Forcing Vegetables

Forcing Vegetables

R.Edwards, Cambridge

There is a great deal that we can learn from Victorian gardeners. The Head Gardener at the "big house" was an excellent grower - admittedly with more help and more space than most of us would have even in our dreams. He (I am sure it would always have been "he" in those days) also had ample supplies of farmyard manure. But he had few chemicals to combat pests or diseases, a situation to which we amateurs seem to be fast returning. (And many chemicals that were used in the 19 th century, arsenical soap for example, would give today's Environmental Health Officers kittens!)

He might not have been able to produce the superb specimens seen at the N.V.S. Championships. His forte was in being able to produce fresh crops all year round. If the Head Cook wanted strawberries or green peas for Christmas she got them - and they were not flown in from California or Zimbabwe.

Forcing fruit, vegetables and herbs for winter use was an important operation in any large Victorian garden. Here are a few of the methods used, taken from a book published in 1875.

Aparagus

This was regarded as an easy crop to force. It was one of very few that was often forced in situ out of doors. Although slightly different techniques were used in different places they were all comparable.

Trenches were dug on each side of an established bed 4 feet (1 m 200mm) wide. The trenches were dug 2-3 feet (600-900mm) deep and 2 feet wide around beds containing 4 year old plants. Before digging the trenches frames were placed over the plants and some soil from the excavation was placed in the frames. The trenches and frames were filled with hot (unrotted) manure. Lights were put on the frames and left in position - no ventilation. Mats were used for extra insulation to achieve a temperature of 60-75T. The manure was removed once the shoots reached the surface. In Copenhagen this basic technique was used to produce fresh asparagus, out of doors, on 28 th January - the King's birthday. The process was started only four or five weeks earlier. At Windsor heat was provided by hot water pipes rather than manu re.

Alternatively three year old crowns were lifted for forcing on a hot bed under glass. The crowns were closely packed and covered with 3 inches (75 mm) of light soil or leaf mould. The preferred temperature was 65°F and should never exceed 70°F.

French beans

These were sown from August until March to provide beans, forced or from the open ground, throughout the year. Early dwarf cultivars were used, 'Early Laon', 'Wilmot's Forcing Cream Speckled', 'Fulmer's Early Dwarf', 'Newington Wonder' and 'Black Belgian' were all listed - although I have not seen any of those in modern catalogues. Seeds were sown in pots at a temperature of at least GOT but up to SOT. The use of pots ensured that the soil, as well as the air, was at a suitable temperature. The plants were kept well watered and the leaves syringed with water to avoid red spider

Carrots

Cultivars such as 'Early Short Horn' were sown under glass on a hot bed at the end of November, again in the middle of January and middle of February. The hot bed comprised 18 inches (450 mm) manure or 3-4 feet (900 mm-1 m 200mm) of leaves. This was covered with 9 inches (225 mm) of light soil. The whole was brought to within 6 inches (150 mm) of the glass.

Endive

Seed of curled leaved cultivars was sown in January and February on a hot bed giving a temperature of between 77 and 86T covered with 6 inches (150 mm) of soil. The beds were covered with frames, which in turn were covered with mats to conserve heat. Once the plants had four leaves they were pricked out, and then, after a fortnight, set out on a moderate hot bed.

Salad onions

Sow the seed thickly in boxes of rich soil every fortnight from October onwards wherever a temperature of 55-65T can be maintained. This temperature was often achieved on a hot bed from which another crop had been harvested.

Radish

Radish seeds were often sown with carrots for pulling before the carrots got large or between rows of endive. A temperature of 55-65T was maintained by means of a hot bed. Sowings of cultivars such as 'Oblong Rose Coloured', 'Olive Shaped Scarlet" or 'Wood's Early Frame' were made fortnightly from November until the end of February. Although I have seen 'Wood's Early Frame' listed in seed catalogues (but some while ago) the other cultivars seem to have disappeared. I intend to try 'Short Top Forcing' (formerly known as 'Saxa') which should be a good substitute.

Sorrel

The cultivar recommended for forcing was 'Belleville'. Roots were lifted (the plant is a perennial) in November and planted in pots or boxes of good soil. These were kept over a hot bed producing a temperature of 50T. The young leaves were used in soups and salads.

These are a selection of the vegetables that were regularly forced in frames or glasshouses. Including some that we would seldom consider forcing today.

Hot beds were an extremely important, but labour intensive, source of heat in Victorian times when farmyard manure as well as labour was more freely available than now. Soil warming cables would be a boon to anyone thinking of working along these lines today.

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