Householders, Grow More Vegetables!

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 62, 30 August 1940, Page 47

Householders, Grow More Vegetables!

(A Department of Agriculture Talk, broadcast by 2YA on Saturday, August 17)

HE home gardener who has an area of land, however small it may be, has a means of producing valuable supplies of vegetables for use in the household. There are areas in practically all home gardens which are not efficiently cultivated or planned, and which could be made to produce much more than they are doing. There is still time before the main planting season to clean up and cultivate those areas in readiness for spring planting; but it must ke emphasised that there is no time to waste. The heavier classes of soil should be cultivated only when they are in suitable condition, that is, when they are not sticky and will break down readily. A fall of rain in these cases may make it inadvisable to attempt cultivation for several days. The lighter types of soil may be worked at almost any time, even a short time after rain. When the cultivation is completed, the question will arise: What are the most suitable crops to plant? Few. gardeners have any difficulty in growing crops of summer vegetables, It would be a mistake, and it is not the object of this appeal, to grow any addition of summer crops, which are generally in plentiful supply. It is during the winter period (April to October) that vegetables in the home garden are generally fm short supply, and this is the period

that should be provided for. It is not too early to start planning for these winter vegetables, Long-standing crops, such as artichokes, swedes, leeks, parsnips, silver beet, kale, broccoli, and winter or savoy cabbages, are recommended. In addition to these crops, which will remain in the ground throughout the winter, there are the crops that should be harvested and stored, such as beetroot, carrots, onions, shallots, potatoes, pumpkins, vegetable marrows and many others. In the warmer districts kumaras make a welcome addition to this list. The crops mentioned in these two lists are not difficult to grow. A person to whom gardening is a new venture may get excellent advice from newspapers and magazines, from the weekly garden talks on the radio, from his neighbours, and from seedsmen and nurserymen. In addition to these sources of information, the Department of Agriculture, with its offices in most of the larger towns throughout the country, can give most useful advice, as it also does through the horticultural notes of its monthly Journal. There is, therefore, no reason why any home gardener should not employ the most efficient methods, and with a little work-pleasant work-obtain good results. This appeal is for a more efficient use of the vegetable area of the home garden. It goes no further than that. No suggestion is made that lawns or flower beds should be taken for vegetable production; nor is it suggested that large vacant areas should be put down in vegetables. It is recommended that an increase should be made in the vegetables grown for the householder’s

use during the winter and spring period; but not so great an increase as cannot be cared for by the family unit in its spare time. It is not expected that there will be a shortage of vegetables in this country, and home gardeners are merely asked to grow a little more so that they may be, to an extent, independent of outside food supplies,