Gardening
e-book:
|
|
Ministry of Agriculture Allotment &
Garden Guide
|
|
|
Click image
for
facsimile of page 4
October 1945
Page:
1 /
2 / 3
/ 4 /
5 /
6 / 7 /
8
|
|
|
About those ARTICHOKES |
|
| |
|
Some readers may
be wondering if Jerusalem artichokes should be lifted like potatoes. That is
not necessary; indeed, they keep better in the ground if, in very severe
weather, a covering of leaves or bracken is heaped over the roots. |
|
The stems should be
cut down now and bruised and put on the compost heap, but the roots may stop
in the ground until after Christmas. Most gardeners lift the tubers in
February and replant some for next year. Those intended for the kitchen are
then stored in damp sand and can be kept fresh for several months.
|
|
| |
|
Picking BRUSSELS…a
tip |
|
| |
|
Early-planted
Brussels sprouts should now be ready for picking. There is a right way and a
wrong way of gathering them. Start at the bottom and clear the stem of
sprouts as they become large enough; don't pick a sprout here and there, but
do it systematically from the bottom of the stem. A
LEEK tip
A little soil should be drawn up to leek plants now to
encourage them to produce sizeable, well-blanched stems.
|
|
Some gardeners are doubtful whether they should remove the growing tuft of
leaves at the top of the plant. That should be left until next spring, for
the leaves are necessary to the health of the plant and also afford
protection from the weather.
 |
|
| |
|
Getting early RHUBARB |
|
| |
|
Forced or early
rhubarb is one of the things we can enjoy in these difficult days when
delicacies are none too plentiful. If you have some good crowns or clumps of
rhubarb, you can, without much trouble, provide the table with early stalks.
When the plants have shed their summer leaves, place some dry leaves or
bracken loosely over the crowns. A box or big pot should be placed over this
material, to keep it dry and stop it blowing about. This encourages the
rhubarb to make early growth. |
|
If you have a dark
shed or a greenhouse, you can lift a few crowns and place them on the shed
floor or under the greenhouse staging. Hang sacking in front of the staging
to make it dark. Crowns intended for such treatment can be lifted a week or
so before they are taken inside. They should be stood on the surface of the
soil and if a slight frost occurs, so much the better, it will make them
break into growth earlier.
 |
|
| |
|
previous |
|
|
next |
|
