DIGGING AND TRENCHING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 May 1938, Page 2

DIGGING AND TRENCHING

IMPORTANT WORK. So soon as the harvesting of crops and the general tidying up is complete a start should be made with the work of digging and trenching. Vacant sites not marked for trenching should be ■dealt with first, turning the ground to the full depth of a digging fork or .spade,' turning in all green weeds, which will help to add humus to the soil, and leaving the surface rough, so that as large a surface as 'possible is exposed to the elements. Crops for Which it is most essential that the ground should be deeply dug and well enriched with manure are onions, runner beans, cauliflowers and peas, and their sites should be marked out and dealt with in the order given. When manuring for these vegetables the manure should be in a mellow state and have been stacked and turned several time before it is wheeled out on to the ground. It should be well mixed with the soil, so far as this is possible, and not laid in the trenches in thick layers. Where manure is scarce, good turfy loam may be added to the soil with great advantage, especially in shallow sandy soils; this, with a good dressing of bonemeal or basic slag would greatly help to increase the fertility of the soil. Other sites that should be either trenched or double dug, but to which no manure should be added, are those for parsnips, carrots, beet, scorzonera and salsify; these should be dealt with in their turn, leaving the surface as rought as possible.