AUTUMN VEGETABLE SEEDS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 928, 22 March 1930, Page 28

AUTUMN VEGETABLE SEEDS

It is curious how many people seem to think that gardening is a job for the early spring months. A gardener’s job is really never done as crops are always demanding attention or fresh sowings have to be made. Now the gardener must look ahead, for “As ye sow so shall ye reap.” Winter crops must be sown at once if householders wish to produce their own vegetables. Through the colder months and during early spring, the prices asked for shopbought vegetables is extremely high and wise is the man who plants now to avoid this additional expense. We offer below a list of suitable vegetables for planting now:—• Beetroot (Annual). —Either sow seed in seed-bed or transplant seedlings; 6 inches apart will do. Beet is hardy. Use narrow beds for carrot, parsnip, turnip or beet. Brussels Sprouts (Annual). —Sow seed any time now, and handle quite like cabbage or cauliflower. Cabbage (Annual). —Sow seed in open, grow quickly, manure land, bed out early, keei) clean with hoe, plant 20 to 24 inches apart. Sow either St. John’s Day, Succession or Large White Brunswick. Carrot (Annual). —Sow seed over surface of well-prepared bed and cover with new manure. Thin seedlings as early as possible. Cauliflower (Annual). — Sow seed of any early variety in a bed well out in the sunlight. Select a good, deep soil and rush the plants along. For Salad sow Mustard and Cress together. Cut when about four inches high. May be grown all the year round. Leek (Annual). —Plant out seedlings in rich, deep soil; feed hard. Leek like lots of nourishment. Lettuce (Annual). —Sow seed where plants are to grow and thin out quickly. Make bed rich, feed hard. Don’t transplant from now on. Thin out seedlings to six inches or so apart. Use lots of liquid manure. Onion.—Buy seedlings and transplant into rich quarters, leaving six inches or so between the youngsters. Just get an inch of the young onion down under. Odourless is the best home onion. Parsley.—Always have a bed of parsley somewhere round home. Prepare a border or bed, broadcast seed, top-up with manure, and leave the plants alone. The wife will see to the cutting later on. White Turnip.—Very useful for cooking and using in soups. Sow seed lightly in drifts and thin out to the desired distance between the plants five or six inches in the rows, and make rows about 15 inches to 18 inches apart.