No matter how small your garden may be it is still worthwhile to use part of it for growing vegetables. They taste better than the ones bought in the shops, do you more good and save you a lot of money into the bargain. It’s surprising how many carrots or cabbages you can grow from…
(1) Sow three seeds of your chosen variety of aubergine or capsicum in each 7.5 cm (3 in) peat pot containing peat-based mixture. The seeds should be 1.3 cm 0.5 in) deep. Place the pots in a dark spot where the temperature is above 21 C (70 F) until the seeds germinate. Then move the…
Home-grown sweetcorn is a real delight, and, with some of the most recent hybrids, remarkably easy to grow. Sowing to harvest: 12 to 16 weeks. Yield: At least two cobs to a plant. Conditions preferred: Cool temperate to subtropical. Positioning: Open and sunny. Soil: Any, if enriched with compost. Sowing and planting The soil for…
Sowing to harvest time: summer varieties, 4 to 6 weeks; winter varieties, 10 to 12 weeks. Yield: summer varieties, 2 kg (4.5 lb) to a 3m (10 ft) row; winter varieties, 44 kg (101b) to a 3m (10ft) row. Climate preferred: Cool temperate. Aspect: Open, but will tolerate some shade. Soil: Ordinary, provided it…
Sowing to harvest time: 26 to 30 weeks. Yield: 3kg (6.5 lb) to a 3m (10ft) row. Climate preferred: Cool temperate to subtropical. Aspect: Open and sunny or partially shaded. Soil: Any, provided it is well-drained. Salsify, which is white-skinned, has a distinctive, somewhat fishy taste. Hence its other name: the vegetable oyster. Scorzonera, which…
(1) As brassicas require a well-consolidated soil, prepare the plot several months in advance of planting by giving it a dressing of lime if necessary. Get the seed bed ready for sowing by treading the soil really firm at a time when it is sufficiently dry so that it will not stick to your boots….
Peas are excellent summer crops, which need a deeply cultivated soil. The first crop should be sown on light soil in a sunny, sheltered spot, in February. On heavy soil, however, this sowing should be left till March. Successional crops may be sown up to Juno. The seeds should be sown thinly in broad drills….
Sowing to harvest time: 28 to 36 weeks, depending on the variety. Yield: 1 kg (21b) of sprouts to a plant. Climate preferred: Cool temperate. Aspect: Open, but sheltered from strong winds. Soil: Heavy, firm and rich in organic matter. Brussels sprouts are an excellent green crop for the winter months and freshly picked sprouts…
Sprouting broccoli – calabrese (or green), purple and white varieties. Sowing to harvest time: 12 to 16 weeks for calabrese; 40 weeks for purple and white varieties. Yield: Calabrese, up to 0.9kg (21b) per plant; other varieties, average 0.45 kg (1 lb) per plant. Climate preferred: Cool temperate to sub-tropical. Aspect: Open, but sheltered from…
Asparagus plants prefer a deep sandy loam. Plant in April, spreading out the roots and setting the plants 15 inches apart, the crowns to be 5 inches below the surface. When cutting, it should be remembered that no shoots should be removed the first year, a moderate quantity the second, and freely afterwards. The shoots…
From the point of view of cultivation, vegetables fall into four groups: [1] those that are raised from seed sown directly where the crop is to mature [2] those raised from seed sown in a seed bed from which they are planted out where they are to mature [3] those planted annually from bulbs or…
Vegetables can be just as interesting to grow as flowers and a well-kept vegetable garden can be as attractive, to the eye of the gardener, as any flower border. This attractiveness can be increased by adopting the old-fashioned practice of laying out the vegetable garden as a pattern formed by geometrically shaped and arranged beds….
The cultivation of vegetable and fruit crops provides healthy exercise, helps the housekeeping budget and produces good, wholesome food. For ease of cultivation and crop-rotation planning, vegetable crops are divided into three types; pod, bulb and stem crops (beans, peas, onions, leeks and celery); root crops (potatoes, turnips, carrots, beetroot); and green crops (cabbage, Brussels…
Tomatoes and cucumbers can be grafted to provide a root system which is resistant to certain soil-borne diseases and pests such as wilt, corky root and eelworm. Various rootstocks are available and doubtless more will be produced. Rootstock K.N. is resistant to root knot eelworm and corky root, and Tomato Rootstock K.V.F. resists corky root,…
Watercress is one of the most valuable salad vegetables from the point of view of vitamins. May be grown without running water by digging a trench 2 ft. wide and 1 ft. deep, in a sunny position, placing 6 in. of rotten manure in the bottom, covering with 3 in. of soil and sowing seed…
The old practice of growing marrows on heaps is not good, as it is difficult to keep them supplied with sufficient moisture. A better plan is to dig out a trench 2 ft. wide and as much in depth and to fill this with a mixture of soil, dung, compost, old leaves, etc. Then, if…
For an early crop of tomatoes under glass, seed should be sown in a warm greenhouse during January or February. In unheated houses it is not wise to start until early April. For outdoor planting, seed is best sown in a warm greenhouse in mid-March. In all methods the seeds should be sown very thinly…
SPINACH Sowing to harvest time: 8 to 15 weeks. Yield: 230gm (8oz) to a plant. Aspect: Shaded for summer varieties; open but sheltered for winter varieties. Climate preferred: Cool temperate. Soil type: Deep, moist and fertile. Spinach can be tricky to produce on account of its natural tendency to run to seed instead of producing…
Seakale is grown for blanching both outdoors and under glass. Plants may be raised from seed sown outdoors in April, but two years must elapse before seedlings are strong enough for forcing. A better method is to purchase crowns and maintain a stock by root cuttings. These are prepared from thongy roots about 6 in….
POTATOES (1) Obtain your seed potatoes in late winter and place them rose end (that is the end with most of the shoots or ‘eyes’) uppermost in seed trays, or empty egg cartons, which should then be placed in a cool, airy, light (but not sunny) spot such as a shed or garage so that…
Digging should be done thoroughly as early in the autumn as possible. Dung or compost should be applied at the same time at the rate of 1 cwt. to 15 sq. yd. unless the peas are to be grown on ground that has been well manured for a preceding crop. Chemical fertilizers should be used…
Mustard and Cress are two of the most easily and rapidly grown salad vegetables. Sowing may commence under glass in January in a temperature of 60° to 65°. Outdoors it is not wise to start sowing until mid-April or to continue after August. Shallow boxes are used for .greenhouse cultivation, and these may be filled…
There are three types of lettuce, the cabbage, cos and loose leaf. Choice may be determined by personal taste, some people liking the crispness of the cos, while others prefer the softness of the cabbage and loosetleaf types. Soil must be rich and well prepared to encourage quick growth. Manure or compost should be worked…
Indian Corn or Maize is a favourite vegetable in America and now more widely grown in Europe. It is the seed heads or cobs which are eaten, and these are cut while the seeds themselves are still milky if opened up. Seed is sown singly in small pots in late April and germinated in a…
One of the virtues of this is its hardiness, which makes it possible to secure supplies in winter at a time when lettuces are difficult to produce. Soil should be rich in order to ensure quick growth and tender leaves. Dung at the rate of 1 cwt. to 8 sq. yd. may be supplemented by…
CAULIFLOWER Sowing to harvest time: 18 to 24 weeks for summer and autumn varieties; 40 weeks for winter varieties. Yield: 1 kg (21b) per plant. Climate preferred: Cool temperate to subtropical. Aspect: Open, but sheltered from cold winds. Soil: Rich, fertile loam, but sandy soils are suitable if plenty of organic material has been incorporated…
Cardoons are ornamental plants grown for their blanched stems, which are used, both cooked and raw, in salads. Plants may be raised from seed sown in a warm greenhouse or in a frame in April, two or three seeds in each 3-in. pot. Reduce seedlings to one per pot and harden off for planting out…
By judicious selection of varieties and by successional sowing it is possible to maintain a supply of cabbage throughout the year. Soil should be well prepared. Manure or compost at the rate of 1 cwt. to 10 or 12 sq. yd. will be well repaid, but may be omitted for latetsummerplanted cabbages following a crop…
Soil preparation should be thorough. Work in animal manure or compost at the rate of 1 cwt. to from 12 to 20 sq. yd., or, better still, choose a plot that has been manured for some previous crop, such as potatoes. Then chemicals only will be required. Sulphate of ammonia may be applied in spring…
Broccoli, Heading. Closely allied to cauliflower, and from the culinary point of view identical except that flavour is less delicate. It is also hardier and has a much longer season. Where possible, follow broccoli after early potatoes or some other crop that has already had manure, and give chemicals only. It will then only be…
Beans, Broad. Three types are grown — the Mazagon, Longpod, and the Windsor. The first is the hardiest, but inferior in other respects; the second is sufficiently hardy for autumn sowing in many districts; while the third is best for bottling or freezing. For spring sowing, manure or compost may be applied at 1 cwt….
Rotational Cropping has been taken over from farmers, who employ a definite rotation of crops from one year to the next with the object of making the very best use of the ground. Root crops may be used to clean newly broken ground prior to the cultivation of cereals, after which the land is allowed…
Quick growth in good rich soil, with never a check to the water supply is the culture secret of small green salads. Chicory is gaining favour as a salad or vegetable in this country. It is sown in lines in late spring, allowing 1 ft. between the rows, and thinning the seedlings to 9 in….
Although rhubarb is not regarded by the housewife as a vegetable, it is definitely a crop for the vegetable garden or allotment, and should be given one of the permanent positions. Plants are set 5 ft. apart, in March, in good rich soil. The crown of each should be 1 in. below the soil surface….
Mushrooms should be grown in a cellar or shed, away from frosts and rains. Light is unnecessary. The method is this. Fresh manure is placed in a heap, and about every fourth day it is turned over. During this time the manure should remain moist, and a little tepid water should be used if needed….
Artichokes. The Jerusalem and Chinese artichokes are roots, grown from tubers, which are planted 6 and 3 in. deep respectively, in early spring. They are lifted and stored in October. These artichokes can be grown as a wind screen along one end of the plot. Globe Artichokes are the unopened flowerheads of a perennial plant…
Runner and French dwarf beans are similar in character. They are only half hardy, and must be sown either under glass, or in the open in April or early May, so that they do not appear above the soil before the frosts are past. Runners are sown in rows with about 4 in. between each…
Peas and beans are very popular vegetables, which for convenience can be grouped together in one of the plots in the kitchen garden. Peas are hardy, and the first sowings can be made as early as February in the open, successive sowings being made at intervals of two or three weeks from then until June….
Shallots are planted in the same way as onions, and so also are the members of the family called potato onions.” Both of these produce offsets to the bulb, which form the season’s crop. Tree onions, another type of onion sometimes grown as a curiosity, form bulbils on the stems, instead of flowers; these, if…
Onions, from the point of view of the home gardener, are a very important crop. From the horticultural point of view, they are a test of the gardener’s skill, since a well-made onion bed, resulting in a good crop of onions, is something that never just happens, but is the result of really good cultivation….
Potatoes may be regarded as in a class by themselves. It should be remarked here that it does not pay most gardeners to cultivate main crop potatoes. They are so cheaply raised in fields, where machinery is used, that it is wiser for the home gardener to grow a little extra of the more valuable…
Cabbages and their relatives mostly need somewhere about 2 ft. space each way for a single plant—certainly more than 15 in. To try to sow them at this distance, or to thin them out to it, is obviously a waste of garden space because, by raising such plants as Brussels sprouts on a nursery plot,…
For the convenience of the beginner, I propose to deal with vegetables in groups according to their manner of cultivation First let us consider the ordinary roots grown on every allotment—carrots, parsnips, beetroots, turnips. All these are crops that are sown where they are to remain. They do not succeed when transplanted, the reason being…
In the nursery plot, we are dealing mostly with tiny seedlings, and here it is rather important that there should be no stones of any considerable size. On stiff clay soils it pays to dig the plot well as for ordinary cultivation of crops, and then to top dress all over it with a 3…
The British are reputed to be a nation of gardeners, yet one seldom finds home-grown vegetables on the table of the average British household. Possibly, there is a reason. Vegetables of the common kinds—cabbages and peas, beans and marrows—are so cheap to buy in their season that most small garden owners do not think it…
Ignore people who tell you to sow peas at carefully spaced intervals. Sow them thickly in wide trenches and they will need little support as the plants will help hold each other up. Choose one of the semi-leafless varieties like ‘Bikini’ and they will need no support. When erecting poles to support runner beans or…
Melons Fertile, well-drained soil is necessary for the good growth of these plants as they are greedy feeders. Sowing Sow melon seeds in a warm greenhouse in early April. Wait until the last week of April or the first week of May before sowing weds of vegetable marrow and pumpkin. In areas south of Chicago…
Root vegetables do well in fertile garden soil but there should be no hard band of gravel or clay beneath the top spit nor should the top soil contain a high percentage of large stones. Often some deep digging is necessary to prepare a garden soil initially for first-class root vegetables. No manure or garden…
Cabbages and all Brassicas do best in fertile, well-drained, alkaline soil. On acid soils spread lime at from ½ – 1 lb. per sq. yd., after the ground has been dug in winter or early spring. However, over-liming is dangerous; sufficient lime is added to most soils when garden compost is dug in or spread…
Lettuce There are three different types of lettuce : cabbage, cos and loose leaf. Cabbage lettuces are divided into two groups: Butter-head, e.g. ‘Unrivalled’, ‘May King’. Crisp-head, e.g. ‘Webb’ s Wonderful’, ‘Windermere’. Sowing The sowing times are linked closely with varieties. The table shows when to sow for successional crops. Sow fairly thickly in 1-in,…