CROP ROTATION

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 625, 30 March 1929, Page 24

CROP ROTATION

SCIENCE AND RULE OF THUMB Rotation! Yes, rotation! The fol- i lowing of one vegetable crop with | another crop that will benefit by some- J thing which the preceding crop left i in the soil, or took out of the soil. Science very often puzzles the i amateur. All most men want to know is how to get the best results out of their hobby job. Rule of thumb methods are often of more value than scientific findings that take a lot of explaining. Now and again a straight-out scientific notion or two can be put to good use. More often the scientific fact is hard to ; understand, and harder still to ap- j ply. Rotation, then, has to do with j cropping the land with vegetables or j flowering plants of different orders, and of different systems, so that we J might get better results for our lab- ] ours, and hold the land in better con- j dition. Beans are not supposed to follow peas, and cauliflowers should not, according to the system, be planted in j the same ground that cabbages were ! just taken out of. Legumes after legumes, the scien- j tists say, is wrong; brassica after! brassica is bad gardening. But dahlias are grown after dahlias, and roses are grown in the land in which roses have been growing for years, and tomatoes go into the same place year in and year out in lots of market gardens. But for the present, let us put forward the fairly safe recommendatic|is which are made by competent kitchen gardeners. After beans, use cabbage, cauliflowers, leeks or turnips. After beet, peas, beans, cauliflowers or cabbage. After cabbages, celery, potatoes, onions, marrows, melons, carrots, beets and cucumbers. After carrots, grow cabbage, onions, peas and beans. After onions, cabbage, cauliflowers, peas, beans, potatoes. After potatoes, carrots, parsnips, cabbage, cauliflower, celery. After potatoes, beans, cauliflower, cabbage, cauliflower. After cucumbers, lettuCe, peas, cabbage, cauliflower. The above is a rough and ready table that will do to work to. It is near enough for an amateur. Don’t be too scientific. Lots of people grow sweet peas In the same backyard year after year; others raise Iceland poppies on the same holding. Most men break the hard and fast garden rules time and again. Indeed, we many a time think that in the breaking of a rule w-e are breaking new ground, and stand a chance of doing something.