Vegetable Garden

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29263, 22 July 1960, Page 8

Vegetable Garden

Tire sprouting of early seed potatoes, like the making of home-made compost, is now accepted as a ritual and not just a fad.

With potatoes, the reason is self evident. There is little growth under low soil temperature, and nothing is gained by early planting, whereas if the same period be given to sprouting the tubers until the soil temperature rises above 40 degrees, the sprouted shoots get away to a quick start with little chance of damage. If sufficiently advanced, green crops of barley or lupin can be dug in with lime at the rate of 4 to Boz to the yard row. Lime plays an important part here in facilitating the digestion of the vegetable matter.

Nothing is gained by sowing small seeds under present winter conditions, with the possible exception of beans and peas, but steps can be taken to prepare for the future. Rhuburb and asparagus can be planted. Both need generous supplies of manure or compost added to their positions, and this work can be done. It is important to hand weed the onion rows. If the young onion plants are raised up in this process, gently push the roots under the surface again, unless the plants are growing too thickly in the rows.

Preparing To Grow Green Peas Of all the spring and summer crops in the average vegetable garden, the green pea is probably quite the most popular with all amateur growers, and the time is rapidly approaching, if it is not already here, when sowings of early crops may again be safely made in the open air.

. Therefore, it may be just as well to remind readers that the chief reason why so many crops prove unsatisfactory is because not sufficient attention has been paid to soil preparation in the first place. Those who, in past seasons, have obtained disappointingly indifferent results should remember that the pea is a deep-rooting plant, and a good depth of cultivated soil is of even greater importance than a heavy dressing of manure. , When both these essentials are provided, and the soil is prepared some time in advance of sowing, there is no reason why a crop of the finest quality should not result Of course, first sowings should be made of the early, dwarf varieties, leaving the taller, main crop sorts for October or November sowings. The Asparagus Bed

It will be realised that the asparagus bed is one feature of your garden that is going to remain in the same position for a good many years, therefore the selection of its site is one which must be made with care and deliberation. It must also be remembered that the asparagus is a deep-rooting plant and due provision for this fact must me made in preparing the bed. Therefore digging deep and wide should be done. Trenching to a depth of three feet is not too much to. be given, for then plenty of old farm manure or compost, or grassy turf can be used in the process, leaving chemical manures for top dressing at a later stage. A bed six feet wide leaves room for three rows of plants at 18in apart, and makes cutting and weeding possible without much treading of the soil In the mak-

ing of the bed old sawdust, seaweed and lime and lawn clippings can be mixed with the soil August is a good time to plant, and a three-inch soil covering should be sufficient when this is done.