The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1920-05-21
Vegetables for
Home Gardens

VI Vegetables lOI use dS SdlduS OF
cooked greens that may be grown
easily by the home gardener. Corn
salad, garden cress and endive are
the best known of these adj
salad plants.
Corn salad also is known as lambs
lettuce or fictitious. Sow the seed at
this time, in drills about IS inches
apart, and cultivate the same as for
lettuce. The leaves are used in their
natural green state, or hey may be
blanched by covering the plants with
that will exclude the light.
Corn salad is used as a salad in
place of lettuce, or mixed with let
tuce or water cress. Because the
favor of corn salad is quite mild, it is
thought to be improved by serving it
with some other green OF pronounced
flavor.
There are two forms of cress-water
cress, which is grown in small
streams, preferably springfield brooks
or bitches, and upland cress, some
times called peppergress which is
grown seed down in drills. When
used in salads cress impa1ts an agree.
able pungent flavor.
Endve Takes Place of Lettuce
Endive, a relative of chicory, is
not so widely grown as It should be,
inasmuch as it can be made to take
the place of lettuce and similar crops
when those latter salad greens are
out of season. Sow the seed rather
thinly in drills about 10 inches apart,
and when the plants are well estab-
lished thin to s inches.
Endive makes a spreading growth
before it is ready to be blanched,
therefore it requires plenty of room.
Water and cultivate thoroughly to
stimulate leaf development. If the
rows are ridged so that the lower
leaves are kept clear of the soil there
is less likelihood of decay during
periods of wet weather.
The bitter disagreeablc taste some
times present in endive is usually the
result of poor blanching. When the
leaves are about eight inches long
draw and tie them loosely together,
so the heart will blanch. But be care
full to do this work when the leaves
are dry or decay will follow. Invert
pots over the plants or cover them
with paper caps, as is sometimes done
with celery. Ridging the rows with
boards is another method of blanch-
ing.
For winter use lift the plants be
fore frost with a generous ball OF
earth adhering to the roots and trans
plant to a cellar or cold frame where
they are blanched during the winter
the same as outdoor plants.
Chinese Cabbage is Delicious
SlllLCSG u SClClJ 1elGDoSC, cloN
listed by seedmen as Ptc-Tsai, which
is a form of its chinese name, was
first grown in this country by thc
Chinese gardeners in California. Ii
makes a compact head Of erect, stem
less leaves, which if properly blanched
are delicious and tender, being used
as a salad or cooked like cabbage
Sow the seeds half an inch deep in
we'll prepared drills about Is inches
apart, thinning out the seedlings SO
that they stand at least II inches
apart in the drills.
1t is difficult to get Chinese cab
bage to head in the spring because
the plants tend to run to seed. August
is the best time to SOW the seed; the
Iaants make a very rapid growth,
and while they need ,well-drained
soil, they must not be allowed to suf-
fer from lack of moisture.
Collards are extensively grown in
the South for greens because they
withstand heat better than cabbage
or kale. They do not form true
head; the growth is more of loose
rosette of leaves; which when blanch-
ed are very tender and of delicate
favor. The plants often attain a
height of 80 inches. The culture l.
the same as for cabbage.
Chard, or Swiss charc, belongs 10
the beet family, only it is grown for
its foliage rather than tine root. 1t
is planted about the same time and
given the same cultivation as ordinary
beets, except that chard must be al
lowed more space because of its larger
foliage. The leaves are cooked and
served in much the same manner as
spinach. The fat leaf stems are also
used in about the same way as aspara-
gus.
Only a few plants are required for
the home garden, because crop after
crop of the leaves can be remove /
without injuring the plant. This is a
marked advantage over spinach, which
furnishes but one crop.
hale is Improved by Frost
Kale, or borehole, is another plant
of profuse foliage, having the flavor
of cabbage, and used as such. 1t is
sown and cultivated the same as cab
bage. or it may be sown broadcast.