July, 1922 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



161 



The Kitchen Garden in July 



THE vegetable garden should be kept 

 working at full capacity through- 

 out the entire season. Seed-sowing 

 need not stop with the final planting for 

 the first series of crops. Companion 

 cropping and succession cropping will 

 keep the land busy from spring to fall. 



There are a number of crops that lend 

 themselves to companion cropping. Rad- 

 ishes, spinach and lettuce may be drilled 

 between the rows of late onions and other 

 late crops and be off the ground before 

 the latter need the space. Beans of 

 quick-maturing varieties may be sown 

 between the rows of tomatoes. Sweet 

 corn or late cabbage may be planted 

 between the rows of any crops that are 

 soon to be harvested. Companion crop- 

 ping is better practised, however, with a 

 start earlier in the season. Succession 

 cropping will prove more satisfactory 

 during midsummer and early fall. 



A few crops that will withstand the 

 heat should be planted for mid-summer 

 use. Swiss chard will produce greens 

 throughout the greater part of the sum- 

 mer. New Zealand spinach is adapted 

 for the production of greens during the 

 heated period. Endive is easier to grow 

 in hot weather for salad than lettuce. 



In warm sections, early peas may be 

 followed by late cabbage, potatoes^ snap 

 beans, beets or turnips. Early potatoes 

 may be followed by turnips, snap beans 

 or by sweet com, especially when the 

 latter are planted between the rows of 

 potatoes that are soon to be harvested. 



Fall gardens should in no case be over- 

 looked. Plantings of practically all the 

 early spring vegetables may be made in 

 July and August, according to locality, 

 and be brought to maturity before early 

 autumn frosts. By proper attention to 

 the garden, fresh vegetables may be had 

 through a period of about six months. 

 Most crops mature in a shorter period 

 in the late summer than in the spring. 

 This is due to the shortening of the days 

 and the tendency of the plant to "hurry 

 up" to produce its seed before winter 

 overtakes it. It pays to take a chance on 

 late plantings of beets, carrots, lettuce, 

 spinach, snap beans, sweet com and 

 turnips, if you like them. As a rule, early 

 or quick maturing varieties are best for 

 late planting. 



First Aid to Seedlings 



As garden soil generally is very dry 

 in mid-summer, seeds that are 

 sown at this time may fail to ger- 

 •linate or, if they germinate, they may 

 t have enough moisture to keep them 



re two or three ways of pre- 



; loss. One is to use the sprinkling 



1(1 keep the surface lightly watered 



itil the seeds are up. Another is to lay 



iirds (lirfftly over the rows of seeds 



until they sprout and are just about 

 ready to come through the ground. It 

 does not do, however, to leave the boards 

 over the rpws too long, as the little seed- 

 lings on coming up against the boards 

 will be bent out of shape and weakened. 



Still another method is to scatter a 

 little fine, sifted manure over the row of 

 seeds. Lawn clippings, where available, 

 will answer the same general purpose, 

 but are not so good as fine manure. Here, 

 also, care must be taken that the covering 

 is not too heavy, or the seedlings will be 

 injured when they come through the 

 ground. 



For cultivating after the seedlings ap- 

 pear, a steel rake is one of the best tools. 

 Use it frequently along each side of the 

 row to keep the soil loose and mellow. 



musk-melons, but the cultivation is 

 similar. Draw a Uttle earth around the 

 plants during the early stage of growth 

 and keep a fine mulch of surface soil on 

 the area planted. While cultivating or 

 hoeing, care must be taken not to move 

 the vines any more than absolutely 

 necessary. 



Grow Your Own Pop Corn 



POP com from one's own garden will 

 be appreciated by the children next 

 fall and winter much more than the 

 kind purchased ready popped in the stores 

 Even grown-up folks enjoy the popping 

 of corn at the fire-place or even a stove, 

 and the enjoyment is greatest when the 

 corn has been home-grown. If pop com 

 was not planted last month, there is still 

 time for planting and growing with a 

 reasonable chance of success. While 

 pop corn can be sown even earlier than 

 sweet corn the first of July is not too late 

 to try it. 



Sow the kernels in a place that is warm 

 and well-drained. Have the soil spaded 

 deeply and pulverised thoroughly before 

 planting. The rows should be about 

 three feet apart. Even one short row 

 will furnish enough ears for pleasant re- 

 creation during a few evenings at least. 

 In furrows two or three inches deep drop 

 the kernels about eight inches apart and 

 cover them first only about one inch. 

 Plant while the soil is moist in the furrow. 

 Keep the weeds down and, whether weeds 

 appear or not, keep the surface of the 

 soil loose by frequent hoeings, 



Cultivating Melons 



FEW crops respond as readily to fre- 

 quent and thorough cultivation as 

 muskmelons. It is injurious to the 

 growth of the plants to allow the forma- 

 tion of even a slight crust about the 

 plants unless it is broken very soon after 

 forming. The cultivation should con- 

 tinue at frequent intervals and as long as 

 is possible without danger of injury to 

 the vines. As the growth of the vines 

 proceeds, the cultivation sliould be kept 

 at a safe distance from the plants, so that 

 the vines will not be injured. All culti- 

 vations, after the first one or two, should 

 be shallow. 



Water melons are more difiicult to 

 grow to perfection in this country than 



To Control Cabbage Worms 



THE green cabbage worm often ap- 

 pears in gardens in numbers large 

 enough to destroy all the cabbage 

 and cauliflower plants that have been 

 set or at least render them valueless for 

 human food. Methods of controlling this 

 pest consist in using a spray made by 

 dissolving an ounce of arsenate of lead 

 paste (or half an ounce of powder), in a 

 gallon of water; to this mixture should 

 be added one-half cubic inch of soap so 

 that the spraying mixture will better ad- 

 here to the leaves of the plants. A dust 

 mixture of one part arsenate of lead to 

 15 parts of hydrated lime also is effective. 

 If the worms persist in attacking the 

 cauliflowers after the heads have been 

 formed, pyrethrum may be used, as the 

 poison qualities of this powder disappear 

 about three days after application ; hence, 

 the heads are safe to use much sooner 

 than if arsenic poison were used. 



Saving Bean and Pea Seed 



SOME gardeners make a practice of 

 selecting and saving seeds of various 

 crops for planting the following year. 

 The best seed of peas and beans, for 

 example, is obtained by marking a few 

 of the finest plants with a bit of cloth at 

 the beginning of the harvesting season 

 and allowing the crop of these plants to 

 ripen completely. 



In making such selections it is best to 

 choose plants alike in varietal character 

 and earliness. When ripened until dry, 

 pull these plants in the early morning, in 

 order to avoid shattering, and hang or 

 spread them in an airy dry place until 

 the seed is quite hard. Then shell the 

 seed, spread it out not over two or three 

 grains deep, and when thoroughly dry 

 store it for the winter in bags of coarse 

 open-meshed fabric hung in a cool, dry 

 place. 



Pods which for any reason have been 

 overlooked when picking beans or peas 

 for the table should be saved, since they 

 can be shelled for seed, though inferior 

 to the selected stock described above. 

 In saving seed from remnant crops of 

 this kind, it is well to discard all pods 

 containing only one or two seeds, as 

 these may have come from plants with a 

 tendency to produce poorly filled pods. 



Giva plenty of water to sweet peas, 

 so thai the moisture will penetrate 

 deeply Just wetting the ground daily 

 is about as unsatisfactory as none at all. 



