COTTAGE GARDENS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16505, 5 August 1919, Page 3

COTTAGE GARDENS.

(By “Tainui.”)

The proposal of the local A. and P. Association to give prizes for competition among gardeners is decidedly a step in the right direction. The late Mr. Tisch was a strong supporter of it, and gave the prizes for the competition ’ held a few years ago. Your contributor “Delta” has done good service in outlining the scheme so well, and for the lucid way in which he has written the suggestions to competitors. As one of the judges in the competition named above, I would like to suggest to the Association that the gardens should he visited more than once. This, I think, would be an incentive to competitors to speed their work over a longer period as well as encourage the growth of a greater variety of vegetables, by one crop succeeding the other Speaking to a friend yesterday he remarked that if he were a judge he 'should like to be able to take notice of the conditions of the tools used. I certainly agree with him, and hope that points being given, it will induce the using of home-made labour-saving tools. ASPARAGUS CULTURE. A few years ago a change of residence severed me from my old asparagus bed. I missed the vegetable from my table more than I care to admit. However, I procured some seed and was soon the possessor of a goodly number of seedlings. I carefully prepared a bed for them, following my previous plan of trenching and manuring, putting three rows of plants in a. bed five feet wide. In a few months after planting the bed I made my first visit to Messrs. King and Govetts’ gardens, and there saw asparagus growing in quite (to me) a novel way. It was in a single row, no special attention seemed to have been given. The crowns had thrown up quite a number of large heads. Altogether the plants were far ahead of any I had previously seen. I was so impressed that 1 provided some seed, raised the plants, and planted a short row of 12 plants. Result—this row had a total of 127 heads last year. It is far ahead of the older bed which I had planted, and has not received nearly as much manure, salt, or artificial fertilizers. The result is so striking that I am getting some more plants out in the new plan and shall dig up the old bed. Taranaki soil is ideal for the plants. I find that the roots of the single row have penetrated quit? two feet on either side. In the July number of the Kew Zealand Journal of Agriculture there is a good article by Mr. AV. H. Taylor on asparagus culture, to which I would like to draw mv readers’ attention, pnd hope it will lead to more liberal cultivation of a much neglected vegetable.