CABBAGE FOR WINTER USE

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 218, 3 December 1927, Page 26 (Supplement)

CABBAGE FOR WINTER USE

This valuable vegetable should be grown in every kitchen garden for winter use. If sowing seed, loz will produce about 2,000 plants for large gardens, but for small homes an ordinary 6d packet of seed will be ample. Drumhead Savoy cabbage is the best and hardiest cabbage far winter use, having a crinkled leaf of a deep green colour. Those who prefer a smoothleaved variety cannot do better than plant Early Drumhead or Henderson’s succession. Both these varieties mature in four to five months. Sow seed early in January. The soil in the seed beds should be light and sandv, and the seed sown in drills eight inches apart and gently raked in. When large enough the seedlings can be thinned and the soil constantly stirred with a light hoe. If treated in this way the seedlings do not become spindly. Before finally transplanting the beds should be watered well every day for a week before shifting. If this is done the plants suffer less when finally planted out. The distances at which different sorts require to be planted out depends on the size of the cabbages when they reach maturity. For the varieties mentioned 24in. by 30in. should he sufficient. The richer the soil the quicker and larger the plants will grow. Well-rot-ted manure, blood and bone and superphosphate are suitable fertilisers Plenty of water can be used in the drv months of the autumn. To ward off the cabbage fly Black Leaf 40 and arsenate of lead will prove jan effective spray. Quassia Chips soluI tion is often used, but is not so good.