THE HOME GARDEN

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 65, Issue 5492, 1 July 1942, Page 8

THE HOME GARDEN

WORK FOR THE WEEK VEGETABLE PEAS TIME FOR SOWING NOW Has it ever occurred to you how little we know about the vegetables we grow? The average kitchen garden js usually an index to its owner’s palate: he grows what he likes to eat and ignores the rest. Fortunately many of the vegetables we enjoy are rich in those substances which make I for good health, and allowing for such common prejudices as spinach and silver beet, there remain many plants which rate high in the scale of nutrition. In fact, some of the most popular vegetables are actually the most important. In time of war when stress and strain put additional demands on the human body, it-is important that we eat the foods which are of greatest value to us; war also results in a draining of. manpower from civilian occupations with a consequent shortage of certain essential commodities, including vegetables. It therefore becomes a wartime virtue to grow more of the right kind of food. Now let us examine one of the most i popular vegetables grown—the pea. It is a happy coincidence that this, onei of the most easily-grown vegetables, is also one of the most nutritious. Unlike some foods that are beneficial to I us, it is also very acceptable to most I palates. The common pea is, in fact, a storehouse of nutriment and healthgiving factors; it contains at least four vitamins—A, 81, 82, and C, and I is rich in protein. It also contains calcium, phosphorous and iron. The | pea is, therefore, one of the most im- , portant crops and can be successfully i grown in all kinds of gardens. The ' first crop can be sown now’. A deep soil, fairly rich in organic matter, gives the best results. If you have such a plot, work it up to a fine tilth and spread slaked lime over it at the rate of 4oz. per square yard. Lime is essential to this crop, and should be lightly pricked into the soil. Sow’ the peas two or three inches apart and cover them with one inch of soil, j When the plants are six inches high [ stake them with brushwood or stages, i Make further sowings at fortnightly intervals until the end of the year to ensure continuity of supplies. Sow dwarf or intermediate varieties until September, when the taller varieties can be sown. If the soil is lacking in organic manures (humus) the following mixture of artificial fertilisers should be worked into the soil a fortnight before each sowing: Superphosphate 4 parts, sulphate of ammonia 2 parts. If humus is absent from the soil, or present only in small quanti- i ties, frequent waterings will be neces- j sary in dry w’eather, as peas must have i moisture.