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The Kitchen Garden Guide
How and
Why to Firm Your Vegetable Garden's Soil
Learn the advantages of firm
garden soil for starting seeds. This advice is by Peter Henderson,
from his 1887 book, Gardening for Pleasure.
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In sowing all kinds of
seeds, more particularly those of small size, be careful, if the
soil is dry, to "firm" or press down the surface of the bed or row,
after sowing, with the feet, or a light roller, or the back of a
spade, more especially if the weather is beginning to get warm.
Crops are often lost through the failure of the seeds to germinate,
for the simple reason that the soil is left loose about the tiny
seeds, and the dry atmosphere penetrates to them, shriveling them up
until all vitality is destroyed. We sow nearly all vegetable crops
in rows, and in every case, as soon as the seed is sown, it is
pressed down in the drill with the foot, then covered up level by
the back of a rake drawn lengthways with the drills, and again
firmed by the roller or back of a spade. For want of this simple
precaution, perhaps one-fourth of all seeds sown fail to germinate,
and the seedsman is blamed, while the fault is owing entirely to the
ignorance or carelessness of the planter. Again, for the same
reason, when setting out plants of any kind, be certain that the
soil is pressed close to the root. In our large plantings in market
gardening, particularly in summer, we make it a rule in dry weather
to turn back on the row after planting it with the dibber or trowel,
and press the earth firmly to each plant with the foot. We have seen
whole acres of Celery, Cabbage, and Strawberry plants lost solely
through neglect of this precaution.
By Peter Henderson, from his 1887 book, GARDENING FOR PLEASURE

This is
part of an article from the book The Kitchen Garden Guide
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