150 GROW YOUR OWN VEGETABLES 



Squashes, pumpkins, and vegetable marrows keep 

 well when stored, if a dry frost-proof place be selected. 

 Cottagers often strap these fruits to the kitchen ceiling 

 by means of broad pieces of tape, where they hang all 

 the winter or until required. We do not suggest that 

 the reader will be well advised to decorate his kitchen 

 in the same way, but the idea of using tape instead of 

 string is certainly worth following. 



There are many forms of ornamental gourds which are 

 grown for their beauty and not for edible purposes. The 

 uninitiated should be careful when purchasing seed to 

 see that what he buys will eventually provide him with 

 table rather than decorative produce. 



Cucumbers are well worth growing as long as other 

 and more useful crops are not neglected in their favour. 

 Seed is sown late in February or early in March when the 

 fruits are to be reared on a hotbed, or towards the end of 

 May when the rearing is to be effected in a cold frame or 

 in open beds. 



For culture on hotbeds place one seed in each small 

 size pot, filled with a mixture of good loam to which has 

 been added a fair proportion of well-rotted manure. 

 Sink the pots nearly up to the rims in a hotbed con- 

 structed on the lines suggested in Chapter VI. and give 

 plenty of air, daily. 



When the seedlings show a few small leaves build two 

 little mounds of good rich soil on the surface of the 

 manure in each hotbed. Plant one seedling in each 

 mound and sprinkle with lukewarm water. As growth 

 proceeds pinch of! the terminals of the main shoots in 

 order that the laterals may develop and see that only one 



