SPRING PLANTING SEASON

Southland Times, Issue 24819, 11 August 1942, Page 4

SPRING PLANTING SEASON

GARDENERS PREPARE FOR

SOWING

The spring planting season is at hand and Invercargill seedsmen report that gardeners are already making purchases of most varieties of vegetable seeds and even some hardy varieties of flower seeds. Most householders consider that the ground is still too cold and damp for the successful germination of seeds and little actual planting has yet been done. Because of fears that certain varieties of garden seeds will be scarce this year, some gardeners have brought their full requirements for the season already, but seedsmen state that there appear to be sufficient seeds available for all normal requirements. The authorities are hoping that home gardeners will redouble their efforts this year in spite of the calls on their leisure time by Home Guard and other duties. At a recent meefing of the Southland Council of Primary Production it was decided to appeal to householders to grow the maximum quantity of potatoes in their gardens, and it was stated that if there was a good response to file appeal the desired acreage of potatoes could be reached without difficulty. A number of city gardeners have adopted the system of planting vegetables according to phases of the moon. The usual practice is to plant seeds of plants producing crops above the ground in the last week of the waxing moon, and plants producing crops beneath the ground in the first, week after full moon. Gardeners following this system will probably make their first sowings of peas and similar crops during the week ending on August 26 and will plant potatoes, carrots and parsnips in the following week. There are many persons who deny the efficacy of this plan, but others are persistent in .believing in it.