SEASONABLE WORK

Evening Star, Issue 21992, 30 March 1935, Page 3

SEASONABLE WORK

THE VEGETABLE GARDEN After the refreshing rain and where ground has been prepared by digging and manuring, _ peas and broad beans should be sown into deep trenches, leaving sufficient depth for the protection of the plants through the winter. Again I would advise the use of old rags torn up into shreds for the bottom of trenches for early peas and beans. One will b© well repaid for the extra labour. This method is used extensively for pea growing through the winter months in the South of England. Continue to sow cabbage seed for transplanting in early spring. Flower of Spring and Vanguard seem to be the best varieties for this season of the year. Early London and Walcheron are the best cauliflowers, and these, with broccoli, can be sown. now. Lettuce seed may still be sown for transplanting later, and if thinned out in the seed bed and the surface kept open between the rows these lettuces will mature very early in spring and be valuable for table us© and early salads. Onions should be sown at once into well-prepared beds. Ground on which there has been a potato crop, if wellmanured, will make an excellent bed for onions. Giant Rocca and Ailsa Craig make splendid bulbs if sown and transplanted in the early spring. Shallots should be planted into a wellprepared bed as soon as possible so that the bulbs may be well rooted before the bad weather arrives. Many people make the mistake of sowing onion seed when the soil is very wet or else too late, when the weather becomes cold, and there is no growth. The onion is not a strong growing seed, and is apt to fail especially if the weather is cold or wet. It is also slow jn growth. . Celery will need attention after the rain. At this stage the plants need a slight earthing., A dressing of manure, superphosphate or lime, before pulling in around the soil would be very beneficial. Be careful not to bury the crown or heart of the plant. Hold the leaves up together when pulling in the soil. If the soil gets into the heart of the plant the celery will rot. Do not earth in the whole depth of the plants at once, but make a practice of earthing about every ten or fourteen days until the. plants stop growing. The grower will then have good blanched sticks of celery. Leeks will need the same treatment. They need plenty of feeding at this stage, and will well repay for the extra feeding. Keep the bos at work between the rows of Savoys, cabbages, broccoli, and all growing crops so as to have the plants well matured before the cold weather arrives. A dressing of common salt or kainitc over the asparagus bods after the x-ecent rains would be a great help to build up the crowns for next season’s cutting. Do not cut the foliage that is bearing seed, but let it dry off on its own accord. This will be much earlier this season owing to the drought. Then is the time for mulching the beds with well-rotted manure so as to keep the crowns warm for the winter months. Asparagus cannot be over-fed. It must have plenty of manures. Raspberries require a considerable amonut of moisture and must not be planted in a dry position. Superlative is a large red, continuous bearer, fruiting on the young shoots. Fillbasket is very hardy, and a good cropper where other varieties fail. Loganberries are excellent for dessert and without equal for jams and jellies. The best method is to grow this fruit by trellising the runners to wires on posts which will hold the wires taut.