Gardening Notes.

Manawatu Times, Volume XL, Issue 13523, 6 October 1916, Page 7

Gardening Notes.

THE VEGETABLE PATCH.

| October is one of the busiest months for all-seed sowing purposes, and as seed can only be sown profitably when | the ground is dry, a dusty day is not without its charms in the eyes of the gardener. Small seeds* of all kinds may be sown now, such as carrots, ! parsnips, leeks, and spring onions, as also, white and brown cos lettuce for pricking out later on. Salsify and scorzonera both make good root crops for use as winter vegetables. Scorzonera is much eaten in Germany under the name of schwarzwurzel (blackroot) ; and salsify, which is not unlike it, has long been cultivated in the Home Country, and eaten under the name of "vegetable oyster." Seeds of both these plants may be sown at the end of the month, in rows sin apart, on deeply-trenched ground which has no fresh manure anywhere near the surface. All manure should be trenched into a good depth, otherwise it will cause the roots to fork. Sowings of peas for main crops may new be got in. Where a large supply 'is required the sowings may be contiued at short intervals.

Care should be taken to allow space between the rows of peas »n proportion to the height which they will attain when full grown, or the taller kinds will be too close together when they are staked —in fact, it is better to plant a few rows of vegetables between, each row of peas. Spinach of the prickly-seeded kind should be got in as soon as possible, as it runs to seed early if sown later. It will not be a profitable crop on light soil on this account. The richer the soil is the better chance will there be of retarding its flowering season. Jerusalem artichokes should also be planted now in the same way as potatoes —either in whole sets or cut into pieces with a few eyes on each. Sowings of green crops of all kinds may be made in October. Brussels sprouts and broccoli, if sown now on open ground, will be ready for use early in the aurumn. The main crop of potatoes ought to have been already planted, ana planting should be finished as soon as possible, for as a rule, the longer the season of growth the heavier the crop. Small, or, rather moderate-sized tubers planted whole aim st invariably afford the finest results; but these are not always obtainable, and if the seed runs large there is nothing gained by fearing to cut them up into moderate-sized pieces. In any case, a tuber, or cut set (remembering that the butt-end eyes are the poorest and least prolific) with one or two strong eyes only will yield a heavier crop and of bettersized roots as well as one with a number of small, and consequently, weak growths; and, if the time could be spared to, do so, it would pay to rub out all but one or two of the strongest eyes in each set. They should, of course, be sprouted by leaving in the sun before planting. A prominent local grower, who is

:1 for the excellence of the tubers he grows, advocates the "grave" system of planting potatoes. A shallow trench (say two inches), just deep enough to contain the manure, is made and when potatoes are placed in position the soil is banked up on both sides, so, that the rows look like so many long graves. This method allows the plants to obtain the maximum of heat from the sun on each side of the row and is especially .recommended for early varieties. A little more space will have to be allowed between the rows on account of t;he extra quantity of soil required for earthing up.