130 



IRISH GARDENING. 



The Month's Work 



August 



The Vegetable Garden. 



By WILLIAM TYNDALL, Instructor in Horticulture, Co. Kildare. 



AS the days are getting; shorter all planting- 

 _/\_ should be completed forthwith. Care 

 should be taken to secure a sufficiency 

 of veg-etables for winter and spring; use. In 

 small g-ardens it is particularly needful to select 

 only the best varieties and to economise space 

 as much as possible. 



Onions. — Spring'-sown onions, whelher raised iiiidei- 

 glass and planted out or grown from seed sown in the 

 open, look most promising, but will be later lipening 

 this year than usual, as the cold, late spring retarded 

 growth. The tops may now be bent over, as this will 

 check the growth and cause the bulbs to swell, and at 

 the same time hasten ripening, a process most essential 

 if the bulbs are to remain sound for some months. If 

 not pulled when growth ceases the onions will quickh' 

 start to grow agfain, and if this takes place, good-bye 

 keeping-. If the weather is fine after pulling allow the 

 bulbs to remain on the ground for a few days before 

 hanking (which I find the best way of storing onions) ; 

 if the weather is wet the bulbs should be placed under 

 cover, but exposed to sun and air to dry and ripen. 



Autumn-sown onions are a most important crop, and 

 in cold, late g;ardens the seed should already be sown, 

 or, if not, let it be done at once. In light, warm soils 

 sowing may be done up to the middle of the month, but 

 a good deal depends on the district. In the north 

 the early date will not be too soon, while in the 

 south the third week of .August will not be too late. 

 Select an open and sunny site, well drained. If the 

 onions are to be transplanted (and this method gives 

 the largest and best bulbs), the ground may only be 

 well dug and manured ; after digging give a dressing- of 

 burnt garden refuse, soot or lime, and rake in. Make the 

 g-round firm and sow the seed thinly in drills one foot 

 apart. Some of the strongest plants may be trans- 

 planted into deeply-trenched and heavily-manured 

 ground early in October, while any others required ma\ 

 be put out in early spring. Those remaining in the 

 seed lines will be found most useful either for pulling 

 young in April or Maj', or, if moderately thinned, giving 

 a larg-e crop of medium-sized bulbs. Good varieties for 

 present sowing are Giant Lemon Rocca, a fine, large 

 growing onion, and, probably, the best keeping onion in 

 Tripoli section. Red Flat Italian and White Leviathan 

 produce very large bulbs, but are bad keepers, so should 

 not be largely g^rown. Tripoli onions are not the only 

 kinds suitable for autumn sowing, as Ailsa Craig, 

 Brown Globe, and Bedfordshire Champion do equally 

 well, and keep much better. On very light soils, even 

 with first-class culture, spring-sown onions often do 

 badly, the crops being- attacked by maggot, and failure 

 ensues. On such ground much more use should be 

 made of the three last named varieties for sowing now, 

 as seldom are the autumn-sown plants attacked. 



Spinach. — At least two sowings of seed should be 

 made during this month to grive a supply during autumn 



and winter. Groimd for spinach cannot be too highly 

 manured, as the larger and thicker the leaves the niore 

 they are esteemed in the kitchen. On some soils this 

 crop is difficult to grow, being- attacked by grub. A 

 good dressing of soot and wood-ashes will be found of 

 much service on all soils and indispensable c)n man)'. 

 If the soil is very loose thread so as to give a fairly firm 

 root-hold. Sow in lines fifteen inches apart. Victoria 

 Round is recommended. 



Cal!LIFLOWER. — Seed of such varieties as Early 

 London, Dwarf Erfurt, or Autumn Giant should be 

 sown about the middle of the month in an open border. 

 For wintering the plants frames are necessary, but in 

 addition I would plant in sheltered gardens as soon as 

 the seedlings are large enough a g'ood number on a dry 

 border at foot of a south wall, and these should live 

 over the winter, unless very severe, if protected b}- a 

 few spruce branches. 



Lettuce. — Seed should be sown the middle and end 

 of this month of a good hardy variety, as Hardy Green, 

 Hammersmith, or Winter Pearl. From the first sowing 

 often nice heads can be cut during- early winter, especi- 

 ally if the seeds were sown on a rich south border in 

 lines about one foot apart and early thinned out. The 

 sowing the end of the month will give plants fit for g-oing 

 out the end of September and October ; the small plants 

 remaining in the seed-bed if not transplanted into 

 nursery beds till February and March, and often then 

 are useful for filling- up gaps in the beds put out in the 

 autumn. These will be fit for use during April and 

 May — a time of the year when often other vegetables 

 are scarce. A g-ood place for planting- autumn-sown 

 lettuce, if space is limited, is mid- way between the lines 

 of strawberry plants put out early this month, giving not 

 less than nine inches between the plants in the line. 



Endive. — Where good heads of this salad is requiied, 

 plants should have ample room, and this does away with 

 "damping- off" to a great extent. Thin the plants out 

 well in the rows, planting- some of the thinniiigs on 

 warm, south borders, gfiving a good watering if the 

 weather is dry. 



Globe Artichokes. — This crop is now esteemed very 

 much in most g-ardens, so that the plants should be well 

 attended to ; being- such a heavy feeder plenty of manure 

 is required. If very large heads are required remove 

 all the heads on the stem but the one on top, and all 

 heads if not used should be cut off before flowering, 

 cutting all the flower stems half-way off as used, re- 

 moving lower portion a week later. 



PoTATc^ES. — Judging by present appearances a fine 

 crop of early potatoes should be dug-, as on heavy or 

 light soils the crops look equally promising;. Early 

 potatoes are often left much longer in the soil than is 

 necessary, as many people believe that to lift them 

 early they will become soft for using and useless for 

 seed, an erroneous idea. The practice of allowing the 

 haulm to wither up before dig-g-ing the crop cannot but 

 be condemned, as when the stems once begin to colour 

 most growth ceases, and we all know how a week of 

 bad weather coming on when the stalks have turned 

 over and commenced to colour often causes much of the 

 crop to be diseased. 



