The HOME GARDEN

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 25, 30 January 1943, Page 9

The HOME GARDEN

Planting Programme—Make sure you are well stocked with winter vegetables, such as leeks, celery, savoys, swedes, broccoli, brussels sprouts, curly kale, and endive; also autumn maturing crops such as lettuce, peas, goldenfleshed turnips, spinach, silver beet, and stump-rooted carrots. • i Many of these can be procured as plants for transplanting; others, such as swedes, carrots, spinach, peas, and turnips have to be sown. Positions vacated by potatoes, etc., should be filled'immediately with these useful crops. • ; Time is getting on, and maximum growth should be aimed at,, as many of. the winter lines require a long growing period. Savoys for instance fail to make good hearts if planting is delayed unduly. Swedes do best in fairly . firm ground, so where they are sown it may not be necessary, if the ground is clean, to redig the soil. Remove any weeds, hoe the surface to loosen just, the top soil, level the site, and sowing can be carried out. right away. If the preceding crop has been in the ground some time, thus exhausting the soil of : nutrients, fertiliser should be distributed over the plot and worked in before sowing. A phosphatic manure is best for swedes and turnips. * .; Peas of the dwarf type should be chosen for present sowing, such as W. F. Massey, Earlicrop, Blue Bantam, or Richard Seddon, Carrots of the stump-rooted type, such as Chantenay, Early Horn, or Nantes, are generally preferred for summer sowing. . • Prickly spinach is the variety to choose for sowing now; in fact it can be sown at all seasons, being preferred by many growers to the round or summer variety. The name prickly is misleading, as it describes the seed only, not the leaves. * Do not let dry weather deter you from carrying out these planting and sowing suggestions. If transplanted seedlings are made firm in the soil and given one good watering when planted they will soon pick up. Should the plants be very leafy do not hesitate to remove some of the outside larger leaves; it will help them to get over the shift. Rather deeper planting than usual should be practised under dry conditions and it also assists in successful transplanting. Watering, when done, should be copious; frequent sprinklings do more harm than good. Harvesting.—Potatoes, onions, and shallots are ready for lifting in some gardens, and this should be done while the weather is good. Dug in dry weather, potatoes come out much cleaner, making grading and storing easier. Examine the tubers, and carefully put aside any that are marked with the fork or show traces of blight for immediate use. Bag only those that are perfectly sound and dry. Such tubers will keep quite well for a reasonable period in bags if kept in a cool,

.... By Sundy

THE VEGETABLE SECTION

dry shaded place. For longer keeping it is best to tip them out in a shed, provided they are not in full light, or to make a clami> outside. Once potatoes are fully developed, as shown by the foliage yellowing off, nothing is gained by leaving them longer in the ground. They are safer out and the ground is made available for some other crop. Even greater care, has to be exercised to see that onions are quite dry before storing. When fully grown the tops should be bent over just above tne neck of the bulb to facilitate hardening and ripening. When the tops have shrivelled the bulbs should be lifted, and if the weather is suitable left on the ground, where they can be turned several times to expose damp patches for drying. Under some conditions it is better to transfer' the bulbs to a concrete path or other similar place where drying can be carried but more efficiently. For long keeping, the drying of the bulbs should be most exacting and then they can be strung in bundles and suspended from the ceiling of any outhouse, or placed on wire-netting racks in an airy place. Shallots are handled exactly :in the same way as onions. Spraying.—The most troublesome pest in the vegetable garden-just now is the fly which attacks young carrots. Of all the destructive blights the gardener has to contend with this is perhaps the worst. It must not be confused with the "carrot fly" that is described in many garden books as attacking the roots and damaging them; the fly prevalent here works on the foliage, causing it to disappear altogether after going through tints of yellow and bronze. The best treatment is spraying with nicotine sulphate. Two thorough sprayings, if applied in time, will prevent serious damage. The spray must be put on with some force, especially to the undersides of the leaves. Young carrots some three or four inches high pi the tops are most susceptible to the fly, and spraying should be done as a routine job to protect them from damage. It simplifies spraying if the tops are bent over by placing a light board or rake handle on them so that the spray may be driven down on them. Do this from both sides of the row and a thorough job will be done. Tomatoes and late potatoes should receive regular sprayings with Bordeaux mixture. This standard fungicide protects these crops from the many fungoid blights that are prevalent in humid weather. In addition tomatoes have to be watched for stem borer. If a plant collapses and dies suddenly this pest should be suspected. It enters the main stem dose to the ground and tunnels upwards inside the stem. Arsenate of lead affords the best control and can be put, on as a separate spray or with the Bordeaux. The lower portion of the main stem is the part to be covered thoroughly with the spray.