KITCHEN GARDENS.

Taranaki Daily News, 31 July 1920, Page 2

KITCHEN GARDENS.

A. AND P. COMPETITION. The result of the kitchen garden competition promoted by the Taranaki A. and I*. Society has been declared by the judges (Messrs G V Tote, H. King, and H. R. Cattley). Their' award was as follows: W.King 327 S. Era » 92 v, J. T Bell a;i i7 E. Soulhcott »(]-,' Major Sandford %;; H. A. Way ■•(;•■ W. Rook "-..,' T. B J. Sinclair 23i ,i4 N. Allen «i.>i?, . W. E Bendall 20V" W- Lang 184 T. Collins 182 In their report, the judges remark that keen interest was taken in Hie work by most of the sixteen competitors, Notwithstanding the drawbacks of cold boisterous weather up to midsujimer and later, the prevalence of the Diamond. Moth, many of the gardens gave satisfactory results and line crops of potatoes onions, peas, lettuce, etc., were gi-Jwn -The gardens generally (says.the report), were kept clean and free from weVds, but we found 'n some cases a want of system in planting the crops. For Instance, potatoes instead of being in a patch by themselves were scattered a row or two here and there throughout the garden, thus preventing a proper rotation of crops being made the following year, so as to avoid planting a crop on land tliar had grown the same crop the previous year or for Beveral years before. Another weakness In some gardens was that root crops, such as carrots, turnips, beet and parsnips, were not Biifiklomly thinned in the rows to give the ■plants a chance of proper dcvelopmetir Overcrowding is a mistake; much better results are.obtained by giving a fair amount of spaco combined with proper rotation. We are inclined to think that In several cases it would be advisable to use less artificial and more vegetable manure-green oats, mustard, oats and tares dug in add humus to the soil, and in soils containing sufficient humus artificial manures are more effective." The judges also made one or two suggestions for the consideration of the Society in-the conduct of future competitions