The Time for Planting 149 



Forced cool-season crops. Many varieties of head 

 lettuce, pe-tsai, and spring varieties of cabbage, 

 kohl-rabi, cauliflower, and celery mature properly only 

 in cool weather. But they require so long a period for 

 growth that if seed is sown in the open garden, hot 

 weather arrives before the crop is grown. The gardener 

 meets this condition by starting seedlings indoors or in 

 cold frames or hotbeds so that he may have sturdy seed- 

 lings 5 or 6 weeks old ready for transplanting into the 

 garden about the date of the latest frosts, or if especially 

 " hardened," even before that time. 



All these crops will thrive in localities where the 

 summers are cool, and in such places crops can often 

 be grown during summer. Local conditions of soil and 

 climate may also favor cool-season crops. A clay soil 

 is often a " cool soil." A soil poorly drained in spring 

 may be cool and well supplied with water in summer. 

 A northern slope sometimes gives a good location for cool- 

 season crops. 



The late crops of these vegetables are usually grown 

 from varieties especially suited to autumn conditions. 

 But these usually require a longer period of cool weather 

 than is available in autumn, at least in the northern 

 states, where killing frosts may occur early in September. 



In the North the autumn crops of these vegetables are 

 most successfully grown as follows : 



The seed is sown in outdoor seed beds or in cold frames 

 in mid spring, after the cold frames have been emptied of 

 the plants grown for early plantings. Here they can be 

 well supplied with water and given the partial shade 

 that is necessary. The plants are then transplanted to 



