War Gardens: A Pocket Guide for Home Vegetable GrowersFree, Montague
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War Gardens: A Pocket Guide for Home Vegetable Growers
Free, Montague
Vegetable gardening
Egg-plant is a tropical plant which will not mature its fruits in the
Northern states unless its season of growth is lengthened by starting
the plants in a greenhouse or hotbed. It is very susceptible to cold and
it is scarcely safe to set the young plants outdoors until June in the
latitude of New York. Egg-plant requires a sunny position and a warm,
light, fertile soil. It can be planted in rows two and a half to three
feet apart, two feet being allowed between the plants in the rows.
_Black Beauty_ is a standard variety. _Early Long Purple_ is a
quick-maturing kind.
Kale.—The cultivation of kale is practically that of late cabbage. It
is an extremely hardy vegetable and will stand a great deal of frost.
Kohlrabi is another member of the cabbage group. It is desirable to
mature it quickly, as slow-grown plants are woody and inedible. This
quick growth is effected by planting in rich soil and by giving
top-dressings of nitrate of soda at the rate of one ounce to ten feet of
row. The swollen stems should be eaten when they are about two inches in
diameter. _Early Vienna_, either white or purple top, is a good variety.
The seeds may be sown in the spring just as soon as the ground can be
worked, in rows from fifteen to eighteen inches apart. When the young
plants are large enough they are thinned to stand six inches apart in
the rows; if so desired, the thinnings may be used as “greens.”
Lettuce, the most important salad crop, requires a rich, sandy soil. It
is seldom that it will “head” properly in city backyards, because of
unsuitable soil and other adverse conditions. Lettuce is a cool-weather
crop, and during the hot days of summer the greatest difficulty is
experienced in growing it. There are several different types. The
loose-leaf kinds, those that do not form a head, are the easiest to
grow. The other forms are the Romaine, or Cos, which makes a columnar
head, and the ordinary kind, or cabbage lettuce.
The seeds should be planted shallowly in rows a foot or eighteen inches
apart, and afterward the young plants must be thinned to stand ten or
twelve inches apart in the row. A row twenty feet long is enough to
plant at one sowing. Other plantings should be made at intervals of two
or three weeks, so as to provide a succession. During hot weather the
plants are benefited by being shaded with cheese-cloth screens. These
can be conveniently made by tacking cheese-cloth on lath frames of
suitable size, which should be supported on stakes driven into the
ground.
Quick growth is essential to obtain crisp, well-flavored lettuce. This
can partially be brought about by the use of nitrate of soda, as
recommended for kohlrabi. Avoid getting any of the nitrate on the leaves
of the plants, as it will burn them.
Good varieties of lettuce are _May King_ and _Hanson_, belonging to the
cabbage-head type; _Grand Rapids_, a loose-leaf variety; and _Paris
White Cos_.
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