THE HOME GARDEN

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4523, 14 January 1942, Page 3

THE HOME GARDEN

WORK FOR JANUARY THE VEGETABLE GARDEN Plant cabbages and cauliflowers. Continue to sow lettuce and radish in rich, fairly moist soil, a semi-shad-ed situation giving best results in summer. ' Spray tomato plants with Bordeaux mixture (4.4.40). . Sow carrots, swedes,, spinach, silver beat, and parsley. Finish the planting of celery and leeks. Thin out surplus shoots on fruit trees which have made too much growth. Spray apple trees with arsenate of lead to control codlin moth. Cut back red currants. THE FLOWER GARDEN Layer carnations and strike cuttings in sandy soil. Examine chrysanthemums for insect pests, and spray where necessary with Black Leaf 40. Continue the planting of asters, stocks, and zinnias. Plant beared irises and divide old clumps. Cut out the old wood which has borne flowers on the rambler roses. Prepare the soil for planting spring flowering bulbs. Mulch dahlias, chrysanthemums, hydrangeas, azaleas, and rhododendrons. Lift spring flowering bulbs as the foliage dies down. VEGETABLE AND FRUIT GARDEN The recent cold, windy weather has not been at all favourable for the growth of French and runner beans, tomatoes, vegetable marrows, and ridge cucumbers, nor has it been suitable for the developing of the pods on broad beans and peas, but it has been suitable for the growth of cabbage and cauliflower, spinach, Brussels sprouts, lettuce, and celery. The cabbage in its various forms and varieties is a most useful vegetable for all seasons; it is qilite hardy, and is especially valuable in spring and early summer, autumn and winter. During the warmer months when peas and beans are plentiful it is not so necessary. The soil for cabbage should be deeply cultivated and well manured and liberally limed to prevent club root, which is a common trouble with all brassicas in vegetable gardens which have been cultivated for a long time and are inclined to be sour.

For the present planting the position where the early potatoes have been dug is suitable, and it should receive liberal dressing of garden manure or superphosphate and lime, which will be forked in. Loose soil conditions are not desirable, and unless it is wet or sticky it should be trampled over to firm it before planting. With the hoe, draw drills about four inches deep and 18 inches apart, and with the trowel plant the seedlings at 15 inches apart, afterwards watering them in. This is close planting, but every second plant can be cut just as the heads begin to form and there will be plenty of room for the remainder to head up if this is desired. Personally, I think that for spring and autumn use cabbages are better when cut before the heads form up. As growth proceeds, the soil between the rows is kept cultivated with the hoe; first, the drills are filled, and afterwards the soil is drawn up on each side to form ridges which help to steady the plants during windy weather. To stimulate growth young cabbages are given a watering with liquid manure formed by soaking animal manure in a tub, or by dissolving a dessertspoonful of sulphate of ammonia or nitrate of soda in a gallon of water, at intervals of a fortnight or three weeks. For winter use the curled-leaved kinds, known as savoys, are the most suitable. They are Very hardy and never damaged by frost; and, in fact, it is considered that they are improved in flavour when they have had a touch of frost. They should not be planted too early; the end of the month is soon enough; and, in fact, February will do in most seasons. Like the ordinary cabbage, they should be planted firmly, the soil being prepared as already described, but as they have to head up they are given more room i in the drills, two feet being a good average. Should the weather be very dry and hot, the plants should be lifted carefully, the roots puddled in a mixture of clay and cow manure, and watered in. Spraying overhead in the evenings until they become established is also recommended. To secure cabbages in early spring the seed is sown in February, and the plants ! put out in late autumn, not to make much growth, but just to become established before winter sets in and to be ready to grow away when weather conditions become favourable in the spring, when green vegetables are scarce. To get cabbages in the late spring and early summer, seed can be sown in boxes placed in the greenhouses or hot frame, the seedlings being afterwards pricked off and grown on like half-hardy annuals. When

hardened off they are planted out in a warm, well-drained, sheltered 'border, where they soon become established and are available in November and December. Coleworts are a small variety. of cabbage used for planting in odd corners or among other plants as a catch crop, like lettuce. They are suitable for winter use, and are grown from seed sown now. In the centre of each plant is a small head of delicious flavour surrounded by beautifully incurved leaves. Red cabbage used for pickling are planted out in spring and are ready for use in late summer o rautumn. When cooked, they are also appreciated. Varieties to sow are as follows: Spring, Flower or Spring; summer and autumn, Enfield Market or Winningstadt, Savoy, Best of All, and Dwarf Green Curled, Red, Dwarf Blood Red, and Rosette Colewort. Continue to thin seedling crops such as carrots, turnips, and beet, afterwards giving a dusting of garden manure and hoeing it in. Make sowings of stump-rooted carrots, golden ball and swede turnips, round beet, and radish, lettuce, mustard, and cress, and spinach to maintain supplies. Plant out cabbage, cauliflower, leeks, Brussels sprouts, and celery, and it is not too late to sow runner beans in a, warm, sheltered position or against a wall or fence/’ Spray and earth up main-crop potatoes, pinch the tops out of broad beans as soon as a reasonable number of pods have set, to prevent attacks of black fly, and the tips of tall peas which are outgrowing their stokes can also be pinched. Keep the scuffle hoe going among all growing crops whenever weather conditions are favourable, and clear off early crops as soon as they are past to make room for autumn and winter kinds.

Thin fruit crops, prune gooseberries, currants, and apples, and spray for codlin moth, powdery mildew, leafcurl, and leech. CABBAGE AND CAULIFLOWER PLANT CROPS FOR WINTER 1 USE Now is the time to plant cabbage and cauliflower for winter use. Both require a deep soil rich in humus, but well drained; but a fairly light soil gives best results for present, planting. If the soil is fairly rich in organic manures (farm-yard or composted material) all that is needed now is a light dressing of slaked lime. When the plants become established and start making new leaves, a little superphosphate can be pricked into the soil (about 28 ounces per square yard) followed a few weeks later by a very light application of sulphate of ammonia. The latter fertiliser must now be applied until the plants are well established. Plant 18 inches apart each way. A WAR-TIME NECESSITY HOME-GROWN VEGETABLES HOW TO BEGIN People are being urged to grow their own vegetables as much as possible, as the shortage of man-power and other issues have brought about a serious reduction in the supplies available for market. It is always sound advice that encourages the development of a kitchen garden, as, apart from the economic aspect, the health-giving qualities of freshlypicked vegetables are greatly in excess of those obtainable from produce" which has been stored for days or weeks. The private grower has another advantage over the commercial producer in that he can, if he cares to, make his soil highly fertile, rich in minerals and vitamins. Plants grown on such'a soil naturally con-, tain more salts and nutriment than those' raised by mass-production methods, often have better flavour, and. are less ..subject to disease. The fact that properly-grown home-raised vegetables can be superior to the shop-purchased article is no reflection on the commercial grower. His activities are governed by the fundamental necessity of making a profit on his produce. His success is determined by quantity rather than quality. The home-grower, on the other hand, can devote his spare time energies to the raising of crops of the highest quality with consequent benefit to his, and his family’s, health. The most important ingredient in the home garden is labour, for the returns obtained are determined almost entirely by the amount of intelligent, systematic” work put into it; and practically the only cost is the time one devotes to the garden, and that cost can be forgotten by accepting this spare-time occupation not as a task, but as the hobby and recreation that it is. Given three things, a vegetable garden can be successfully developed on

almost any soil. The essential fundamental requirements are (1) good drainage, (2) reasonable protection from wind, and (3) a few hours’ sunlight each day. Assuming that you have the foregoing basic requirements, the next .step is to remove the. weeds or grass covering of the plot and roughly dig it over. Dig it deeply—l2 inches at least—leave it exposed to the air, and sprinkle it with slaked lime at the rate of 4 ounces a square yard. Do not ' overdo the lime, as some vegetables, including potatoes, actually suffer if there is an excess of liiiie ifi the soil. Leave the soil in a rough state for about two weeks, and then start to work it upj until it becomes free and friable. Then it will be time to enrich it by means of manures and fertilisers. While the wind, sun, and rain are doing their part in sweetening and conditioning the soil, you can get busy preparing the all-important plant food. This can be economically and efficiently done by means of a compost heap. In view of the fact that many local authorities are considering the discontinuance of garbage collections, the compost can serve a dual purpose. In next week’s notes we will outline the method of preparing the compost, but in the meantime you can commence saving the principal ingredients: lawn clippings, annual weeds, kitchen waste, etc. Store them in a corner, of your garden, and remove the possibility of offensive odours or flies by lightly covering the pile with earth from time to time. During the week buy a few pounds of sulphate of ammonia, a 71b bag of blood and bone, and, of course, make sure you have a supply of lime. With those ingredients you will be ready to commence manufacturing plant food next week-end after reading to-day’s notes in this column. Once you are started on the composting of your household wastes we will proceed to grow vegetables. The various steps will be explained week by week.