Pumpkins will succeed under practically the same conditions as outlined for cucumber and melon. They are also subject to the same insect pests. This crop is frequently grown in the corn-patch, in hills about eight feet apart each way, planting five or six seeds to a hill.
Radishes are only palatable when they have been grown very quickly. If they are slow in coming to maturity the product is pithy and worthless.
A light, rich soil is most suited to the production of radishes. The seeds should be sown in rows nine inches or a foot apart and the seedlings thinned to about two inches. It does not pay to transplant radishes. Five or six feet of row is sufficient to plant at one time, securing a succession by planting other batches at intervals of about ten days. Radishes are usually not in great demand during the summer months, as the home grower has been surfeited by his spring crop. Those who are so fond of radishes that they want them throughout the whole season should plant White Strasburg or Icicle to mature during the hot weather, and Cardinal Globe, Round Red Forcing, or French Breakfast for an early crop.
Winter radishes, which form very large roots and may be stored by the same methods adopted for beets and carrots, are usually sown about the end of July or beginning of August. They need more space in which to mature—about eighteen inches between the rows and six inches in the rows.
Rutabaga.—See Turnip.
Salsify or Vegetable Oyster is a vegetable that is coming into more general use. Seeds are sown early in the spring on deeply broken ground in rows fifteen inches apart, and the plants thinned to three inches. The roots are dug in the fall and stored like beets, or they may be left in the ground and dug when required for use, if the weather permits.
Spinach is a cool-weather crop that requires a light soil heavily manured with decayed stable manure for best results. The seeds should be planted in very early spring or in September, in rows fifteen inches apart, and the plants thinned to stand four inches apart. Nitrate of soda as recommended for kohlrabi is good for this crop.
Spinach (New Zealand).—Although called spinach, this is an entirely different plant and belongs to another family. It luxuriates during hot weather and will supply the table plentifully with “greens” throughout the summer. Seeds should be planted during April or May in rows two feet apart, the plants later being thinned to one foot. When the plants attain a foot in height picking may begin, using the tender shoot-tips, or leaves, as required. The thinnings, of course, are also available for cooking.
Squash.—Cultivate the same as cucumber. The bush varieties should be planted four feet apart each way, and the vining kinds from six to eight feet.
There are several different types of squash. The summer kinds are represented by the Pattypan and Crookneck types, and the winter varieties by the Hubbard.