18 
PEAS, Little Marvel (top) 
Laxton’s Progress (bottom) 


TOMATO, Marglobe 
RADISHES, Icicle and French Breakfast 

(Continued from Page 17) 
RADISHES 
As a rule the first crop to mature: 
plant as early as soil can be dug. 
Feed liberally for quick growth. Sow 
a 10 foot row every ten days until 
weather turns warm. Start planting 
again with the coming of cool weather 
in fall. The fall and winter types are 
sown in mid-summer to mature in fall 
for storage. 
SPINACH 
Seed in fall (protect with straw) or 
in very early spring. Must mature 
before hot weather. 
Spinach (New Zealand) 
While this crop grows freely in hot 
weather, it will not germinate except 
when soil temperatures are below 70 
degrees. Hence it should be sown with 
the half-hardy crops—those that are 
planted when the narcissi bloom. 
Plant in soil with plenty of organic 
matter, spacing the plants about 3 feet 
by 3 feet. Keep them cut back, since 
only the young growing tips are eaten 
and long, woody stems have little 
flavor. Many who have tried a mix- 
ture of half Swiss Chard and half 
New Zealand Spinach say that this is 
better than either vegetable alone. 
SQUASH 
Follow culture given for muskmelon 
for vine types. Grow bush types in 
rows, spaced 24” apart. Keep picked. 
Will bear all summer. 
TURNIPS 
Follow directions for radishes. Thin- 
nings can be cooked for greens. 
TOMATOES 
There are two schools of tomato cul- 
ture—those who stake and those who 
don’t. Reasons for and against are as 
follows: 
FOR STAKING: While staked plants 
produce fewer fruits per plant, they 
produce more tomatoes for a given 
area. So if room is at a premium, it 
will pay to stake. Staked plants usu- 
ally produce cleaner fruits and bear 
somewhat earlier. 
AGAINST: Staking calls for much 
extra labor in staking, tying and prun- 
ing. The total production per plant is 
higher in unstaked and unpruned 
plants. If you have plenty of room, 
the saving in labor makes the un- 
staked method the best. All commer- 
cial canning crops of tomatoes are 
grown in this way. If the ground 
under the vines is covered with a 
mulch of clean straw, this will im- 
prove the quality of the fruits and 
will also keep weeds down and save 
moisture. 
When staking, set plants 18” apart 
in the row, in rows 3 feet apart. Use 
a 7 foot stake, driven 1 foot into the 
ground. Tie plant to stake with soft 
twine or other plant tie. Habit of 
growth calls for a side shoot from the 
first point where a leaf joins the main 
stem, another side shoot from the 
second leaf joint, and a flower cluster 
from the third joint. This 2-1 pattern 
of growth is repeated up the entire 


TOMATO, Rutgers 
Practical answers to every-day 
questions about home gardening 
stem. The staked plant is allowed to 
grow from the tip, and as it grows, 
the stem is tied to the stake. As the 
side shoots appear, these are pinched 
out or rubbed off, leaving the flower 
clusters to produce fruits. When 
training tomatoes to stakes, be sure 
to leave all possible foliage to hide 
the fruits from direct sunshine; other- 
wise they will sunscald. 
Tomato diseases have been on the in- 
crease lately. For this reason, plant- 
ing disease resistant varieties like 
Rutgers, Pritchard and Marglobe is 
good business. Planting outside when 
the weather is cold and wet en- 
courages disease by favoring the 
growth of aphids, which multiply at 
lower temperatures than do their 
enemies. Aphids spread virus dis- 
eases. By delaying planting until the 
weather is really warm, much of this 
type of injury can be _ prevented. 
Dusting with Tomato Dust helps con- 
trol fungus diseases. 
Blossom end rot and cracking at the 
stem end are due to variation in 
water supply. Don’t allow water in 
soil to fluctuate any more than you 
can help. Don’t water freely for a 
time and then stop. If you start 
watering, keep it up at regular inter- 
vals. A heavy mulch of straw not 
only helps prevent violent fluctuations 
in water supply, but helps keep the 
fruit clean if the vines are not staked. 
When grown without staking, the 
vines will sprawl on the ground. This 
means they will need more room. 
Three feet between plants and four 
feet between rows will not be too 
much ground to use if you can spare 
the room. 
