised from seed. The leaves of the second years growth should be used, and are considered valuable as a sedative and diuretic. Perennial plants may be increased by root-division. Soil should be light and rich, but not dry. The plant will bear partial shade. Distances. — Two by two feet. Depth one-half to one inch. Sow under glass in March or April, prick out, and set when frosts are past. Or sow when the ground is fit, and thin. Culture. — Give ordinary care. Pick the leaves in the second year, preferably when the plant is about to flower.
FUMITORY, or Smoke of the Earth (Fumaria officinalis), is a medicinal herb, formerly much used, but now quite neglected. Sow in good soil in spring, in rows eighteen to twenty-four inches apart; thin to one foot. Give ordinary care, and pick as wanted.
GARLIC (Allium sativum) is a plant of the onion family, and of a very strong odor and taste, which is stronger still when the plant is raised in a northern climate. It is grown from its cloves or parts of the compound bulbs; the outer ones are best for sowing.
GARLIC In mild climates these can be planted in the fall, to begin growth in the spring; otherwise, early spring is the time to plant. The plant is seldom offered in America in any variety. Soil should be rich, light, well drained, and in good tilth. Garlic sometimes rots in wet soil.
Distances. — Rows a foot apart, cloves three to six inches apart in the row. Whole bulbs one foot in the row. Depth.— Cover the cloves about an inch. Or plant the compound bulbs whole, not quite covering. Sow in fall in mild climates, or in spring as soon as the ground is fit. Cultivate the same as for onions, very cleanly.
When the tops are of good size, in early fall, break them down, to allow the bulbs to grow larger. Pull when tops are dead. Store in a dry place. Garlic bulbs are often braided together by their tops and hung up. Or tie as in Fig. 63.
<Callout type="tip" title="Tip for Garlic Cultivation">Plant garlic cloves with the pointed end up to ensure proper growth.</Callout>
GHERKIN. See Cucumber.
GOBO. See Burdock.
GOLDEN THISTLE. See Scolymus.
GOOBER. See Peanut.
GOOD KING HENRY. See Goosefoot, Perennial.
GOOSEBERRY, CAPE or BARBADOES. See Tomato, Strawberry.
GOOSEFOOT, ANNUAL, or White Quinoa (Chenopodium Quinoa), is sometimes grown for its seeds (used in South American cooking and brewing, after boiling to remove their bitter flavor), but chiefly for the leaves, used as spinach. Soil should be light, warm and quick.
Distances. — Rows twelve inches apart. Sow thinly when frosts are past. Depth. — One inch. Thin to nine to twelve inches in the row. Pick the leaves as wanted when the plants are established. Pick seeds when ripe.
GOOSEFOOT, PERENNIAL
GOOSEFOOT, PERENNIAL, or Good King Henry, or Mercury (Chenopodium Bonus Henricus), is a perennial plant popular in parts of England, as a substitute for and rival of asparagus as an early vegetable. In France the leaves are eaten like spinach; in England the shoots are cut like asparagus or sea-kale.
Soil should be rich and deep. Manure freely for best results; work compost into the hills. Sow in seed-bed when the ground is warm, drills apart as convenient. Depth. — About one inch. Thin or prick out to six by six or six by twelve inches. Set out the plants when a foot high, or in the second spring, to eighteen inches apart each way, four inches deep.
Culture should be clean; mulch with manure in the fall. Fertilize each spring with a good general fertilizer; after the cutting season, with nitrate of soda or liquid manure. Cut or pick when the plants are well established in their permanent positions; shoots are best not cut until the third spring.
Pick the young leaves as wanted, lightly in the second year. Cut the shoots from their first appearance in spring for a month or five weeks; cut underground, as with asparagus. Do not exhaust the plants, and allow them to recuperate during the summer. If the plants are used for spring cutting, do not cut the leaves in summer.
Blanch the shoots, if desired, by earthing up, each spring, to a height of nine inches; for this purpose the rows should be four feet apart. Cut each shoot as soon as it appears. The treatment of the bed, in general, should be similar to that for asparagus. Renew every five or six years, or when the plants show less vigor.
Use. — If the skin of the shoots is tough, strip it off. Cook and serve the shoots like asparagus, the leaves like spinach.
GOURDS, which with us are not kitchen vegetables (the English include squash and pumpkin under Gourds), are grown as cucumbers in hills, or trained on trellises.
GROUND CHERRY. See Tomato, Strawberry.
GROUND-NUT, or GROUND-PEA. See Peanut.
GUMBO. See Okra.
HART'S-HORN PLANTAIN. See BuckVHoriL
HENBANE— HOP
HENBANE (Hyoscyamas niger) is a plant whose leaves yield hyoscine and hyosciamine, used medicinally, but poisonous in any but small doses. The herb is an annual or biennial, usually found growing wild, but offered by some seedsmen.
The leaves are fatal to fowls, whence the name, and to most domestic animals except to swine. The tradition that the growing plants absorb malaria of course disappears before modern theories of the disease.
Soil should be light. Distances. — Rows twelve to eighteen inches apart. Thin to nine inches in the row. Sow when frosts are past, or under glass. Pick the leaves in the second year.
HERB-OF-GRACE. See Rue.
HERB PATIENCE is Patience Dock. See under Sorrel.
HERBS. — See under their names. As a rule, plant on good, light earth in the best of tilth, cultivate frequently, gather when dry, dry in the house, in a warm, not hot room, pulverize, and store in an air-tight receptacle.
HOP. The Common Hop (Humulus lupulus) is sometimes used as a vegetable, the shoots being cut in the spring for use as a substitute for asparagus. The plant, a perennial, is best propagated by root-divisions or by cuttings; it does not come true from seed.
Soil should be rich and deep, enriched with well-rotted manure for each hill. Distances. — Three feet by one. Set a pole for each plant. Set in spring, roots as deep as before. Set cuttings in June in seed-bed, shade and water till established. Set out permanently the following spring.
Cut the shoots for a few weeks in early spring, and very lightly until the third year. After cutting, allow them to grow to store up strength for the next year. If the plants are grown for their shoots, pick off all flowers.
Fertilize yearly with a good general fertilizer. Renew when the plants show less vigor.
From seed. — Sow in seed-bed, rows fifteen to eighteen inches apart; thin to one foot. When one inch high, or in the second spring, set at the permanent distances.
HOREHOUND (Marrubium vulgare) is a perennial plant, grown for its leaves, used for coughs and colds. It is hardy, and is propagated by seeds, root-divisions, or by cuttings, and, once established, will persist indefinitely.
Soil. — Light, warm, and dry, well enriched. Distances. — Rows two feet apart, plants a foot apart in the row. Or set the plants eighteen inches apart each way. Depth. — One-half inch for seed. Root-divisions as before. Sow when the ground is fit, thinly. Thin at three inches high, to six inches apart. Transplant the intermediate plants, when six inches high. Set root-divisions in spring. Start cuttings in June, in shady position. Set in plantation when once established.
Dress each spring with well-rotted manure, or with a good general fertilizer. Culture should be clean. Gather the leaves when the plant is growing well. Pick lightly the first year; afterward, pick heavily twice a year, in midsummer and fall.
Use. — Boil the leaves and strain, add sugar and boil till thick enough to harden. Protection not necessary. Renew from root-divisions when the plants show less vigor. Or root-prune every second year.
HORSE-RADISH (Cochlearia Annoracia) is a perennial plant which for best results should be grown as an annual. It is grown for its roots, used grated as a condiment, and is propagated from root-cuttings, which may be taken from the plant when the roots are dug in the fall.
Horse-radish being very hardy and persistent, all the roots should he taken up, or the plant will he- become a pest, unless persistently cultivated out. Old-fashioned gardening allows the roots to remain from year to year, to be dug as wanted; the results are inferior to those from annual planting, as here advised.
Soil should preferably be a medium loam, deep, and moderately rich and moist. Dry soils give woody roots with weak taste; wet soils make soft roots with too strong flavor. Subsoil should be open for drainage and to allow the roots to penetrate; otherwise the main root will branch.
Depth varies according to purpose. It is to plant the cuttings three to six inches deep; if among other crops, which are at first to occupy HORSE-RADISH 188 THE BOOK OF VEGETABLES the land, the cuttings are sometimes set as much as a foot deep. Position is usually slanting, the larger ends all pointing in the same direction. They may, however, be set horizontally or upright.
Cuttings, or 'sets,' may be bought of seedsmen or made when the year's crop, and are from the small or side roots. The usual length is six inches. They should always be carefully cut square at the upper end, slanting at the lower, to distinguish the ends, as the upper end should never be set deepest.
Tie in bundles and store. Set out in spring as soon as ground is fit. Fall planting is possible and is occasionally practiced.
Culture should be clean and free from weeds. Fertilizer should be rich in potash and worked in deeply to prevent cuttings from slanting and branching of the roots. A mixture containing 10 per cent potash, 7 per cent available phosphoric acid, 4 per cent nitrogen, 1,000 pounds per acre, would be satisfactory.
Dig in fall, or in the following spring.
Storage. — Cuttings may be stored in sand in the cellar. Roots may be similarly stored, to preserve their pungency.
Pests are the same as for cabbage, which see.
HORSE-RADISH, JAPANESE. See Wasabi.
HYSSOP (Hyssopiis officinalis) is a hardy shrub, perennial, grown for its flowers and leaves, which are aromatic and somewhat bitter, and are used in seasoning. The plant is propagated from seed, cuttings, or root-divisions. Varieties are red-, white- and blue-flowered.
Soil. — Should be light and warm, and well limed. Distances of the mature plants, twelve to eighteen inches apart each way. Depth of seed: — About one inch. Root-divisions and cuttings as before. Sow seed in April, either in rows where the plants are to stand, or in a seed-bed for transplanting in June.
Thin in seed-bed to six inches, in permanent rows to twelve inches or more. Set root-divisions in fall or early spring. Take cuttings in June, set in a shady place and water until established. Pick the leaves as wanted; take the flowers when the spikes are in early blossom. Dry and store.
Renew the plants by division, or at least root-prune, every three or four years.
ICE-PLANT (Mesembryanthemum crystallinum) is sometimes called Dew-plant, on account of the glistening spots on its foliage. The plant is perennial, but tender, and is best used as an annual. It thrives in heat and stands drought well. It is used like spinach but is chiefly regarded as a curiosity.
New Zealand Ice-plant is New Zealand Spinach, which see under S.
Soil. — Light and quick. Distances. — Rows one foot apart; thin the plants to six inches or more in the row. Depth.— Shallow. Sow under glass in April, and set out in late May, Sow in the open, late in May, or early in June.
Pick the leaves as wanted when once the plant is established. Cook and serve as spinach; the flavor is slightly acid.
ICE-PLANT, NEW ZEALAND. See Spinach, New Zealand.
JUR-NUT. See Peanut.
KALE (Brassica oleracea wephala) is a non-heading plant of the cabbage family, grown for its leaves, which it bears either on a stalk or close to the ground; varieties have leaves of several colors. The leaves of Kale are usually curled at the edges, and the plants, being ornamental, are frequently used for bedding purposes, or for garnishing.
The low-growing Kales do not transplant well, and are therefore usually sown where they are to stand. Kale is most prized as a spring or as a fall crop; for a spring crop it is often planted late and allowed to remain in the field during the winter, requiring in cold places only a light mulch.
There are several varieties, their characteristics indicated above, some being dwarf. The low-growing Kales winter best.
Sea-Kale is another plant; see under Sea-Kale.
Soil as for cabbage, — strong, moist, and well enriched. Distances. — Rows and plants in rows, eighteen to thirty inches apart, according to variety. Depth of seed. — One-half to one inch. Sow in the North usually in the open ground, in April or May, and again in August for wintering.
Transplant the tall varieties from seed-bed at four to six inches. The low-growing kinds transplant with difficulty, and should be set shallow, keeping the earth out of the centers. They are best sown thinly in rows where they are to stand, and thinned, when well up, to eighteen inches or more.
Fertilizer. — Kale does well if fed at intervals with liquid manure or nitrate of soda, like cabbage, which see. Pick the leaves as wanted, or pull the whole plant. The leaves are best after they have been touched with frost. Break down all flower-stalks as soon as they appear.
Diseases and pests, see cabbage.
Key Takeaways
- Foxglove leaves are valuable as a sedative and diuretic.
- Garlic can be planted in fall or early spring, depending on climate.
- Goosefoot, also known as Good King Henry, is popular for its edible shoots.
Practical Tips
- Plant garlic cloves with the pointed end up to ensure proper growth.
- Use well-rotted manure and a good general fertilizer to grow hops.
- Regularly thin and transplant young goosefoot plants to maintain their health.
Warnings & Risks
- Foxglove is poisonous in large doses, so handle carefully.
- Garlic can rot if planted in wet soil.
- Horse-radish should be cultivated annually for best results.
Modern Application
While the techniques described in this chapter are rooted in historical practices, many of them still hold relevance today. For instance, growing herbs and vegetables is a sustainable practice that can provide essential nutrients during emergencies. The use of natural remedies like foxglove and garlic remains valuable for first aid and minor health issues. However, modern methods such as integrated pest management and advanced fertilization techniques have improved the efficiency and yield of these practices.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How should I plant garlic cloves?
Plant garlic cloves with the pointed end up to ensure proper growth.
Q: What are the best conditions for growing horse-radish?
Horse-radish prefers a medium loam soil that is deep, moderately rich and moist. It should be planted as an annual for best results, with cuttings set three to six inches deep in spring.
Q: How can I propagate goosefoot plants?
Goosefoot, or Good King Henry, can be propagated by seeds, root-divisions, or cuttings. Once established, it will persist indefinitely and is best used for its edible shoots.