THE GARDEN WEEK BY WEEK 



Feb. 

 I- 14 



The work of preparing vacant land in the kitchen 

 garden by digging (or bastard trenching) and manuring 

 should be continued. 



Mushrooms. — Early February is a very good time for 

 those to begin who want to grow Mushrooms on beds in 

 the open air, as the crop can be got before hot weather 

 comes on. Perhaps the reader is a lover of Mushrooms, 

 and appreciates them when gathered from a pasture in 

 September. If so, let him try his hand with a bed, 

 because he will probably enjoy home-grown produce 

 more than ever he did outdoor gatherings, especially if 



he can be persuaded to 

 pick the Mushrooms in 

 a half -developed state. 

 The worst of the field 

 Mushrooms is that they 

 are often very large and 

 flabby. Thick, firm, half- 

 sized ones are farsuperior 

 in flavour. Expert Mush- 

 room growers generally 

 get produce in two or 

 three months from the time of starting, and an amateur 

 who does not see Mushrooms coming within three months 

 should want to know the reason why. I think that he 

 will see them, however, if he is careful in the preparation 

 of his manure, for much turns on that. He should get 

 it direct from the stables, and have the whole supply 

 delivered as nearly simultaneously as possible, because 

 when it is carted in at intervals of several days the early 

 batches lose their heat before the others arrive. The 

 orthodox ridge-shaped bed, two and a half feet wide at 

 the base, and the same high, will take about one single 

 cartload for every yard. The manure ought to be 

 90 



Fig. 29. — Section of Ridge-shaped 



Mushroom Bed. 

 . Manure. b. Lumps of spawn. 



Layer of soil. d. Straw. 



