This section is from the "Kitchen Gardening Made Easy" book, by George M. F. Glenny. Also see Amazon: Kitchen Gardening Made Easy.
This may be raised in heat from seeds sown in March, and planted out about the middle of May, three feet apart in every direction; or the seed may be sown in the open ground in April, and as soon as large enough be transplanted on another bed as already recommended. These plants will furnish a supply of leaves from the middle of July to the end of October.
Sow in heat in February and March, and prick out, when large enough, in deep pans of light, rich soil, six inches apart in every direction. After a while a few of the strongest may be potted off separately, and grown on in the greenhouse; the rest should be planted out against a hot wall, three to four feet from each other. Here they must be trained regularly, nipping out the points of the side-shoots from time to time as necessary. The tomato should be supplied with alternate applications of liquid manure and pure soft water. Any full-grown fruit on the vines unripe in the autumn must be gathered and put on a shelf in a sunny greenhouse to be ripened off.
The culture of this is so well understood that it is needless for me to say much respecting it. I am, of course, now dealing with the ordinary turnip for domestic use, and in so doing I would say, in the early part of the season, say from March to May, it should be sown in moderate breadths, and the selection should consist of the earliest varieties of smallish growth. From the middle of June to the end of August the larger sorts should be chosen. Sow broadcast on a good, deep, well-manured soil; thin out as early as possible - weeding them at the same time - to a sufficient distance, which must be determined by the sorts. The small kinds may be nine inches apart, the larger ones from a foot to eighteen inches asunder. In case you find them attacked by the fly, dust the plants immediately with soot or quicklime while the dew is on them ; when, provided the soil be rich, and the weather favourable, they will soon grow out of the reach of the pest, for it is only in their young state they are liable to injury.
A rich soil and a sunny position is essential to the growth of this vegetable; and as they come from a hotter climate than ours, it is necessary to prolong the season for them by raising the plants in heat, that they may acquire sufficient strength previous to planting out, and have the entire summer before them for the production of their fruit. Sow the seeds in pots or pans in March or April, and as soon as large enough pot them off singly; by the end of May they will be ready for planting out where they are to remain. Provided beds are prepared for them in the same manner as advised for ridge cucumbers, but with more room for the vines to ramble, the produce will not only be superior in quality, but larger in quantity also, than in beds of ordinary soil; nevertheless, a mound of any kind - one of mere clay with a slight mixture of leaves, manure, and loam - will suit them, and on such a hillock the seeds may be sown in May, in case you have no convenience for forwarding them early in pots under glass. In dry hot weather it will be necessary to give them abundance of water, and occasionally a good drenching with liquid manure. The vines should never be stopped - on the contrary, they should be permitted to grow in their own way.
As leaving fruit on the vines to ripen acts as a direct check to further production, it will be necessary, where a plentiful supply of tender green marrows are required, to remove each one as soon as it reaches maturity.
Conover's Colossal and Giant or Batter-sea.
Royal Dwarf Cluster, Early Monarch, and Mazagan.
Fulmer's Dwarf, Black Negro, and Canadian Wonder.
Carter's Champion, red; Painted Lady, red and white; and White Dutch, white.
Sutton's Dark Red, Pine Apple Short Top, and Nutting's Selected.
Cottager's Kale, and Improved Variegated.
First division, Walcherin; second division, Snow's Winter White ; third division, Cooling's Matchless; fourth division, Knight's Protecting.
Dancer's Purple Sprouting.
Mein's Victoria and Imported.
Cocoa Nut, Rosette Colewort, Enfield Market, and Large Blood Red, for pickling.
Long Red and Long Yellow.
Early Scarlet Short Horn, James's Scarlet Intermediate, and Improved Long Red Surrey.
Early London White, Veitche's Autumn Giant, and Sutton's First Crop.
Cole's Crystal White, and Williams's Matchless Red.
Long Red and Tomato-shaped Red.
American, or Land, and Extra-fine Curled.
For Frame-work, Tender and True, and All the Year Round; for ridging out, Wood's Improved, and Stockwood.
Imperial White Batavian, and Moss Curled.
Improved Mammoth, and Large Green.
Early White and Early Purple.
Musselburgh and London Flag.
Cos varieties, All Heart and Black-seeded Bath; cabbage varieties, All the Year Round and Tom Thumb.
Sutton's Hero of Bath, Beechwood, and Munro's Little Heath.
White and Brown.
James's Long-keeping, Globe Tripoli, White Spanish and Newnham Park.
Sutton's Imperial Curled and Fern-leaved.
The Student, Hollow Crown, and Jersey Marrow.
First early, Dillistone's Early and Kentish Invicta; second early, Advancer and Sangster's No. 1; for medium or main crop, Best of All, and Laxton's Prolific; for succession, Laxton's Superlative and Veitche's Perfection; and for late crops, British Queen and King of the Marrows.
Kidneys : first early, Ashleaf; second early, Prince of Wales; late, Late Rose. Rounds: first early, Early Oxford; second early, Drummond's Prolific; late, Fortytold.
French Breakfast, oval-shaped; Wood's Early Frame, long; Early White and Scarlet, round or turnip; Black Spanish, for winter use.
Early Ulm, Drumhead, and Dwarf-Green Curled.
Round, for summer; Prickly, for winter; and New Zealand.
General Grant and Greengage.
White Stone, White Dutch, and Orange Jelley (for late use).
Shirley Hibberd's Prolific Early, Improved Custard, and Long White.
 
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