Part 42

=Permanent Crops.=--Cover more seakale, and finish putting pots or boxes over the rhubarb. Tidy up the asparagus, and give a top-dressing of five pounds kainit and fifteen pounds of superphosphate to a bed the size of that in the plan.

MARCH

=Plot A.=--Plant or sow the onions in rows a foot apart as early in the month as possible. As the kale and early spring broccoli are used clear them quickly off the ground, and trench a six-foot breadth of ground next the onions, one and a half spits deep only, being most careful not to bring any old manure up to the top spit. At the bottom of the trench put a small dressing of manure and a dusting of kainit, and fork it in before returning the earth. Towards the end of the month sow one row of parsnips next the onions; as parsnips are not in very great demand, this should be sufficient. Before sowing in this, and all, newly trenched ground, tread it well to consolidate it and make it firm, choosing a dry day for the purpose.

=Plot B.=--Two rows of early peas may be sown this month, one row sown as soon as the next earlier peeps through. The rows should be of Little Marvel or some similar dwarf and early kind, placed thirty inches asunder, and spinach should be sown between the rows.

If the broad beans are not in sow them at once.

=Plot C.=--Keep the ground hoed between the spring cabbage, and give them a slight sprinkle of nitrate of soda in showery weather.

Plant seven rows of early potatoes (such as May Queen) about the 20th, the rows should be about thirty inches apart, the potatoes a foot in the row.

=Permanent Crops.=--Earth up the rest of the seakale. Dig a slight dressing of old manure into the artichoke ground and replant.

=Frames.=--Sow tomatoes, leeks, Brussels sprouts, Autumn Giant cauliflower, autumn broccoli, lettuce (both dwarf and main crop), cucumber, vegetable marrow, mustard and cress, and if there is a frame to spare, sow forcing carrot, radish, and a sprinkle of forcing lettuce.

APRIL

=Plot A.=--Sow salsify, one row, and two rows each of beet and carrots; more can be sown of the last two if desired; these should all be a foot apart.

=Plot B.=--Sow one row of kidney beans about the middle of the month, sow dwarf second early peas (such as dwarf Marrow-fat) as soon as the previous sowing shows up, prick out lettuce between the rows, about thirty of a sort at a time.

=Plot C.=--Earth up the potatoes as they require it. Clear up the two middle rows of spring cabbage, and open out a trench in the way of a celery trench, fork in a handsome dressing of old manure and return the earth to within five inches of the level of the ground, in preparation for the Scarlet Runner beans.

=Frames.=--Sow celery early in the month. Sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, and leeks should be pricked out into boxes and gradually hardened off. Plant out lettuce from the frames. Pot up tomatoes. Towards the end of the month plant a couple of cucumber plants out, one under each light of the frame. Repot vegetable marrows.

=Seed Bed.=--Sow winter and spring brassicas about the 7th. Make successions sowings of lettuce and radishes.

MAY

=Plot A.=--Keep weeded; thin the parsnips to six inches, the other roots to single plants.

=Plot B.=--Sow the two last rows of peas (such varieties as “Ne plus ultra” or Continuity) five feet apart, about ten days between the sowings, plant leeks out, between these rows in a shallow trench, with some old manure forked in at the bottom. Plant out more lettuce.

=Plot C.=--Earth up the potatoes early in the month for the last time, and the same day put out one row each of cauliflower and autumn broccoli between the rows, and five rows of Brussels sprouts, the plants should be thirty inches apart.

=Frames.=--Prick out and harden off celery. Repot tomatoes and vegetable marrows. The tomatoes should be now moved to the glass-roofed tool-shed, keep them near the glass, and put the strongest out in large pots or boxes to remain there.

=Seed Bed.=--Prick out the winter and spring brassicas, just a few plants more than will be required. Sow radish and lettuce.

=Permanent Crops.=--Thin out the seakale shoots.

JUNE

=Plot A.=--Finally thin carrots, salsify, and beet. The late Queen broccoli will now be done with, clear it off, and make two celery trenches eighteen inches wide at the top, and four feet apart, plant out double rows of celery in them and set lettuce between.

=Plot B.=--Clear spinach and lettuce away as they are done with.

=Plot C.=--Set stakes to the runner beans.

=Frames.=--Plant vegetable marrows out early in the month. Put the tomatoes out along fences or the edges of sunny paths about the 14th.

=Seed Bed.=--Sow chicory, lettuce, radish, and a pinch of endive.