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
