This
is a book dedicated to vegetable gardening in the tropics that
can be found in the public libraries in Singapore. Used to be
available in almost any community library, this is book can now
only be found in the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library. Nevertheless,
I would strongly recommend this book to any beginner who is going
to start a vegetable garden or wants to find out more on how to
grow vegetables under local conditions.
Almost
three decades old, the information found in the 211 pages of this
handbook still remains very much relevant. "Grow your own vegetables"
is written from a Malaysian vegetable farmer's perspective and
the reader will be able to get a glimpse into the traditional
methods of how vegetables are cultivated in the tropical lowlands.
A reader familiar with recently published books that feature pages
containing numerous colourful pictures will be disappointed -
this book is one that reflects the era in which it was published
in - black and white pictures and line drawings.
The book starts
off in its first chapter with a list of common vegetables, accompanied
by their scientific and common names. The common names of just
a small handful of vegetables are either in Malay or derived from
the Cantonese dialect. For example, the vegetables "bayam" and
"keladi" refer to the amaranthus and yam in Malay, respectively.
After reading
the second chapter, the reader will gain some basic understanding
on the soil conditions and fertilizers used in vegetable gardening
in the lowlands. Do not be surprised if you see fertilization
regimes that involve human urine, poultry manure and prawn dust.
These are the organic materials used prevalently in the past.
With a little research, the reader can easily find "cleaner" substitutes
for these materials from the local nursery.
Cultural practices
such as ploughing and bed preparation, liming, transplanting,
fertilizer application, watering, weeding and pest and disease
control, and crop rotation, are highlighted briefly in Chapter
Three. If you are an organic gardener, the section on pest and
disease control methods may not be of interest to you as the information
are all written on synthetic agricultural chemicals. The pre-harvesting
interval and the major pests that the agricultural chemical targets
are provided but the reader is advised to double check with the
label upon purchase of a similar pesticide/fungicide.
Chapters Four
to Nine feature the various types of vegetables categorised into
the following sections: leafy vegetables, bulb crops, fruit vegetables,
beans and peas, tuber and root crops and finally other vegetable
crops. What is very useful here in these chapters are the extensive
cultivation information written for each crop. The author gives
details on the fertilization regime to be followed from seed to
harvest, transplanting and even a watering programme! Instructions
on when and how to harvest can also be found. For some vegetables,
several paragraphs may be found written on seed production too.
The pest and diseases commonly encountered by each crop grown
in the lowlands are also mentioned and frequently accompanied
by clear pictures and suggested remedies.
The last Chapter
is dedicated to growing vegetables in the home garden and in containers.
Do not be given the false hope that this can be realized in the
apartment setting since most of the text pertains to the cultivation
of vegetables in pots that are placed in the outdoors where all
day long sunshine is available. This would be a good reference
to readers with landed property and who do not want to destroy
their lawn or existing landscape to make way for a vegetable garden.
Book Details
Title: Grow
your own vegetables
Author: LEE, Chew Kang
Publisher: Times Books International, 1979, Singapore
Format: Paperback, 211 pages
Dimensions: 180 mm by 115 mm
Availability: Out of print, available only in Lee Kong Chian Reference
Library, Singapore
Call Number: English 635 LEE
