THE GARDEN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 78, 25 June 1943, Page 6

THE GARDEN

Seasonal Notes for Amateurs ROTATIONAL CROPPING OF VEGETABLES Most gardens needed rain but not to the extent that has been experienced in this district. To some extent the impression exists that with the passing of the shortest day, midwinter has been reached or even passed. That, of course, is not the case. What are usually the worst months of winter are yet to come. Although this period is a comparatively slack one for active operations in the garden there are details to be attended to and it must not be forgotten that the frosts that are to be expected will sweeten the soil so that there should be no smooth raking as the ground should be left as open as possible. The time is opportune to see whether drainage of the plots is satisfactory. Good drainage is essential to full success. PRODUCTION TO THE LIMIT No explanation is needed for reprinting the following advice from the writer of home gardening notes in the current “New Zealand Journal of Agriculture,” as it speaks for itself: Once again it is considered advisable to direct the attention of the home gardener to the necessity for vegetable production to the limit of the capacity of the garden, and, indeed, if practicable, to increase the size of the garden area for the purpose of increasing production. Unfortunately, production is not always increased by the cultivation of additional areas of soil, and it is unwise to attempt to cultivate more land than time and labour will permit to be done efficiently. Conditions at present obtaining in the Dominion are not, however, normal, and may presently call for still greater effort on the part of those who are, fortunately, placed in the position of having the opportunity to increase their vegetable production. TO SECURE THE BEST RESULTS In this connection valuable advice is given by D. Tannock, A.H.R.H.S., one of New’ Zealand's foremost experts on. the subject, who writes in the “Otago Daily Times” as follows: — It should be the object of everyone who cultivates a garden not only to produce the largest and best crops of vegetables from the plot, but also to maintain a succession of supplies all the year round. This cannot be done properly without a cropping plan, which would not only provide for a variety of crops, but also for a rotation of crops, which is most important. It should be possible to obtain sufficient vegetables of a varied character from a plot 40 feet by 30 feet to provide for a family of four adults or two adults and three children all the year round. Maincrop potatoes and carrots are excepted, as both can be grown more economically by farmers. This can only be done by following a definite plan which should be prepared now. A system of rotation of crops is most important for the following reasons: (1) Certain crops have diseases and insect pests peculiar to their kind. Brassicas, which include cabbage and turnips, for instance, are often attacked by club root, the spores of which a-e left in the ground, ready to attack a similar crop should it be sown or planted, but by growing crops of another kind they are starved out. (2) Different crops draw on different layers of the soil for their supplies of food. For example, cabbages and lettuce are surface-rooters, whereas carrots, beet, and parsnips are deep rooters, and by varying the crops the available plant food is more fully utilised. (3) Different crops require varying quantities of the same manures, and again by rotation the plant food supplied in general manures is made greater use of. (4) '• oot crops, such as carrots, beet, and parsnips, should not be grown on land which has been recently manured with farmyard manure or compost heap, otherwise they will be forked and less valuable, but they can follow brassicas, peas, potatoes, or celery, the ground for which has been heavily manured. In a large garden the vegetable quarters can be divided into four plots—(a) For the permanent crops such as asparagus, seakale. rhubarb, and herbs; ( b) for early and second early potatoes, carrots, beet, parsnips, and leeks; (c) for cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, savoys, brussels sproute, and turnips; id) for celery, onions, peas, and beans. The following year (d) will occupy (b) and (b) will go to (c), and (c) to (d), and so on in a cycle from year to year! This plan can be varied by planting artichokes for shelter, and growing the tall peas and runner beans at intervals through the other plots. In a small town garden when the most has to be made of the plot available I find it better to obtain a rotation by shifting the rows every year, and a plan would provide for two rows of parsnips, two of leeks, one of swede turnips, one of spinach, one of peas, one of lettuce, three of early potatoes', one of broad beans (sown in the au-' tumn), two of cabbage and two of cauliflower, another row of spinach, peas and lettuce, one of beet, two of carrots, two of onions, and another row of spinach, peas, and lettuce, a celery trench with two rows of plants, and a row of self-blanching celery (for summer use) and a row of broad beans (summer-sown). For the winter and spring, two rows of broccoli, one of Savoys, and one of cabbage will follow the early potatoes, and the first row of peas which will be over and removed in time for planting the winter greens. My own practice is to grow the runner beans up strings against a board fence, to grow the tomatoes against a sunny wall of the house, and also against a fence, and there is always an odd corner for vegetable marrows, and a well-drained sunny border for winter lettuce, au! tumn-sown onions, and spinach. As the runner beans and tomatoes have to be grown in the same place year after year, the soil has to be changed, but this is easily done by digging out a trench two feet deep and 18 inches wide, placing some rough compost heap or farmyard manure in the bottom and filling up with soil ;om another part of the garden, mixing some lime and 03’ster grit, or iime rubble, with it. as it is being put In. The spinach and lettuce on each side of the rows of peas are in the nature of a catch crop, being removed before the peas are ready for picking, and lettuce and radish can be grown on the banks on each side of the celery trenqh until the soil is needed for filling it in. Instead of drawing a plan of the plot, and hanging it up in the tool shed for reference, I label each row as it is sown or planted with strong labels, and these are left until the next season, and shifted to the new positions. With the plan prepared, it is possible to order the necessary seeds at once, and when doing so, it is better to obtain the best varieties, as they take up no more room than cheap ones, and the result is much more satisfactory. This plan can be varied to suit the extent of the garden and the taste of the owner, but it provides for the most necessary vegetables and also for 9 succession of supplies.