SUMMER VEGETABLES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 January 1940, Page 8

SUMMER VEGETABLES

TONICS AND STIMULANTS. There is a wide difference between, nourishing the. soil in preparation for planting and the provision of tonics and stimulants. These latter serve a very useful purpose when used with discretion, during the development of pulse crops toward the stage of bearing, or root and green crops nearing maturity. The home gardener will make little headway in the production of food crops until he realises the necessity of getting the soil into a fertile condition long before the seeds are sown. The incorporation of natural manures, organic subsitutes, some kinds of slowacting chemicals and, probably, lime, has its part to play in this work, which should be performed in the autumn. In some cases, as for example in the preparation of ground for deep root crops such as carrots, beet and parsnips, a year prior to sowing is the better time for heavy manuring. Other crops are grown on the site in the first season, but deep digging and thorough drainage have as much to do with the success of the efforts at improvement, because, if this is neglected, the benefits of the manorial additions will be reduced.

At the moment, our practical course is to assume that the preparatory work has been well done. What do the giow ing crops require in the way of supplementary aids? Whatever is used during the summer needs to be quickly soluble for slow-acting manures will be of no benefit until too late in the year. That rules out bonedust as a summer dressing, also basic slag and kainit. Where it is practicable to use liquid manure, one may be confident o obtaining benefit. It is not, however, feasible to flood ground which has already been soaked by heavy rains, and it is questionable whether liqui manure can be used advantageously on potatoes, by reason of the vast quantity required to soak the whole of the root run. , It is a different matter with rows of peas, beans, lettuce and onions, 'or these crops there are numerous rea 1 y soluble fertilisers on the market w ic , used in a weak state, can be given in such bulk of water that the soil is we soaked. Onions develop wonder u y 1 fed with blood manures. All leaf vegetables —cabbage, spinach, lettuce an also cauliflowers—find great advantage in liberal supplies of sulphate of ammonia or nitrate of soda. Neither peas no beans should, have much of these particular chemicals, nor should potatoes, as they tend to make an exuberant amount of stem and leaf growth, but these crops will respond to phosphatic manures.