The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-04-09

The importance of keeping the gar den working during the entire grow ing season is now becoming better understood, with the result that a fair proportion of our amateur gardeners now plan their ground with this end in view. It does seem absurd to pre- pare land by heavy manuring and careful digging, and yet only work it for two months or so. This of course refers to a short season crop such as lettuce, early beans, peas and such
 like, which will have finished their season of usefulness by mid-July, and from this time on throughout sum- mer and fall in many, many gardens, the ground occupied by these early vegetables remain idle. In addition to the untidy appearance of the gar den created by allowing the old vines or plants to remain, it is a most wasteful procedure to allow a single foot of ground to stand unoccupied, as by making successive sowings we may keep the ground working for us right up to frost.
 Ima zine being without snap beans after mid-July, when we may enjoy | them until the vines are killed by frost. To accomplish this we must make successional' sowings at inter vals of three weeks until late July and in some sections up to mid-August. There may be a little danger attend ing the latest sowing, but such a risk is well worth taking and it is a sim pie matter to protect crops suscepti- ble to frost by covering them for a few nights with old sacking or even paper, as it does not require very heavy coverings to throw off a little frost, and if we can bring the plants safely through the earliest visitation of Jack Frost, the plants may be i'm mune for several weeks thereafter.
 If we except the grower for market, bush lima beans are not as a rule sown more than once, but in this vi cinity we can SOW them up to late June or even early July and depend on receiving a nice late crop.
 We cannot refer too often to the advisabiltty of having young beets for table use during the entire season. There is no comparison in flavor and tenderness between these half grown roots and the fully matured article
 To enjoy them always at their best successional sowings must be made every two weeks or so up to late July. This also applies to the small early carrots, such as Amsterdam Forcing and Golden Ball.
 Cabbage for fall and winter use should be sOwn towards the end of May or first week in June From this sowing good plants should be ready for planting out during July, to follow some early crop. Planting at this time try to have them set out follow ing or just preceding a good shower, otherwise the plants will require to be watered ct planting and perhaps fol- lowing, according to local conditions.
 Caulifiower may also be sown at the same time, but use early varieties such as Dry Weather and Best Early. When planting out cabbage Or other members of this family during sum- mer, the leaves should always be cut half back, and the plants will recover much quicker from the shock or check received during the operation of transplanting. If you have never grown Chinese cabbage do not omit to give it a trial this season, but do not sow the seed until August, sown
 earlier the plants will bolt to seed without forming heads.
 Celery as a rule follows some early crop such as beans, or peas and the seed for this planting should be sown towards the end of May. The seed bed (if sown in the open) must be made quite fine, though if only a limited
 number of plants are required it may be sown in a wooden flat or pan using | a very light and porous compost. The seed should only have the merest GOV | ering of fine soil, not more than one eighth of an inch, shading it from bright sun so that frequent watering will not be necessary until the seed | germinates.
 When an inch or so high, trans l plant to other flats, cold frame or in l a specially prepared bed in the open, l spacing them fully two inches apart. 1 The soil should be rich, and it is an excellent plan to have a layer of old | routed manure or leaf mould two | inches thick and two inches under the q surface. The seedlings will quickly