The tendency is to empty rather than fill the kitchen garden throughout this month, for the supply of winter greens is steadily reduced, the Celery rows become shorter, and Asparagus, Seakale, and Rhubarb are lifted and carried indoors for forcing. But a building-up process is going on all the same, both in the direction of preparing ground (see first section of the present chapter), and in sowing various things under glass for planting out later on.

Forcing Rhubarb

Rhubarb may be forced just as easily as Asparagus and Seakale, which have already been touched upon in this chapter; but it needs a little more headroom, and consequently an ordinary frame is hardly suitable. A deep frame or pit would do, but Rhubarb can be forced almost anywhere if a temperature of 500 to 6o° can be maintained, and the bed kept moist. As an example, one of the nicest crops that I ever had was grown on a bench in a potting shed through which a hot-water pipe ran. The bench was covered with slates, and the roots were packed in soil upon them. The only real danger in such circumstances is that of the soil getting dry, and this matter needs careful watching. It is a good plan to use tepid water. At the worst, a few roots of Rhubarb can be forced out of doors by putting an old basket or box over the stools, and covering it with manure fresh from the stable. A good way of getting some very fine Rhubarb fairly early (although not so early as under glass or with manure), is to get an empty barrel of a cheap kind, take out the bottom, and stand it over one of the stools when growth begins in spring. The stems grow up strongly in the barrels. This is a favourite plan with cottagers.

Early Summer Cauliflowers

The Cauliflower is the sweetest of all the Greens, and it is also, I think, the most fastidious. Any way, people come to grief with it who might be expected, from their general experience of vegetables, to succeed. The fact is, they treat it in a Cabbagy sort of way because it is a relative of the Cabbage - sow it anyhow and anywhere, let it get scraggy before they plant it out, and so on. The Cauliflower will not stand that sort of thing. It needs more care. If an amateur wants some tender and delicious young Cauliflowers in early summer, he had better take the plant seriously, just as he would Begonias, and sow in boxes of fine, moist soil under glass now. The seed should be sprinkled very thinly in shallow drills drawn two inches apart from front to back. A shallow heated pit, a warm frame, or a shelf in a heated greenhouse will be a suitable place. When the seedlings are growing they will need plenty of air. and the soil must be kept only just moist enough to prevent the plants from flagging. A soppy soil and a close atmosphere will bowl them over like ninepins. Setting out a few inches apart in other boxes when they begin to crowd each other, and planting out-of-doors in rich soil any time that there is fine weather after the middle of April, will do the rest.

The First Crop Of Cucumbers

Neither the reputed indigestibility of the Cucumber, nor the triumphant establishment by food specialists of the fact that its nourishing properties are negligible, prevents people from hankering after a home-grown crop. It is all very well to compare its proportion of proteids with that contained in a basin of gruel, but just give the average human being a choice between the two, and see what happens. I think most people like to talk about proteids, and to keep as far away from them as possible in practice. But if you want to excel in the playing courts proteid food will certainly be superior to Cucumbers. As a student of food reform, I feel impelled to say this; but as a horticultural writer I have to take things as they are, and show how Cucumbers can be grown. First, order a packet of seed, and prepare a sufficient number of small pots by putting a crock in the bottom and half-filling them with loamy soil. Lay a seed in the centre of each pot, and provide a temperature of 6o° to 650 in the form of moist bottom heat, such as that of a damp cocoa-nut fibre bed over hot-water pipes. When the seedlings grow, take them out of the bed and add a little more soil. But keep the plants in a warm, moist house always. Cucumbers love humid heat - in fact, they are a Turkish bath type of plant. They will probably be ready to plant in about three weeks, and may then be set out about two feet apart in small mounds of lumpy soil made up on slates on the stage of the house. The tips should not be pinched out, unless they are to be grown in a frame.

Early Tomatoes

If Tomatoes are only wanted for an outdoor crop, there is no need to begin thinking about sowing yet, because the plants cannot go into the garden with safety before the end of May, but it is different if early fruit under glass is desired. A propos of seed, do not raisers over-clean it? One buys Tomato seed that has been so thoroughly cleansed as to show no trace of the fruit from which it was taken. It looks very nice, and it generally germinates; but an acquaintance who grows Tomatoes on a large scale for the markets assures me that the plants are not so early and strong as those from seed which has not been so rigorously washed out. His plan is to halve the Tomatoes which are to yield the seed, squeeze the pulp into a sieve, and rub as much as possible through, then to dry the seed by rubbing vigorously with a cloth. The seed should be sown very thinly in a pot, pan, or box, using a light soil containing a good deal of leaf mould and sand, and put on a shelf in a warm house, or otherwise near the glass, so that when the seedlings come they may be sturdy.

Early Green Peas

It is not quite orthodox to sow Green Peas in clay soil in January, but I have done it with satisfactory results in an exceptional winter, when the ground crumbled after sunshine. The truth is that the time for the first sowing of Peas is more a question of the weather than anything. Those who have clay soil learn from experience that they have to watch their opportunities, and should one come in January they need not be afraid to embrace it. If there is any refuse soil from pot plants, and old hot-bed manure or wood ashes, about the place, it is a capital plan to mix them, and spread them in the drills before sowing. It is well to moisten the seed with paraffin oil before putting it in the ground, and to cover it with some three inches of soil. Thus treated, it is generally safe from attack by vermin. Chelsea Gem is a useful dwarf variety for this sowing. Some gardeners gain time with early Peas by sowing the seed in long narrow boxes provided with loose bottoms. The idea is to bring the crop on under glass until the plants are a few inches high, then to make wide drills or small trenches in the kitchen garden a little wider and deeper than the boxes, and to allow the plants to fall gently into them when the loose bottoms are removed. This plan gives Peas ready for picking a good many days in advance of outdoor sowings.

Early Potatoes In Pots And Frames

Potatoes can also be advanced, but by a somewhat different method from that adopted for the Peas. It is more suitable to plant them out in a spare frame set on a bed of manure and soil, or to put them in pots and keep them in a greenhouse. The frame saves the labour of potting. A short, close-growing sort is desirable, such as Ringleader, Ash-leaf, or Sharpe's Victor. The sets may be put nine inches apart in rows fifteen inches asunder, and as it will be some weeks before they fill up all the space, there is time to get a few Radishes or Carrots by sowing between the Potatoes directly the latter are planted. Apart from the labour involved, the principal drawback to the pot system is that large pots are wanted. An 8-inch pot is really the smallest size that ought to be used for one Potato, but 10-inch and larger sizes will accommodate three sets. They should be put about half-way down, so that they can be well covered.

Onions

Onion growers find that they get larger bulbs, and have less trouble from enemies of the crop, by raising plants under glass in January than by sowing out of doors in March or April. Ailsa Craig is a good sort for this purpose.