A VEGETABLE GARDEN

Hokitika Guardian, 12 August 1929, Page 7

A VEGETABLE GARDEN

IMPORTANCE OF THE SOIL. WELLINGTON, Aug. 8. An interesting address on the vegetable garden and its numerous products was given to the Workers’ Educational Association at the Trades Hall by Mr M. Davey, of the Horticulture Division of the Department of Agricult-

He said that the first consideration in vegetable-growing must always be the nature and condition of the soil, and if the ground to be utilised did not possess rich, deep, loainy soil with perfect drainage—the ideal conditions —the gardener must, by his own efforts, cultivate and enrich the land by methods which would ultimately bring the land towards conditions essential to the production of good vegetables. “The four primary' elements which enter into the conditions of most soils,’ said Mr Davy, “are clay, sand, lime and humus, and if one or more of these constituents are deficient in major proportions, the aim of the gardener should be to replace or supplement them. Clays, which are colder than light soils, should be opened up by the introduction of said, dressings of lime and humus, thus enabling the ground to readily part with, surplus moisture, and the rays of the sun to penetrate the ground. Organic manure and green crops dug in will greatly improve this class of land. Any form of sand or grit may be used, such as road-sweepings, old mortar or river sand. If soils with. heavy clay subsoils. the latter should not be brought -o the surface, but improved by a vigorous system of drainage. Tile drains are preferable, but open drains provide effectual drainage in cases where expense has to be considered. With loamy soils this is not necessary, nit where the ground is light and . ;andy to an extreme, gardeners should make every effort to add to the humus ontent, and so conserve all .moisture n order to prevent hot conditions and rapid drying-out in midsummer. THE VALUE OF COW MANURE. “Tf cow manure is obtainable it can '>e applied in large quantities to this •lass of soil with advantage, and is superior to any other form of organic manure. It is termed a cool.-.manure, and retains large quantities of moistire when buried in the soil. Occasionally dark and peaty soils present a lifficulty, in which case drainage and mall but frequent top dressings of ime will do much towards dorr.ecting he undesirable conditional The. • addee frequently given to beginners to 'rench their ground from two to three bet is very sound, and helps to lay he for. good crops for many ears, foundation fllwß alloa spruti •ears, providing the ground is of a 'ertile nature and composed of a deep mould, but it is unwise to enploy this method of treatment on' land 'with only a small depth ot mould and an indifferent subsoil.'. Trenchiifg of a gradual nature is best resorted to under such conditions.

“It is essential that ground should be 'eft unoccupied by crops fofi a time with the soil left rough arid lightly-hrown-together condition, to obtain he beneficial effects of wind arid frost, nd as opportunity offers a green crop hould be sown in to prevent the gernv ’ nation of weeds, and for digging in ,ater. When digging is in progress it is important to incorporate any organic or vegetable manures as thoroughly as possible with the soil. ROTATION OF CROPS.

“An important system in the successful cultivation of vegetables which is oo often neglected,” said Mr Davey, ‘is that of rotation of crops. This insures that no crop shall be grown successively in the same ground, as a ;iven species of plant absorbs certain ssential plant foods from the soil, .'hicli cannot therefore produce another •qual crop of the same species unless he plant food used has been made good >itlier by the application of.manure, ■jr more naturally by the action of atmosphere and soil solvents during a eriod of rest and rotation.” The lecturer suggested a simple method of •lassifying crops into a rotation of our, viz., fibrous-rooted, tap-rooted, tuberous-rooted, and legumes, and ointed out that with permanent crops -uch as asparagus, rhubarb, and sea kale, a new site for fresh beds should tlwnys be selected. ( He urged his leavers always to buy the best seed >btainable as the outlay represented • nly a very small fraction of the value or a well-produced crop.