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Re: collars for brassicas

On Mon, 12 Jan 1998 20:39:08 -0500, you wrote:

>-- [ From: nonayobusiness * EMC.Ver #2.3 ] --
>
>My first gardening experience was as a kid at the nYBG.  For $3.00 you got
>all the seeds and theuse of a plot in back of their main building, and the
>secretaries would teach us how to grow stuff.  They were extremely strict.
>we were not allowed to kneel on the ground while we were doing any work, or
>else they took of points. (There was a contest for who could earn the most
>points over the couurse of the growing season).  Anyway, we would start
>going to the classes way before the growing season started, and we would
>sit in the basement of the administration building and package all of the
>seeds in little glascene envelopes,and label them, and cut a billion
>squares of really horribly thick tar paper, with a slit that went to a
>small circle that we had to cut out at the center. We would go home that
>day with big blisters on our hands from stuggling with little scissors.  
>We had been told that these were supposed to prevent the  brassica plants
>from geting attacked by cutworms when they were transplanted.  Maybe it was
>also to prevent these maggots that you are all talking about?  To this day,
>when planting brassicas, I put a collar around it, but I still have an
>aversion to tarpaper,and prefer to use a big paper cup, or some years,
>aluminum foil.  (Much easier to cut)   Most of what I learned in that
>program I am still using today.  It was a pretty  much organic program, and
>we learned all about compost &  other stuff that was not in style yet.  I
>remember them pouring what I think was rotenone  on the brassicas right
>after they were planted, and I think that the reason for this was  to
>prevent clubroot?  I think rotenone was the stongest spray they used.  We
>used to bring home shoping bags of produce from a 4x8 foot plot tthat you
>had to share with another kid.  I still don't let my knees touch the
>ground.   Maybe it will  keep me from getting arthritis.  My  husband
>laughs when he sees me squatting back on my heels while working, and says I
>look like a third world peasant from the 15th century.  Hey, my knees are
>clean!
>


That sounds like a wonderful program.  I wish someone had taken the
time to teach me that stuff.  I don't think I would have appreciated
it at the time, but; it sure would have saved a lot of years of
learning by error.  

BTW what is nYBG?

Thanks for your post.

Steve Russell
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