FRESH VEGETABLES AT THE SUMMER HOME 
ADOLPH KRUHM 
Crops May be Sown Now and Harvested in a Few Weeks if Short 
Season Varieties Are Selected and Given Full Chance to Grow 
F FORTUNE is kind and gives you a little patch of 
ground around your summer cottage or bungalow, 
be grateful and set that ground to work. The food 
ul^S^ situation throughout the country is such as to make it 
eminently desirable to produce something wherever a piece of 
ground is available. And contrary to common opinion there 
is much that a garden may produce within the sixty days which 
spells the life of the average vacationist’s garden, although the 
list of available varieties is of course somewhat restricted and 
includes only vegetables having a short season of growth. 
Please remember that everything depends upon getting the 
seeds to sprout promptly, and then keeping the plants growing 
constantly. Therefore: 
( a ) Cover the seeds slightly deeper than you would early in 
the spring, and bring the soil in firm contact with them. 
(i b ) After seeds are sown, should the natural water supply be 
inadequate, give the garden a good soaking with the hose or a 
sprinkling can. 
(c) As soon as the seedlings appear, start hoeing; and be 
sure to thin them to four inches apart in the row so that crowding 
does not check their development. 
Foremost among vegetables for which the vacation season is 
sufficient are Beets, Carrots, Kohlrabi, and Turnips. 
beets that will perfect a two-inch product within fifty days 
under favorable conditions are Crosby’s Egyptian, Detroit 
Dark Red, and Eclipse The young beets which you gather 
at the end of the sixty day period are about the finest product 
imaginable for the purpose of canning. In connection with all 
the root crops, it may be worth remembering that the canned 
product is far more palatable than the coarse grained full-grown 
crop harvested later and stored in soil for use during the 
winter. 
carrots of French Forcing and Golden Ball varieties are 
small but delicious. These should be used when the roots which 
are round are not more than an inch to an inch and a half 
in diameter. And as it takes a good many carrots of this size 
to make a meal, be sure to sow enough. Within forty-five 
days of sowing seeds Oxheart will grow nearly two inches in 
diameter by three inches long while, if you have full sixty days 
before you forsake your vacation garden, you may sow Chan- 
tenay or Model, the largest, also latest, of the really early. 
kohlrabi reaches the two-inch diameter size under favorable 
conditions in an amazingly short time. Experiment with so- 
called forcing strains of Early White Vienna Kohlrabi has con- 
vinced me that this vegetable may be gathered within fifty 
days from the time seeds are sown. As in the case of Carrots 
and Beets, it is most essential that Kohlrabi be thinned out 
as soon as the plants are three to four inches tall. 
turnips there are that will be ready in fifty days, but do not 
expect quick-growing varieties to keep well. Early White 
Milan sown the first week in July will be ready for use the 
second week in August and ten days later will come Purple 
Top White Globe. Neither of these will stay in fit condition 
very long however since August heat soon causes them to get 
bitter. For winter use, the Swedish Turnips or Ruta Bagas 
are much preferable, since they have flesh of much firmer 
texture. However, American Purple Top will be ready for 
gathering the last week in September from seeds sown early in 
July, when the product may be stored like Potatoes, and will 
keep as well. 
radishes there are of course — the little round Scarlet But- 
ton, Scarlet Globe, and Hailstone type which will be ready for 
table use within twenty-five to thirty days after sowing. Re- 
member that these small kinds must be used as soon as they 
reach a half-inch size or a little larger. They will not stand any 
heat, and very quickly become pithy. A somewhat preferable 
variety is Icicle which, like Long White Vienna, grows to 
larger size without becoming hot and spongy, especially if the 
soil is full of humus. Of the two, Long White Vienna remains 
in good table condition about a week or ten days longer than 
Icicle, but it also requires a week longer (or at least forty days), 
before it reaches suitable table size. 
salad of several kinds may be gathered in the vacationist’s 
garden, if varieties of Lettuce that have proven reasonably heat 
resistent are sown. The best types are the Crisp-heads and the 
Cos (also called Romaine) varieties. Among the Crisp-heads, 
New York, or Wonderful (Los Angeles Market) will require 
all of sixty days to reach full size, but it will be found to be the 
hardest-heading of them all. Crisp-as-ice is a very much 
smaller variety of rather forbidding bronze green appearance, but 
with a heart as golden and sweet as any lettuce grown earlier 
in the season. Crisp-as-ice is the Crisp-head companion of 
Mignonette, a little butterhead variety that has the reputation 
of standing more heat than any other in its class. 
Among the Cos Lettuces, Eclipse or Express is the first to be 
ready for use, but it does not stand very long before it “bolts” 
to seed. A better selection would probably be either Paris 
White Cos or Dwarf White-heart Cos, both of which bleach 
to a splendid white inside and remain in good condition for the 
best part of two weeks after reaching table size. 
greens are provided liberally by the New Zealand Spinach 
which is ready to begin cutting within forty-five to fifty days 
from time seeds are sown, provided the seeds are soaked in warm 
water for twenty-four hours before they are sown, and the 
ground liberally enriched with well rotted manure. For unless 
great quantities of quickly available food are put within its 
reach, New Zealand Spinach will require seventy-five days to 
reach the cutting size. 
swiss chard is another prolific yielder of palatable greens, 
ready for cutting within fifty days from the time seeds are sown, 
providing those are soaked over night, sowed thinly in a well 
prepared row, and covered about one-half inch deep. After 
covering, walk over the row to press the soil in firm contact with 
the seeds. Then, after a day or two, get busy with the hose or 
sprinkling can, and give the ground a good soaking. Nature 
provides the heat and sunshine during July and August, but in 
order to have those two do the most good, man has to augment 
the frequently lacking moisture supply. Every vegetable will 
respond to regular watering, providing the watering is made 
more than just a sprinkling of the top. Give a good substantial 
soaking twice a week. 
There is just one other vegetable which will mature a crop 
in less than fifty days — the Bean called Red Valentine. Ordin- 
arily, I would not think of recommending that variety because 
it does not measure up to the high standards of such sorts as 
Bountiful, Stringless Green Pod, etc. However, Red Valentine 
does what no other variety can — it bears pods four to five inches 
long within forty-five to fifty days from date of planting and 
if these are gathered promptly they will be devoid of the string 
which the older product has. Moreover, Red Valentine bears 
pods in liberal quantities, and is a splendid variety for canning 
provided always you “catch them young.” 
