Make Your Garden Feed You

SPADE-WORK AND SOWING

IN many districts the local authorities are taking over large tracts of land and converting them into allotments. As a general rule, the area is simply measured off into plots, and those who take them over have to do all the necessary “spade-work”; and spade-work it is, in very truth. Before dealing with the usual routine work connected with vegetable-growing it may be advisable to say something regarding the best way of turning a piece of rough land into an allotment.

Quite apart from the nature and texture of the land itself its condition must be considered. The new allotment site may be either a piece of old grassland or waste ground. These require rather different treatment to bring them into a productive state.

If the area of ground allotted to you consists of turfed land, the first job is to remove the sods. This means a considerable amount of work, but one is repaid handsomely, since the turves as they are removed can be heaped up in a corner of the plot and converted into an excellent manure substitute in about six months’ time. The turves and the soil below are almost certain, however, to be infested with wire-worms and similar pests, so thorough fumigation of the former as they are stacked up and of the latter when it is being dug is essential.1

HOW TO DISCOVER THE QUALITY OF THE SOIL

The next thing to do is to find out the nature of the soil, because the preparation of the allotment depends largely upon this. Two or three holes should be dug in different parts and the sides examined. It is quite easy to see how deep is the layer of top soil (this should be good) and what lies below, whether fairly good soil, gravel or clay.

The holder of a new allotment will find it best to put in a lot of work digging the whole plot at the start, so it is advised that full trenching should be adopted. There are two methods of full trenching2—working the soil to a depth of about 3 ft.—and which one should be followed must be decided when the nature of the soil is known.

If the top soil (this may be of any depth from a few inches to a foot) is vastly better than the subsoil (the second spit or foot) the ground should be trenched so that the top soil is kept on top and the subsoil beneath. If, however, the good soil goes down to a depth of 2 ft., the second method is better, in which case the top soil becomes the subsoil and the subsoil the top soil. Weather action thus benefits the former subsoil.

TO CLEAN THE LAND

As digging proceeds all stones should be collected and all deep-rooting perennial weeds like dandelions and plantains should be removed since, even if only bits of root are left in the ground, they will spring up again. These perennial weeds should be burned out-of-hand and not allowed to rot down.

If the site has previously been waste land the surface is sure to be covered with stones and other forms of rubbish—some of it too finely powdered to allow it to be removed. After gathering up the larger material the area should be full-trenched by the second method, so that the remaining rubbish is buried a foot below the surface.

WHY PATHS ARE NECESSARY

If the allotment measures, say, 90 ft. by 60 ft., it is really necessary to have a number of paths, and the better these are constructed the easier the work of the gardener, since work has often to be done in bad weather. In any case, no matter what the paths consist of, it is advisable to have a definite edging. The vegetable plots are naturally raised a little above the level of the paths owing to the cultivation of the ground so, unless a proper edging is provided, the soil gets on to the paths, making the allotment look untidy and uncared-for.

Various materials can be used for separating the plots from the paths, such as tiles, bricks, concrete slabs or wood. The last mentioned is excellent and is possibly the least expensive. The timber should be 5 in. wide and 1 in. thick, and 400 ft. is required for a plot 90 ft. by 60 ft. It may just happen, however, that in some districts one of the other three materials can be obtained even more cheaply, in which case it should be used.

In addition to the permanent edging there is no reason why a “live ” edging should not be planted. The dwarf plants used for the purpose occupy very little space and yet they make the allotment more attractive and also provide a few cut flowers for home decoration. Among the plants which are recommended for this purpose are: Gold Dust (Alyssum saxatile compactum), Alkanet (Anchusa myosolidiflora), Rock Cress (Arabis albida), Thrift (Armeria marilima), BellHower (Campanula) and Evergreen Candytuft (Iberis sempervirens).

MAKING THE PATHS

Naturally enough the allotment-holder does not wish to spend a penny more than necessary, so it is not advised that the best of all path-making materials—gravel—should be used. On no account, however, should the natural grass be retained on the paths, since it requires a lot of attention, while it is also too good a harbourage for snails and slugs.

The grass should be skimmed off, and if cinders, clinkers, chippings, and ashes (coal ashes damped with tar make a particularly durable path) cannot be obtained, the ground should just be rounded off a little, so that it is slightly higher in the centre, and then rolled. It is worth while for the amateur gardener to make a few inquiries locally, because it is often possible to secure a sufficient quantity of clinkers or similar material for next to nothing, save the cost of carting. A 3-in. layer of any available material is ample.

GOLDEN RULES FOR DIGGING

Most amateur gardeners make digging a very laborious task. It certainly calls for the expenditure of a certain amount of elbow grease, but it is not really hard work—when done in the proper way.

There are three methods of digging—single-spit, double digging and trenching, these working the soil to a depth of 1 ft., 2 ft. and 3 ft. respectively. There are golden rules which can be applied to all.

1. Have a spade of the right weight and keep it sharp and clean.

2. Drive the spade vertically into the ground, using the foot to give added pressure as necessary.

3. Always work with a trench in front, for this not only makes it easier to incorporate manure and decayed vegetable refuse with the soil, since they can be thoroughly mixed in the trench, but also makes the actual digging lighter work.

SINGLE-SPIT DIGGING

In single-spit digging excavate a trench 1 ft. deep (the exact depth should depend upon whether the soil is uniformly good down to this maximum depth) and 1 ft. wide, and remove the soil to the other end of the plot. Six inches away from the edge of the trench insert the spade, lift up a spadeful of mould and throw it into the far side of the trench, breaking up the lumps at the same time. Use the excavated soil for filling the trench which remains when digging is completed

DOUBLE DIGGING OR MOCK-TRENCHING

Double digging is practically the same as single-spit digging but, when the trench is opened, the subsoil or second spit of soil should be thoroughly broken up with the fork, and as each section of under-soil is revealed it, too, should be forked over. In this way the soil is worked to a depth of 2 ft.

Double digging is much better than single-spit digging, since the soil is better æerated, water can pass through more easily, and the roots of the plants can penetrate more deeply in search of food. This method is shown in Fig. 5.

THE TWO METHODS OF FULL TRENCHING

There are two methods of full trenching. The first is usually employed, and always when the top soil is better than the subsoil. To trench the vegetable plot by the first method, proceed as follows:

Dig out a 2-ft. wide trench of top soil, removing the soil to the other end of the plot. Follow by taking out a 1-ft. wide trench of subsoil, as shown at B in Fig. 2, removing to the other end, but keeping it separate. Then fork over the third spit of soil (E). Continue by digging one-half of D and throwing it into the back of B; follow with the other half of D, so that B is filled. Next throw one-half of F on top of B at A, then the other half. The subsoil exposed by the removal of D should then be forked over. At the end of the plot the two heaps of excavated soil are used for filling the trench.

In the second method, after taking out a 2-ft. wide trench of top soil, follow with a 2-ft. wide trench of subsoil and fork up the third spit. Then throw the next 2 ft. of top soil into the bottom of the trench and cover this with the 2 ft. of subsoil, and again fork over the exposed third spit of soil. At the end of the plot put the excavated top soil in the bottom of the trench and cover with the excavated subsoil.

THE ART OF FRUITFUL SOWING

Practically all of the crops grown in the war-time gardener’s allotment or garden plot are raised from seeds sown in the open. Sowing, while a simple enough job in itself, must be done in the right way if bumper crops of first-quality vegetables are to be produced. It will repay careful study to learn the art.

Digging is usually (or should be) carried out in the autumn and winter, and the ground should be left in its rough state until shortly before it is to be sown or planted. As the weather improves, the soil should be worked into more or less the proper condition for sowing. After the frosts and snow have acted upon the clods of earth they can be broken up quite easily with the iron rake. The site, whether seed-bed or one of the main vegetable plots, should be raked twice from end to end and twice from side to side. This produces a reasonably fine tilth, or in other words the top soil is pulverised. Just before sowing the site should be gone over once with the wooden rake, any little stones thus being removed.

TO SOW IN DRILLS

The lazy gardener’s way of sowing is by broadcasting the seed, but it is much better, although involving a little more work, to sow in properly drawn drills. Definite rows look better, the hoe can be worked more easily between the plants, thinning is facilitated and the seedlings can be protected, if necessary, by pushing up the soil on each side of the rows to a height of, say, 3 in.

Drill sowing should be adopted, but the drills must be drawn properly. This is the way to cut them. Stretch the garden line along the row in which the seeds are to be sown. Walking backwards, with one foot on the line to prevent it moving, make a V-shaped channel the necessary depth with the corner of the rake, a corner of the draw-hoe, or the homemade two-teethed rake to make two drills at once. Great care is necessary to cut the drills exactly the same depth throughout, otherwise an uneven row of seedlings will result.

THE PROFESSIONAL SOWS THIS WAY

You will buy your small seeds in little packets or envelopes. Taking the line of least resistance, you will probably feel tempted to tear off a corner of the packet and try to trickle the seeds out in a continuous even line along the bottom of the drill. It sounds easy, but in fact your trickle will be anything but even and continuous, for the seeds will come out in little bunches. And what a lot of extra thinning you will have to do later on !

The professional goes to work in quite a different way. If the ground is dry he pours water along each drill a few hours beforehand. Then when everything is set he takes a little of the seed into the palm of his hand, stoops down and, with knuckles facing downwards and the point of the thumb directed towards the centre of the drill, proceeds to roll out a seed at a time at any distance he desires. He saves seeds and reduces thinning to the absolute minimum.

HOW TO SOW SEEDS IN BOXES

If seedlings are to be raised under glass the seed should be sown in boxes, pans, or flower-pots. The drainage holes should be covered first with a few bits of broken pot and then with a little coarse soil. The boxes or pots should then be filled with the compost or soil advised for the crop in question. The surface of the soil should be watered lightly a couple of hours beforehand, the seed sprinkled thinly on the surface and covered with a thin layer of soil.

The soil should be kept uniformly moist and the boxes kept close to the glass. The seedlings must be hardened off by keeping them under more and more natural conditions before being planted out in the open.

PLANTING, HOEING, WATERING

Cabbages and other members of the same family are sown in the seed-bed and transferred to their permanent quarters when the site apportioned to them becomes vacant and the weather conditions permit. Seedlings raised under glass must also be planted out in the open.

Planting is a very simple operation. The drills in which the seed has been sown, or the soil in the seed-boxes, should be well watered the day before so that the young plants can be lifted without damaging their roots. Holes should be opened with the trowel and, if the soil is dry, each one filled with water a few hours before a plant is inserted in each. After planting, the soil should be made firm round the stems, and the row watered. By the way, to lift seedlings out of boxes it is better to break off one side. This can be nailed on again afterwards, so the box is not ruined.

THE NEED FOR FREQUENT HOEING

Whenever the war-time gardener has a little time to spare he should wield the hoe. Hoeing is a very important cultivation operation and the more often it is conducted the better. Hoeing reduces the surface soil to a fine tilth—that is the whole object. Unless the surface soil is worked frequently, minute channels form from the under-soil to the surface and this allows the moisture in the soil to evaporate. Hoeing closes these minute tubes and so conserves moisture.

Hoeing is light work and it saves having to engage in more strenuous labour. Without hoeing the watering-can or the hose-pipe must be used much more often, and this usually means carrying the water a considerable distance on the allotment, since main water is not usually laid on.

A further advantage of applying the hoe is that it kills off small annual weeds, that is, weeds which seed themselves and so come up year after year. Weeds require food as well as the crops you grow, so eradicating them means a greater store of plant food which can be converted into an edible crop. And as you will gather later, the supplying of plant food, or manuring, is no easy task nowadays.

WHEN TO WATER AND HOW TO DO IT

However assiduously the gardener hoes his vegetable plots, a certain amount of watering is essential in dry weather. It should be remembered, however, that, while the soil may appear to be bone dry on the surface, it may be fairly moist a couple of inches or so below. Turn up a little soil or push in a finger to determine whether additional water is required.

The only thing that need be said regarding the application of water is that sprinkling the ground is worse than useless; give it a good soaking, for this alone benefits the crops. A sprinkling tends to cause the roots of the plants to come upwards so that they can make use of the moisture and, being close to the surface, they may easily be burned when the sun is shining brightly. Water occasionally and water liberally is the best advice that can be given.

THE A. B. C. OF MANURING

Manuring, or the provision of plant food, is an absolute necessity in gardening. Without it good results over a period of years are impossible. Farmyard manure, or an efficient substitute, must be incorporated with the soil. These natural substances not only feed the plants but, as they decay, they increase the store of humus (decayed organic material) and humus is the very essence of fertility. It binds the soil together, but at the same time it leaves it porous so that air is freely admitted and water can percolate through it; it warms the soil and it helps it to retain moisture. Farmyard manure (stable, cow, and pig) also contains millions and billions of bacteria, and these play a highly important part by their action of liberating plant food.

When natural manures are available they should be applied at the rate of one barrowload to every ten square yards. Stable manure is better for heavy land, and cow and pig manures for light.

While it is true that horses are being used more at the present time, owing to petrol rationing, the majority of gardeners will find it extremely difficult to obtain supplies of horse manure. The ordinary gardener is faced with a difficulty in this connection, because it means running the place with very little or no natural manure. Humus must, however, be provided, or sooner or later the soil will show definite signs of weakness and the crops will consequently suffer.

TO USE MANURE FROM POULTRY AND RABBITS

Natural manures may not be obtainable, but all vegetable matter is capable of supplying humus, so the war-time gardener must take stock of what is available in his own district. But before dealing with the numerous substitutes which can be used successfully something may be said about the two manures which are produced by poultry and rabbits.

Poultry manure is first-class. When fowls are kept on the intensive system in a scratching-shed the droppings are available in two forms. There are the neat droppings (or mixed with a little dry earth or sand) from the droppings-board placed beneath the perches; there is also the manure-impregnated litter from the poultry-house floor. The latter is invaluable for digging into the soil in the autumn or winter when the vegetable plots are being treated to their annual digging, a useful dressing being 1 cwt. to one-sixth of an acre. The straw or dried leaves used as litter supply humus; the droppings supply other plant foods, nitrogen, potash and phosphorus. But since poultry manure is rather deficient in the last-mentioned, it is advisable to add a fifth part by weight of mineral superphosphates to the litter manure.

The neat droppings are best used for top-dressing; that is, applying to the crops as they are actually growing, in the same way as chemical fertilisers are employed. A satisfactory dressing is 1/2 oz. per yard of row.

Rabbit manure is not very rich in plant food, but it is very durable and so supplies nourishment for many months on end. It should be dug into the soil in the autumn or winter at the rate of 28 lb. per rod. It will be necessary to collect this manure for a whole year as it is only applied at digging time in the autumn or winter. To store it, cover with vegetable refuse or mix with the compost heap.

TO OBTAIN AND STORE LEAF-MOULD AND COMPOST

Every opportunity should be taken in the late summer and autumn of collecting fallen leaves. These, when properly rotted down, become what is known as leaf-mould, which is first-class for many different purposes. The leaves as they are collected should be heaped up on a site reserved for them and covered with wire-netting to prevent them being blown all over the place. They should be allowed to remain for ten to twelve months. There is just one point in connection with the making of leaf-mould. Oak and beech leaves should not be added to the heap. They should be reserved for making the hot-bed in the sunk pit, if one is made, or failing this they should not be gathered.

Right throughout the year there is a supply of waste or refuse vegetable stuff; material which is not good enough for the house and not even suitable for the fowls and rabbits. Although unfit for consumption it should certainly not be thrown away, since most of it can be converted into valuable plant food and humus provider with little trouble.