HO GROW YOUR OWN VEGETABLES 



there will be a tendency for them to do this as the time 

 will be somewhere close to midsummer. Where such 

 happens, water in the early mornings and arrange sheets 

 of newspaper to afford shade during the sunniest part of 

 the day. 



As the plants grow, give applications of liquid manure 

 on alternate evenings, but do not let it touch the leaves. 

 Once a week, after a fall of dew or an artificial watering, 

 dust soot over the plants to discourage undesirable pests. 



The first earthing up to blanch the stems may be 

 effected in August. Tie the plant just below the leaves 

 with raffia, but only make a single knot which the stems 

 may gradually loosen as growth proceeds. Clean off all 

 surface suckers, etc., and arrange a mound of earth up 

 the sides of the plant. Do this when the ground is dry, 

 and be most careful to see that no soil finds its way 

 among the stems and reposes on the hearts. 



A second earthing may be performed in a month's 

 time, and a third early in November. The soil for these 

 latter bankings may be taken from the sides of the trench, 

 as the catch- crops will have long since disappeared. See 

 that the earth is nicely arranged round the celery heads 

 and that there are no pockets to catch the rain. Beat 

 the sides firm with the back of a spade but do not injure 

 the foliage. 



Another way of blanching the stems, which is becoming 

 more popular every season, is to cut some good tough 

 brown paper of a non-spongy kind into lengths five or six 

 inches wide. Tie an end to the bottom of a celery plant, 

 using raffia, and wind it spirally upwards around the 

 stems, binding the top with another piece of raffia. As 

 growth proceeds, further pieces of paper must be wound 



