Garden Notes - Egg Plant, Musk Melon and Okra

Egg Plant

Egg-plant: The egg-plant is always started under glass, for the Northern States, and should be twice transplanted, the second time into pots, to be of the best size when put out. This should not be until after tomatoes are set, as it is perhaps the tenderest of all garden vegetables as regards heat. The soil should be very rich and as moist as can be selected. If dry, irrigating will be necessary. This should not be delayed until the growth becomes stunted, as sudden growth then induced is likely to cause the fruit to crack. Watch for potato-bugs on your egg-plants. They seem to draw these troublesome beetles as a magnet does iron filings, and I have seen plants practically ruined by them in one day. As they seem to know there will not be time to eat the whole fruit they take pains to eat into the stems. The only sure remedy is to knock them off with a piece of shingle into a pan of water and kerosene. As the season of growth is very limited, it is advisable, besides having the plants as well developed as possible when set out, to give a quick start with cotton-seed meal or nitrate, and liquid manure later is useful, as they are gross feeders. The fruits are ready to eat from the size of a turkey egg to complete development.

Musk Melon

Melon, musk: The culture of this delicious vegetable is almost identical with that of the cucumber. If anything it is more particular about having light soil. If put in soil at all heavy, at the time of preparing the hill, add sand and leaf-mould to the compost, the hills made at least three feet square, and slightly raised. This method is also of use in planting the other vine crops. You should not plant musk melon on the same ground where it was planted the previous year.

Okra

Okra: Although the okra makes a very strong plant--and incidentally is one of the most ornamental of all garden vegetables--the seed is quickly rotted by wet or cold. Sow not earlier than May 25th, in warm soil, planting thinly in drills, about one and a half inches deep, and thinning to a foot or so; cultivate as with corn in drills. All pods not used for soup or stems during summer may be dried and used in winter.

Vegetable Gardening

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