Allotments 4 All

Cucumbers in 1910:

"For early use, the cucumber is usually started in a hotbed or coldframe by sowing the seed on pieces of sod 4 to 6 inches square, turned grass side down. Three or four seeds are placed on or pushed into each piece of sod and covered with 1 to 2 inches of fine soil. The soil should be well watered and the glass or cloth placed over the frame. The roots will run through the sod. When the plants are large enough to set out, a flat trowel or a shingle may be slipped under the sod and the plants moved to the hill without check. In place of sod, old quart berry-boxes are good; after setting in the hill the roots may force their way through the cracks in the baskets. The baskets also decay rapidly. Flower-pots may be used. These plants from the frames may be set out when danger of frost is over, usually by the 10th of May, and should make a very rapid growth, yielding good-sized fruits in two months. The hills should be made rich by forking in a quantity of well-rotted manure, and given a slight elevation above the garden--not high enough to allow the wind to dry the soil, but slightly raised so that water will not stand around the roots.

The main crop is grown from seed planted directly in the open, and the plants are grown under level culture.

One ounce of seed will plant fifty hills of cucumbers. The hills may be 4 to 5 feet apart each way."

From the Manual of Gardening, by L.H. Bailey (1910)

It`s fun to read old books-especially ones going back to the time when the `Big House` had money and staff-loads of stuff was grown-stuff that was considered (brain failure as I stuggle to spell eggsotic)thirty years ago. References to peppers,aubergines and all sorts are there.

I was lucky enough to meet Harry Dodson-him of that series about the Victorian garden-what a kind and informative Gentleman he was.

Old books are wonderful, unfortunately the varieties we have these days are often weaker than the older ones.

Quote from: amphibian on March 03, 2006, 21:20:22
Old books are wonderful

I have borrowed from my mother, an old 2nd world war time gardening book of my grandfathers - I was amazed to find he had starred his favourite varieties and they included varieties I am going to be growing - e.g. Edzell Blue potatoes...

mat