A Year's Work in the Vegetable Garden 



rubbish will be thoroughly satisfactory. Burn all the chips and sticks 

 and other stubborn stuff, and lay the mixture in the trenches when 

 planting, so that the roots may find it at their first start. As the 

 Potato disease does not usually appear until late in summer, early 

 planting is a safe precaution, for it insures early ripening of the crop. 



Radishes, to be mild, tender, and handsome, must be grown 

 rapidly. If checked, they become hot, tough, and worthless. Much 

 may be done to forward a crop by means of dry litter and mats to 

 protect from frost, removing the protection in favourable weather to 

 give the crop the fullest possible benefit of air and sunshine. Old 

 worn-out frames that will scarcely hold together will pay their first 

 cost over again with the aid of a little skill in growing Radishes. 



Rhubarb should be taken up and divided, and planted again in 

 rich moist soil, every separate piece to have only one good eye. Do 

 not gather this season from the new plantation, but always have a 

 piece one year old to supply the kitchen. This method will insure 

 sticks to be proud of, not only for size, but for colour and flavour. 



Savoys are valued by some when small, and by others they are 

 prized for size as much as for their excellent flavour when well 

 frosted. Large Savoys must have a long season of growth ; therefore 

 sow as soon as possible, either in a frame, or on a rich, mellow seed- 

 bed, and be ready to prick them out before they become crowded. 



Sea Kale. The plantations reserved for latest supplies should 

 not be covered until they begin to push naturally, and then the 

 coverings must be put on to blanch the growth effectually. Open- 

 ground Sea Kale may be uncovered as soon as cut, but a little litter 

 should be left to give protection and help the young shoots to rise, 

 because after blanching the cutting is a severe tax on the plant, and 

 it has to begin life afresh and prepare for the work of the next 

 season. 



Shallot. When well grown the clumps are bigger than a man's 

 fist, and each separate bulb thicker than a walnut. To grow them 

 well they must have time ; so plant early, on rich ground, in rows 

 one foot apart and the bulbs six or nine inches asunder. Press them 

 into the earth deep enough to hold them firmly, but they are not to 

 be quite buried. 



Spinach. Sow the Round-seeded plentifully ; if overdone the 

 extra crop can be dug in as manure, and in that way will pay. 



Tomato. In many gardens the first sowing is. made about the 

 2oth of this month, and when treated fairly, the plants come into 

 bearing in about four months. Use good porous soil for the seed- 



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