176 A YEAR'S WORK IN THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



some amount of courage to lift Potatoes while the tops are still green 

 and vigorous, and it should not be done until the roots are fully 

 grown and beginning to ripen. Quick-growing sorts may be planted 

 to dig as new Potatoes in the autumn. 



RADISH. Sow Black Spanish for winter use. 



SPINACH. Sow the Prickly-seeded to stand the winter, selecting 

 for the seed-bed ground lying high and dry that has been at least 

 twice dug over and has had no recent manure. The twice digging is 

 to promote the destruction of the ' Spinach Moth ' grub, which the 

 robins and thrushes will devour when exposed by digging. These 

 grubs make an end of many a good breadth of Winter Spinach every 

 year, and are the more to be feared by the careless cultivator. 



TURNIPS to be sown in quantity in the early part of the month ; 

 thin advancing crops, and keep the hoe in action amongst them. 



WINTER GREENS of all kinds to be planted out freely in the best 

 ground at command, after a good digging, and to be aided with water 

 for a week or so should the weather be dry. 



AUGUST 



THE work of this month is not severe, but a few of its details are 

 of great consequence. The matter of chief importance is to see 

 that whatever should be done is well done, because the winter is 

 coming, and the weak joints in the harness may be made manifest 

 when it is too late to repair them. The supplies of the garden 

 during the next winter and spring will in great part depend upon good 

 management now, for we have to make the utmost of the few weeks 

 of growing weather that remain. Autumn sowings of seed must not 

 only be attended to, but with particular care, to insure a regular and 

 rapid growth, and yet not a single seed should be sown a day too 

 soon, because if the plants become succulent before winter they 

 may be destroyed by frost. One great difficulty in connection with 

 sowing seed now is the likelihood of the ground being too dry ; yet 

 it is most unwise to water seeds, and it is always better if they can 

 be got up with the natural moisture of the soil alone. However, in 

 an extreme case the ground should be well soaked before the seed is 

 sown, and after sowing covered with hurdles, pea-sticks, or mats 

 until the seed begins to sprout. 



ARTICHOKES, GLOBE, to be cut down as soon as the heads are used. 



