Page:How and what to grow in a kitchen garden of one acre (IA howwhattogrowin00darl).pdf/184

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
178
A KITCHEN GARDEN

PARSNIPS AND SALSIFY.

Alongside of the permanent bed, plant parsnips and salsify. Parsnip seed germinates slowly and quickly deteriorates by age, therefore early sowing and seed of unquestionable freshness are of primary importance. The subsoil should by all means be thoroughly loosened by the subsoil plow, unless it is naturally of a loose, friable texture. When it is borne in mind that parsnip roots grow wholly under ground, and when well grown measure over eighteen inches in length, the necessity for this will be seen at once. Sow in drills and thin to fiveinches apart. Parsnips may safely be loft in the ground all winter, as frost greatly improves them in saccharine quality.

Salsify or oyster plant, as the name implies, possesses the flavor of the oyster to a marked degree, and is highly esteemed by many on this account. It should have the same treatment in every respect as directed for the parsnip, and like it, too, is improved by frost. In the ground adjoining the parsnips and salsify, plant such vegetables as lettuce, spinach, radish, peas, bush beans, onions, kohlrabi, early cabbage, cauliflower, early potatoes and sweet corn. These mature nearly in the order named, and in time enough to be succeeded by other vegetables which will be mentioned hereafter.

LETTUCE, SPINACH AND RADISH.

Seed of lettuce, spinach and radish should be sown broadcast and as early as possible, with later sowings at intervals of about two weeks for a succes-