PLANTS FOR SALADS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 November 1939, Page 3

PLANTS FOR SALADS

SOME USEFUL HINTS. The various plants used in salads should occupy an important place in the vegetable garden, especially during the summer and autumn months, when they are more abundant and more appreciated. It is doubtful if salads form as important a part in our diet as they should, and part of this may be owing to the difficulty in obtaining perfectly fresh materials. In fact, it is hardly possible to get (lettuce for example) as fresh as it should be unless it is grown in one’s own garden. Lettuce is one of the principle salad plants, and fortunately with care and forethought it is possible to have supplies available right throughout, the year. It is said to be a native of India and Central Asia, and can be classed as a hardy annual. Fortunately, lettuce is not at all particular as to soil, provided it is deeply cultivated, well manured, and well drained. To get crisp, succulent leaves the quicker it is grown the better, consequently the soil can hardly be too rich, and if supplies of farmyard manure are not available, blood and bone manure should be given liberally when sowing seed or transplanting the plants, and a little sulphate of amonia or nitrate of soda given as a liquid manure (loz dissolved in a gallon of water) once or twice during growth will stimulate it. As lettuce is a crop which matures quickly it is often grown as a catch crop, between rows of greens, alongside rows of peas or beans or on the top of the celery ridges. To get crops early in summer seeds are sown in boxes in August like the half-hardy annuals, the seedlings being pricked out in other boxes of rich soil as soon as they are large enough to handle, and after being hardened off the plants are put out on a warm, sheltered border in October.

The next sowing can be made in the o]sen in October and alongside a row of peas or beans is a suitable place. The soil should be fine and the seed sown thinly in drills about an inch in depth, and covered lightly. When the seedlings are large enough to handle easily, they are thinned out to from six to nine inches apart, and it is a good idea to transplant a row of thinnings for they will take longer to mature than those which have not been disturbed and thereby help to maintain a succession. During the summer sowings can be made at intervals of three or four weeks, and about the end of March or in April a sowing can be made to stand through the winter and develop their heads in the spring. They can also be transplanted into cold frames if they are available, or they can be planted out in tomato houses, if they are not required for any other plant. There are two distinct types of lettuce, one which forms a close and firm head called the cabbage type, and one with long and smooth leaves with a prominent midrib called Cos. As the Cos kinds are seldom seen in the greengrocers’ shops I conclude that the cabbage types are the most popular, though the Cos is extensively grown for the market in other countries. For a private garden I prefer the cabbage types such as New York, which is certainly the best kind tor Masterton gardens generally. New York is an all the year round lettuce which forms a more compact head and does not run to seed readily. Seed is sown in shallow drills 12 to 15 inches apart, and when the plants are large enough to handle they are thinned out to from 12 to 15 inches apart. Good endive has to be blanched both for appearance sake, and to reduce its bitterness; and this can be done by tying up the leaves with soft twine, or they can be covered with inverted flower pots, the hole in the bot- i tim being plugged up, or slates can be laid on top of them. As a s>’le it takes three or four weeks propr ly to blanch endive. Winter Curled Moss Curled, or Batavian are suitable varieties.

Mustard and cress are two important ingredients of a salad, and as they are both easily grown there is no difficulty in maintaining supplies. During winter and spring sowings can be made in boxes at intervals of a fortnight, and in summer small patches can be sown from time to time on a spare border or in any odd corner. When sowing in boxes, place a sheet of thin scrim over the soil, sow the seed on this, and cover with a sheet of paper until germination takes place. In the open the soil should be made fine, the seed sown and just pressed into it, but not covered. Put a sack or mat over the patch until germination takes place, which will be in three or four days. Water cress is a popular salad, and is better grown beside a running stream or in a shallow pond.