VEGETABLE ROOTS TRIMMED READY FOR PLANTING 

 Be very careful to cut away only the heavy top growth, leaving the crowns intact. Here, 

 from left to right in order, are Swiss chard, beets, dandelions, endive and coffee chicory 



TAKING THE VEGETABLE GARDEN INTO THE CELLAR 



RAYMOND L. FEDDER 



Indoor Gardening That Does not Mean a Greenhouse and from Which a Regular Supply of 

 Salad and Greens Can Be Had Till Spring Comes Again — A Use for the Surplus Growing Root Crops 



good 



INTER, to the gardener, is the enforced season of rest 

 >) — at least to the big majority of home gardeners who 

 possess nothing but their little plot of ground and 

 the dreams of a greenhouse that never material- 

 izes. But the growing season can be extended all through the 

 winter by any one who possesses a warm cellar; and at no ex- 

 tra expenditure of capital whatever except for the seeds. 

 Finer salads than ever grew in the garden outside, and as 

 greens" as ever eaten can be had from the house 

 cellar besides several other out-of-season luxuries and 

 the fun of seeing things grow at a time when the Frost King 

 does all the gardening without. 



Trying to keep my endive beyond Christmas was a disap- 

 pointment. I had tried light and heavy coverings over the 

 plants — which either rotted or froze; numerous styles of 

 "pits" which produced the same result; and digging up the 

 plants and storing in a cool cellar where they wilted and dried 

 up. And then I heard of witloof chicory and after two sea- 

 sons' trial, liked it so well, that I grew no more endive for win- 

 ter storing. And one thing after another 1 experimented 

 with, invariably having good success, until I now have a regu- 

 lar winter garden in a small bed of earth and several boxes in 

 my cellar. There I grow for salads, witloof chicory (which 



I consider the finest salad I have ever eaten) ; coffee chicory, 

 (almost the equal of witloof and with a milder flavor); and 

 dandelions, which are the same as the best spring variety, 

 but, coming in December, January and February taste much 

 better. 1 grow beets, white or red or even sugar; they all 

 succeed and the " greens" taste like the garden variety of beet 

 greens along about the forepart of June. Also I have tried 

 Swiss chard, which though not the equal of beets for sure and 

 large crops, still produces enough to make it worth while; and 

 1 have discovered that the leaves of Swiss chard grown in a 

 dark (or nearly so) cellar, being perfectly blanched, make a 

 very creditable salad with a distinct flavor of their own. And 

 for luxuries you can have rhubarb and asparagus. 



THESE different vegetables are grown in the garden in 

 the regular way, planting the seed in the spring and weed- 

 ing and cultivating through the summer in an effort to pro- 

 duce the best roots possible. And in these roots lies the 

 secret of the success of growing vegetables in a dark place. 

 For it is there that all the energy and plant food is stored; 

 and from this store the leaves are enabled to draw and grow 

 without the aid of sunlight. Therefore, understand it is only 

 root vegetables, containing a large amount of plant food, that 



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