Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1917-04-06
Weekly Suggestions For
Vegetable Growers

SOIL Is III COuuttlon W oC piCpaieu iOf
planting, certain of our vegetable seeds
should be planted. Some crops, such
as peas, spinach lettuce. onions, etc,
are cool season crops aid do their best
when they have an early start. In fact,
many people say their peas did not
yield well last year, or their lettuce
went to seed, or their onions did rot
grow to good size. and this may have
been just because they did not plant
them early.
Every trucker or gardener should
plant plenty of garden peas because
this crop requires but little care, and in
June a good money crop may he gath
cred for market or canuery. For the
home garden, peas are most excellent
as they are most luscious and nutritious.
Besides that, peas are a legume and
improve the soil in the same way that
clover, s%oybeans or vetch would i'm
Prove it. When these vines are worked
into the soil about the last of June, they
become a most excellent form of ma
nure for the succeeding crops of late
tomatoes, cabbage, beets, celery or
beans. In the weekly notes of two
weeks ago a plan for inter cropping
peas in the home garden was suggested.
Asparagus should be planted as soon
as convenient to do so. 1t is highly
important to use only the strongest
one-year old roots. By careful expert
ments at the Pennsylvania Elk pertinent
Station it vas found that where they
selected the roots into three grades be-
fore planting, the annual crop harvest
ed from the strongest roots is worth
$125 per acre annually more than where
the crop ia growing from the weaker
roots. For that reason it is true econ
omy to buy twice as many as you will
need and plant only the best ones.
Potatoes are usually planted during
the first part of April in Central Jersey.
Most OF the commercial gro wers prefer
to apply all of the fertilizer $500 lbs.
per acre) in the row with the seed, but
when this is done care should be taken
to mix the fertilizer through the soil 80
the fertilizer will not prevent
the seed pieces from sproutipg In spite
of the fact that potato seed is high
priced we must remember that it pays
to use good sized pieces when planting.
They are usually placed about 14inches
apart In the row and are covered from
Ii to 3 inches deep.
If the stra wberry bed has been heav-
lily mulched during the winter, some
of the material may need to be removed
and placed between the 70 WIS. A heavy
mulch may quickly injure the plants
in early spring. 1t should be thin
enough so that the plants may
work their way through it. When
new commercial beds are to be estab-
lisbed the work is usually done real
early in the spring before the foliage of
the plants develop. In this way a per-
feet stand is secured and the plants suf-
fer no severe setback; however, for the
development of many runners and
plants the blossoms should be picked
off of the original plants. AS a home
garden proposition a new bed is more
frequently started in August or early
September. AT that time the young
plants which have developed in the
old beds are used. These are set in
double row eight inches apart with
the plants eight inches apart in the
rows. However, the space between
the double rows is about two feet wide
The plants develop to enormous size be-
fore fall if the runners are constantly
removed.
Early cabbage plants may be set in
early April, provided they are we'll
hardened off" before they are to be
set. By "hardening off" is meant that
by constant ex posure by removing the
sash and by Withholding water, the
plants are made hard stocky and used
to the cold weather. When they are
first set it may be well to put dirt up
around the stem, as this will protect
the stem from being split by sudden
freezes. The cabbage maggots may be
effectively prevented from getting to
the roots Of the early cabbage, provided
a round piece Of heavy tar paper about
three inches in diameter is slipped
around the plant when it is first set.
These may be purchased for So 90 per
thousand. They may be placed around
the plants quickly because there is a
little hole for the plant in the middle
of the disc and a cut from it to the edee
of the disc. Therefore, they may b.
quickly dropped into place.
Half barrela, butter tubs or boxes
with no bottoms in them placed over
the rhubarb hills at once will force the
development of very long stalks. Try