GOURDS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26410, 14 March 1947, Page 4

GOURDS

The various members of the gourd family (Cucurbitaceae), which includes vegetable marrows, pumpkins, cucumbers, squash and pie melons, are valuable, though somewhat tender, vegetables. The vegetable marrows, Cuburbita Pepovifera, is the most popular of the family, and. though it is a bit difficult to get etsablished when we have a cold spring and wet early summer, it soon responds to heat, when growth is phenomenal. The position selected for its growth should be well sheltered from cold south-west winds. The seed should be sown in small pots, and, after being planted out in early November, the plants should be sheltered at first with a box with the bottom knocked out and a few sheets of glass on top. Seed can also be sown direct in the ground if suitable shelter is provided.

When preparing the position, a hole three feet square and two feet deep can be taken out and the bottom broken up with, a fork. A layer of at least a foot of half-rotted compost or stable manure should be put in and mixed with portion of the soil taken out. If the position is a wet one it is better to form hills, but if well drained it is more satisfactory to plant on the flat, the top soil when being- put back being enriched with a dressing of dry fowl manure, blood and bone, or fish manure. There are two types of marrows, the bush, which does not wander, and can be planted at three feet apart, and the trailing one, which should be planted at six feet apart to allow for spreading. After planting, a mulch of strawy stable or fowl manure or spent hops can be spread round the plants, which helps to feed them and to retain moisture in the soil. Marrows require lots of food, and thev f. e _S satisfactory when planted on the compost or rubbish heap, which thev screen during the summer, and produce quite a lot of food as well. The vines of i™„ spread L ng v . ar iety, when about 4 feet long, can be pinched to induce the development of lateral growth. As the marrows are unisexual, it is necessary to have K® female flowers, which are quite disfrPm fhe males (having an embryo fruit at their base) pollenated. It is quite an easy process, the parts of the flowers being so large, and it is seldom necessary to hand pollenate. as it is carried out in most cases by natural methods. Sometimes the first fruits fail to develop, but this may be due to the weather, as much as to lack of pollenation. During warm, sunny weather, it is an advantage to spray the plants overhead in the evenings. and on no account should they suffer from lack of water.

At fortnightly intervals, an application of liquid- manure can be given, or at three-week intervals a light topdressing of fowl manure or blood and bone or fish manure can be giv.en. To keep the fruits off the ground and prevent rotting during wet weather, a slate or piece of board should be placed under each as soon as they form. To keep them for the winter the fruit should be quite ripe .and the skin well hardened, and in such condition that it cannot be penetrated by the pressure of one’s thumbnail. They should be stored in a dry, airy shed dr cellar, where they are laid on shelves or on straw on the ground. While handling the fruits of either marrows, pumpkins or squash, care should be taken not to bruise them or decay may set in. The care and attention given to vegetable marrows as well as the cultural details would be suitable for both pumpkins and squas*h.

Cucumbers

Though the finest fruits of cucumbers are grown' in a glasshouse in a fairly high and very moist temperature, quite useful specimens can be grown in a frame either with or without heat from a mild hotbed. When grown without heat, a hole should be dug irt the centre of each sash 18 inches deep and 2 feet 6 inches wide, and into this 12 inches of partly-decayed stable manure can be put and tramped down firmly. Six inches of good loam, turfy if possible, to which 4oz of manure composed of four parts of blood and bone and one part of superphosphate has been added (and well mixed) is put on top of the manure, forming a flat hill. In this, six to eight seeds, with the thin end uppermost, are planted. These are thinned out to three or four, and when four rough leaves have formed they are pinched to cause the development of laterals. In a warm, sunny position, sheltered from cold winds, quite good cucumbers can be grown in the open, the ridge varieties being sown. In preparing the ground a trench six feet long, two feet wide, and 18 inches deep should be made. Into the bottom of this a layer of vegetable matter such as old pea or bean stems, can be put, and on top some partly decayed stable-manure or compost, which, when firmed down, willl fill the trench to a depth of 15 inches. On top of this replace the excavated .soil (if it is of good texture), having added a mixture of four parts blood and bone and one part of superphosphate a five-inch potfu! to each barrow load of the soil. Make it firm, with a flat top. In this ridge sow three or four seeds, thin end uppermost, at intervals of a foot down the centre of each ridge, and cover them with a box with a sheet of glass on top, or a handlight until germination has taken place. When the plants show their rough leaves they are thinned-out to one (the strongest) at each group, and when the stems are a foot long they are pinched to cause branching. No further stopping is required. Later on one half of the lateral shoots are trained down one side of the ridge, and the other half down the other, and they are pegged down to fix them to the soil, and prevent their being tossed about by the wind Thev will want' frequent watering during dry weather, and spraying overhead in the evenings, and applications of liquid manure or top-dressing of blood and bone, fowl or fish manure as recommended for the vegetable marrows. To keep all kinds of cucumbers in good health, water them every three weeks with a solution of sulphate of iron (half an ounce in two gallons of water). Varieties to grow are vegetable marrows (bush, Mammoth white and green bush, spreading long green, and long white improved, squash Hubbard, pumpkin iron bark, and Turks Cap. Cucumber ridge varieties Early White Spine improved, and apple-shaped and short prickly.