112 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES 



regions lettuce and onions and radishes are hardy, and thrive if 

 raised out of the wet, and cabbage, cauliflower, peppers, celery, to- 

 mato seed should go into seed beds to grow plants for later plant- 

 ing out. Asparagus, horse radish and rhubarb roots can be planted 

 out in well-drained ground. It is the first great potato planting 

 month for regions of light rainfall or on warm, well-drained 

 slopes in regions of heavier rains. But on low valley lands in wet 

 regions, January is often too stormy and cold for open-air work, 

 as has just been said of December. 



FEBRUARY. 



February is the great planting month, for everything but the 

 very tender plants, like beans, tomatoes, peppers, the squash family, 

 etc., can now proceed with assurance of adequate heat and moisture. 

 It is the month for the dilatory man who has missed his earliest 

 opportunities to fill the ground with seed, and it is the time when 

 plantings in small frosty and rainy valleys, which have been de- 

 ferred because the ground was too cold and wet to start seeds and 

 plants well, may be confidently made. Successions and rotations 

 are in order, as the fall-planted vegetables are cleared away. Early 

 small plantings of string-beans, melons and cucumbers will often 

 carry through or can be easily replanted if the frost catches them. 

 Potatoes are widely planted and will seldom be killed, though they 

 may be cut back, except on low ground, which should be planted 

 later. Chicory is sown, and sowing of sugar beets as a field crop 

 for the factory, begins in February, on the warmer, drier lands. 



MARCH. 



Later plantings of all sorts of hardy vegetables for success- 

 sion is pursued. The venturesome on higher, warmer lands try 

 corn, melons, squashes, tomatoes, and continue planting beans. 

 Cantaloupes are planted for main crop in Imperial Valley. Sugar 

 beets are largely sown for factory use. Sweet potatoes should go 

 into the hot-bed for slipping. 



APRIL. 



April is another month for succession planting of hardy vege- 

 tables, but it is getting late except where moisture is ample and 



