Summer vegetables — why not grow your own?

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 3, Issue 22, 22 October 1985, Page 18

Summer vegetables — why not grow your own?

Now that spring sunshine has warmed the ground a little, thoughts are tuming to lovely homegrown vegetables and salads to delight the palate during the summer months. Providing you have not bantams and a peacock running all over the place, as we have, even a small patch of ground, suitably dug over and dressed with lime a few weeks before planting, can give a useful yield. A row of early-maturing cabbages are ideal for crisp summer coleslaw, and a row of the later-maturing varieties can be planted further on for use when some other crops, such as peas and beans, have finished. Cabbages like a welldrained sunny position in ground that has been previously sweetened with a dressing of lime, about 250 grams to the square, metre. This should be done at least three weeks before planting the crop. When preparing. the ground for planting add a layer of well-rotted animal manure about 10cm deep and dig into the soil, or if this is not available a general garden fertiliser about 50gms to the square metre.

CAULIFLOWERS

Cauliflowers require deeplydug, well-drained manured soil. Apply a dressing of fer7 tiliser as for cabbages when preparing the bed. To avoid the risk of the

disease known as clubroot, cauliflowers and cabbages should never follow each other in the same plot of ground, and each successive sowing should be made in fresh ground. I have heard of several methods of combatting this disease, such as incorporating rhubarb leaves in the bed, but if clubroot is a problem it is probably best dealt with by a preparation such as 'Clubsin'. As your cabbages and cauliflowers are harvested follow up with a sowing of carrots, as they do well in a bed previously occupied by leaf crops. Dig the soil over and rake to a fine tilth. Draw a furrow about 2cm deep and sow the seed thinly. Sow early varieties first and follow up with later-maturing varieties. I have heard that including a small amount of radish seed at the time the carrot seecf is planted is advantageous. The radish will mature in a few days and help to break up the crust of the ground for the more delicate carrot seedlings to come through.

CRISP CELERY

What about a small bed of crisp celery? The ground should receive a thorough digging to the full spade depth for this crop. Celery also appreciates a good dressing of lime beforehand. A sunny well-drained position is essential as, although celery requires copious watering in dry

periods, it cannot bear having 'its feet in water'. Plant a little bed of celery plants about 30cm apart, and as they mature one will help to blanch the other. The new green types of celery have made blanching in the old way unnecessary, and the stalks are crisp and sweet.

ONIONS

Onions, ' which can be sown now, do not require an over-rich soil as this will tend to increase the top growth at the expense of the bulb below. Most garden soils are suitable, as long as they are reasonably welldrained. When preparing the soil for planting, add a dressing of three parts bone dust to two parts superphosphate, at the rate of 50gms per square metre.

SALAD LETTUCE

Lettuce is not always the easiest of salad plants to grow to peak condition without a lot of care, but this should not be beyond the scope of any home gardener who is prepared to give his or her plants the attention they need. Choose a sunny well-drained position, and dig the ground over to a full spade-depth. Rake the earth to a fine tilth before planting. A 10cm layer of wellrotted animal manure can be dug into the soil. If sowing directly from seed prepare drills about 30cm apart and 2cm deep. Spread the seed thinly and

cover with about 1cm of fine soil well pressed down with the hand, and water thoroughly.

TRANSPLANTING

Thin out when the young plants are seven to eight cms high, and plant the thinnings elsewhere. Transplanted seedlings should be given a good watering immediately they have been planted, and given a good soaking at least once a week to prevent them becoming tough and bitter. A good foliar fertiliser watered on at least once a week, about 600ml per plant, will help the plants to mature quickly with tender, tasty leaves.

YOUNGSTERS

If your youngsters are keen to have a go at growing some seeds of their own, buy them a packet each of Mustard and Cress seed. These are simply grown in a prepared seed box filled with a friable loam and kept in a shady place. Make shallow drills in the surface of the soil about three or four cms apart, sow the seed into the drills and cover with a centimetre of fine soil. Keep the surface of the soil damp with regular watering and harvest when the plants are about 5cm high and showing two tiny primary leaves. The plants will mature in about four weeks and will make a lovely filling for lunchtime sandwiches. Successive sowings can be made all summer.