A Year's Work in the Vegetable Garden 



moderate size, perfectly ripened ; therefore the thinning should not 

 be too severe. 



Peas may still be sown. The second early sorts pay well if 

 the season is favourable, but the first earlies are more reliable, as 

 one or two showers carry them through to maturity. 



Turnips may be sown in variety and in quantity after Midsummer 

 Day. Sow on well-prepared ground, and put a sprinkle of artificial 

 manure in the drills with the seed. By hastening the early growth 

 of the plant the fly is kept in check. 



JULY 



FOR gardeners July is in one respect like January ; everything 

 depends on the weather. It may be hot, with frequent heavy rains, 

 and vegetation in the most luxuriant growth ; or the earth may be iron 

 and the heavens brass, with scarcely a green blade to be seen. The 

 light flying showers that usually occur in July do not render watering 

 unnecessary; in fact, a heavy soaking of a crop after a moderate 

 rainfall is a valuable aid to its growth, for it requires a long-continued 

 heavy downpour to penetrate to the roots. 



Garden Rubbish is apt to accumulate in odd corners and become 

 offensive. The stumps of Cabbages and Cauliflowers give off the 

 most obnoxious odours, and a whole parish may be annoyed by want 

 of thought in one particular garden. The short and easy way with 

 all soft decaying rubbish is to put it at the bottom of the trench in 

 preparing land for planting. There it ceases to be a nuisance and 

 becomes a valuable manure. 



Bean, Kidney. A few Dwarfs and Runners may be useful, but 

 it is not advisable to sow largely, as they may be cut off by frost just 

 as they are beginning to bear. 



Broccoli to be planted out as before ; many of the plants left 

 over from former plantings will now be stout and strong, and make 

 useful successions. 



Cabbage. The sowing of Cabbage seed at this period of the 

 year entails consequences of such grave importance as to merit 

 reconsideration. When the crop has passed the winter there is a 

 danger that the plants may bolt, instead of forming hearts. In the 

 great majority of such cases the loss is attributable to an unwise 

 selection of sorts. For sowing in spring there is quite a long list of 

 varieties, many of them possessing distinctive qualities which meet 



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