There is nothing so easy as to keep a garden in perfect order, free from weeds and pernicious insect life, nothing easier than to have the reverse of this. One cannot garden successfully on the principle that one can work in the garden when there is nothing else to do, no one to play with, nowhere to go. The garden should be first to a certain extent, and this is not an arbitrary or exacting6 condition for the toll7 exacted is paid for many times over in the peace of mind that comes from work well and conscientiously8 done, to say nothing of the economic value of thrifty9 vegetables.
There are always critical times in the life of the garden;—the gardener must recognize these and be prepared to give just the assistance the condition requires at just the time it is required; if this is done promptly10 it will surprise one whovii has had no system heretofore in the garden work to see how little time is really required to care for a garden successfully. The failure to co-operate with nature at the right time may result in many hours of wearisome work.
Take the matter of weeds;—if the planting is closely watched and the weeds cut off as quickly as they show a seed leaf above ground, and before they have stuck their roots deeply enough into the ground to make more than a mere11 stirring of the soil necessary, an entire week's crop of weeds will be destroyed with one stirring of the soil. Weeds come in relays a week or ten days apart, come not at all if the soil is kept properly stirred—which should be after every rain and between if the rain is infrequent, and it is well worth one's time to exercise a little self-denial and give this cultivation12 even though it may mean letting something else go that one would like to do.
And one need not worry too much about being scientific in one's gardening; insecticides, fungicides and the like are the allies of the careless gardener, but the wide awake, industrious13 gardenerviii has little need of them. Healthy, vigorous plants are not especially susceptible14 to insect attacks and with the exception of potato bugs15, squash bugs and cabbage worms the danger from them is merely negligible, but the careless, slovenly16 gardener is a real and pestilential danger.
There is much in choosing the right time of day for work in the garden; it is delightful17 to wield18 the rake and hoe in the cool of the afternoon, but where the object is the destruction of weeds the morning hours of a sunny day will give permanent results as the weeds will be killed by the hot sun, while those hoed up in late afternoon will often be revived by the coolness and dew of night and be ready to withstand the morrow's sun, so take the morning hours for destroying weeds, and the cooler hours for planting seeds, staking up plants, thinning out plants and the like but always the bright, dry sunny hours for tying up such vegetables as need blanching19: cauliflower, endive and the like. This will make for success in the various operations and comfort in working.
Where it is necessary to water the garden this should if possible be done after the sun has nearly or quite gone from it in order to reduce the loss of moisture by evaporation20; this is especially desirable in city gardens where the water is metered and always, if possible a night's watering should be followed by shallow cultivation the following forenoon to restore the dust-mulch and necessitate21 as little watering as possible. These are a few of the little attentions which make for success in the garden and minimize the sum of the season's work.
点击收听单词发音
1 expenditure | |
n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出;使用,消耗 | |
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2 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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3 burgeon | |
v.萌芽,发芽;迅速发展 | |
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4 noxious | |
adj.有害的,有毒的;使道德败坏的,讨厌的 | |
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5 revel | |
vi.狂欢作乐,陶醉;n.作乐,狂欢 | |
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6 exacting | |
adj.苛求的,要求严格的 | |
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7 toll | |
n.过路(桥)费;损失,伤亡人数;v.敲(钟) | |
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8 conscientiously | |
adv.凭良心地;认真地,负责尽职地;老老实实 | |
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9 thrifty | |
adj.节俭的;兴旺的;健壮的 | |
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10 promptly | |
adv.及时地,敏捷地 | |
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11 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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12 cultivation | |
n.耕作,培养,栽培(法),养成 | |
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13 industrious | |
adj.勤劳的,刻苦的,奋发的 | |
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14 susceptible | |
adj.过敏的,敏感的;易动感情的,易受感动的 | |
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15 bugs | |
adj.疯狂的,发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 );病菌;虫子;[计算机](制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的)错误 | |
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16 slovenly | |
adj.懒散的,不整齐的,邋遢的 | |
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17 delightful | |
adj.令人高兴的,使人快乐的 | |
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18 wield | |
vt.行使,运用,支配;挥,使用(武器等) | |
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19 blanching | |
adj.漂白的n.热烫v.使变白( blanch的现在分词 );使(植物)不见阳光而变白;酸洗(金属)使有光泽;用沸水烫(杏仁等)以便去皮 | |
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20 evaporation | |
n.蒸发,消失 | |
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21 necessitate | |
v.使成为必要,需要 | |
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