In The Vegetable Garden

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28979, 21 August 1959, Page 10

In The Vegetable Garden

Weather such as we have enjoyed this week should be sufficient to alert the home vegetable gardener to the fact that the months of comparative inertia are a thing of the past, and he may once more' set about more profitable labours than have been his lot during the winter months. Spring sunshine and warmth after the long period of cold and wet conditions is always a wonderful incentive to digging and delving; but it is, perhaps, as well to issue a note of warning to the over-enthusiastic and too optimistic. Don’t rush things too fast at first. “Take it easy” is quite a good motto for this time of the year. It helps to avoid both unnecessary back-ache and disappointment. There is no reason to hasten sowing, and only the hardier vegetable seeds should be thought of. A soil temperature of 40 degrees is necessary to ensure germination, and it will be wise to wait until more sun heat is available. Where green crops have been dug in. space will be available and it is a good idea to make up your mind now as to the allocation of crops to the spaces available, and to plan the sequence of sowing and planting for the coming months. Haphazard planting, as the spirit moves one, can be treacherous, and often results in much waste of space, particularly in the average garden where every square foot counts. A little time spent now in calculating the area which can be devoted to each particular crop, the length of time each crop will occupy that space, and the type of crop that can logically follow it in the same space, will not be wasted, for it will enable you to follow a methodical plan right through the growing season ahead without delays and frustrations.

Early seeds to sow include dwarf peas, broad beans, lettuce, onion, cabbage, turnip, cauliflower, carrot and parsley. Passing years and changing times have left their mark on the popular garden pea. Varieties which were much grown only a few years ago, are now seldom seen growing, having given place in favour of newer sorts, for English raisers are very keen on improvement. We always fall for new things, although the older ones are still really too good to discard. Yorkshire Hero, Stratagem, William Hurst, and Dwarf Defiance may be cited as examples of those varieties which have been superseded by today’s popular Kelvedon Wonder—with its New Zealand name of W. F. Massey— Greenfeast—sent from England as the Lincoln—Blue Bantam, and Onward. It can be said that these are all good sorts, requiring only the addition of a monster pod kind, like Aiderman. to fill all requirements.

Pea raising in England is a very complete science with the big seed firms, and we, of course, benefit from their industry and progress.

Look over your seed potatoes boxed for sprouting, and lose no opportunity of putting them out in the sun and wind, for they will benefit from the resultant greening. It must not be thought that this green sprouting applies only to early sorts; but for the average gardener the limitations of space usually make such treatment impossible for seed in large quantities. Few gardeners will require reminding that it pays to buy certified seed.

Planting out of early cabbage, lettuce, herb plants, asparagus, and rhubarb, can now be carried out as ground becomes available.