The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-08-24
The Garden At Downup.

The gardening year at Downup be-
gins in the fall with a crop of tur-
nips well under way and nearing ma
turity on Oct. l. Then along during this
month and up to the middle of Mo-
vember a lot of work is done towards
making the spring garden a greater
success. During October the first
planting of onions is made with seeds
OF sets or both. Very few sets are used,
however. They are not reliable for
marketable onions, as so many of them
shoot to seed before building. They
do very we'll sometimes to produce
early bunch" onions. The Der
muda" and the Italians" are almost
exclusively used sowing the seeds as
early in October as possible. Thin
nings from this planting are set out
in early February following. These are
the onions that bulb down without
shooting to seed and make fine mar
ketable bulbs worth anywhere from
70 cents to 81 per bushel.
At the same time the first sowing of
spinach is made. This superior salad
plant is neglected in the South, owing
to the tediousness of marketing it.
As a boiled dish it is far superior TO
the other crops usually grown for the
purpose. Two or three kinds of spin
ach are sown, Aragon, New Zealand
and Virofiay. The Zealand is some-
thing new and we like it very much.
1t spreads over considerable ground
before it goes to seed and it bears
long into the summer. October Is the
month for renewing and charging the
stra wberry plats Strawberries are
grown at "Downup" mostly on the
narrow bed plan-beds 40 to As inches
wide. with an is or 24-inch trench
walk between. This walk is dug out
TO depth of foot or more and light
ly filled in with straw and leaves
Where water is handy these trenches
are kept almost steadily filled with it
during the bearing season. This as
sures a fine lot Of berries, even If the
weather is dry at that time. Three
rows of plants are set on each bed,
and Il to Is inches apart in the row.
After the first plants bear one full
crop a new plant is trained between
the old ones. This is done in October.
All the other runners are cut out sold
or transferred elsewhere. This process
is continued for several years when
the beds are turned over COMPLETELY
and started again.
In my last stroll in "Downup" the
sweet potatoes we're being dug (Oct
2O). This crop. one-tenth of an acre
kolioWed irish potatoes that We're
planted in February, and harvested in
May. The yield of Irish potatoes was
twenty-five bushels. The same plat
measured out thirty-six bushels OF
sweets" These are not large Yields
compared to some now and then. but
considering the rapid rotations they
may well be considered satisfactory
The sweet potatoes vacated the soil ir
time to allow onions to go in, though
little late. Either spinach or rape
or a fallow crop of clover or vetcl
could follow the potatoes if It wa.
time for humus crop to be given tn,
soil
In this garden all vegetable mat
ter incidental to certain crops is care
fully saved for distribution in fur
rows during the winter. Tomato anc
egg plant stalks. those of okra anC
artichoke and vines of butter beans
everything that will make humus /,
saved to the soil. The sweet pota I,
vines are first cut off and strung alont
upon the fences for the mich COW
TO renew her sweetest cud What can
not be eaten by stock is fed to IN,
soil, the soil must be fed as well a,
the man and the beast