DIG VACANT GROUND IN AUTUMN

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 608, 9 March 1929, Page 28

DIG VACANT GROUND IN AUTUMN

By digging early and leaving the soil in a rough condition, the wind, rain and frost of winter will have a purifying effect and in spring a fine seed-bed may be secured with much less labour than when digging is deferred until later. Air passes readily through the loosened soil to the benefit of the living organisms in it. Birds, also, find and devour numerous grubs that otherwise would be inaccessible.

To be of greatest benefit, digging must be thorough and deep; that is, the sub-soil should be broken up, but left in position. A trench twice the ■width of the spade will enable the work to be done advantageously. Simple digging is turning the soil a spade’s depth only, but here also an open, if slightly narrower, trench should be kept between the operator and the upturned soil. Manure or refuse placed in the trench will be at the right depth to support the crops when they need it. Weeds must be disposed of similarly, unless they are about to shed seeds, when they should be burnt; also those of a perennial nature. With such as Couch every scrap should be carefully searched for and destroyed. For digging tenacious clay soil, a fork is generally most serviceable. When the plot has been dug, the soil taken from the first trench is used for filling in the last one, near which it should have been deposited.