FOLLOW UP CROPS FOR THE VEGETABLE 
GARDEN 
ADOLPH KRUHM 
Author of “The Vegetable Garden’’, “Home Vegetable Gardening From A-Z” and other works 
Replanting Bare Spaces 
with Varieties and 
Types that Mature Be¬ 
fore the Coming of Frost 
yiMULY is the crucial period in the kitchen garden. To 
have or not to have an abundance of green, fresh food 
late in the season is answered now! Stern measures 
are needed to solve certain problems of space; yet the 
end will justify the means and, incidentally, the means will 
produce food in place of weeds! 
Assuming the first frost date as about September 25th (in and 
near New York), the gardener has approximately 85 days before 
frost actually stops growth—either more or less as the date of 
frost differs from that given. Therefore, for present planting, 
only such varieties as will reach edible size within 85 days are 
practicable! I n classes of vegetables requiring more time, plants 
should be secured and set out rather than attempt to sow. 
Among short season crops, varieties that withstand summer 
heat should be given the preference; and distinct fall crops, like 
Turnips, Kale, etc., are not to be sown until the end of the 
month. It is also worth while to watch the rotation of unre¬ 
lated crops in order to check transmission of any disease within 
the group. This is particularly important with the Brassica 
family—Radishes, Cabbage, Brussels Sprouts, Kale, Turnip, 
etc. 
The first rows to become “exhausted” by midsummer are 
the very early spring crops of Lettuce, Beets, Carrots, 
Radishes, Onion sets, Spinach, Peas; and later in the month, 
Beans. Experience has shown that certain combinations go 
better together in a “follow-up” than others. For instance, 
exhausted Bean and Pea rows furnish ideal beds for Celery, 
Beets, Carrots, and other root crops, because Beans and Peas 
have comparatively shallow root systems so that fertility deeper 
down remains practically untouched. On the other hand, 
cropped rows of Lettuce, Onions, Spinach, etc., furnish an ideal 
follow-up space for such things as Beans, Kale, Cabbage, 
Brussels Sprouts. Most members of the Cabbage family have 
a strong tap-root anchoring deeply and getting food beyond the 
reach of the auxiliary surface feeding system. 
If necessary, sacrifice a row that has already borne the best 
part of its crop, to enable you to reap an additional full second 
crop between now and fall. For instance, the two first pickings 
of any Bean or Pea row yield the bulk of the crop. By per¬ 
mitting such rows to stand perhaps 2 weeks longer, you might 
gain an additional 25 per cent; but whether this gain is worth 
while in view of the fact that it may seriously handicap the 
PRACTISING WHAT HE PREACHES 
Late crops flourish in every available space in the author’s own Long Island garden 
which for a small one produces an incredible amount of food as well as many flowers 
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