Gardening Notes

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 49, 26 August 1922, Page 17

Gardening Notes

(By "Experience.")

THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. Thing* to sow: ■ Peas, iuroips, oarrots, onions, beet, parsnips, celery, tomato, lettuce, radish, leek, cabbage, oauliflower. To plant: Cabbage, oauliflower, lettuce, i^abaxb, shallots, garlic, autumn sown onions, seakale, asparagus, herbs. P«a» require to be sown twice eaoh month to maintain . a constant supply. The first towing should hare been made early in July, but cottage gardeners are often forced to delay, week-ends not always being fine, aiid many are only now starting. True dwarfs, such as Ifichard Seddon, American .Wonder, English' Wondar, and Little Marvel, are proper for: sowing for first use. These varieties cooie quickly. They are, however, small podded, and the peas are small. For tjiese reasons, true dwarfs, are not wapted except for the first sowing; Varieties with Jargey pod? and .peas -are a better vejj.e.r table. Second earlies are a little taller, and have larger pods and peas. Some o| these are Sherwood," Stratagem, and Carter's Daisy: Sherwood is the best of the three. Main-crup varieties, like tbe others, are numerous afcd of various heights. Very tall varieties are not ( suitable for windy districts. Te Aroh* and Dwarf Defiance are both good, growing about * yard high or more. Gardeners aie advised to try different varieties aa they are able. This is the way to find what will suit'their conditions best. When the first sowing is made,' an early and a later should be sown at the same time. Unless means can be found to support the haulm, those termed second earhes should be grown in preference to taller kinds. A good support can be formed by stretching a length of wire netting (a fairly wide •mash is best)1. A' stake driven in every doyen feet or so will hold it. A few short twigs m*y b# used to start the haulm in the right direction, and a strand of binder twine run along when the haulm gets well up the netting. Asparagus should now be planted. This plant is reputed to require an extraordinary amount of manure, a common idea being that too much can be given. It is all a myth, as it is founded on the faot that no amount of manure will kill it. The faot that it does require rich soil, but a preparation suitable to produce a good crgp of cauliflowers will do for asparagus. One of the oauses for the idea mentioned is the ouetom of planting olossly in beds, where the plants mat together and starve one another. Hundreds of acres of this vegetable are grown in England. The rows are usually four feet apart, the plant* ranging from two fqet to four feet apart in the rows. The best .plantation I know of in tbia country is in single beds, plants two feet apart, rows twenty feet apart, the space between used for other.crpps^ When planting, spread the roots out flat, cover with'about three inches ofv. fine soil.

Seakale is not grown so generally as it should'be. It is not f6r acottag© garden, but all good country gardens should have a good bed. Where stable manure is at hand, the heads can be had at any time during winter, prepared 'pd the day for specif.l purposes. It oan be started now from seeds, or big plaati.