July : First Week 



MIDSUMMER WORK IN THE VEGETABLE GAR- 

 DEN: SAVING THE SOIL MOISTURE; EGG- 

 PLANTS AND PEPPERS; THE VINE CROPS, 

 TRANSPLANTING IN DRY WEATHER; LATE 

 PLANTING 



Scores of gardeners who started out enthusiastically in 

 spring begin to let up a little when hot weather comes in 

 June, and practically abandon the garden to its fate after 

 the Fourth, sacrificing a large part of the work already 

 done. 



The root crops for late summer and for winter should be 

 top dressed now with nitrate of soda. This is particularly 

 valuable in dry weather, when nitrogen in the form gen- 

 erally existing in the soil is largely inert because there is 

 not enough moisture to make it available. 



One of the most important factors in securing good root 

 crops is to thin out sufficiently and to do it early. Two to 

 three inches apart is right for carrots, onions and salsify, 

 three to four inches for beets, parsnips and the smaller 

 varieties of turnips; and four to six inches for large turnips 

 and rutabagas. 



The various hot-weather plants will need attention now — 

 tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, muskmelons, watermelons, 

 pole beans, hma beans and late sweet corn. All these, 

 with the exception of dwarf Hmas, are usually grown in 

 hills, and it is a temptation to cultivate and weed Just 

 round the hills and to let the spaces between go until the 

 plants get considerably larger. 



This is a great mistake. An efficient way of managing 

 these crops in the home garden is to use the rake attach- 

 ment on the wheel hoe and an ordinary iron rake between 



i6s 



