No amount of care in the selection and use of fertilizers and manures will be of much value unless the soil is deeply worked and cleared of all perennial weeds which would compete with the vegetables for their food and moisture.
When first bringing the ground into condition, a start should he made in autumn whilst the soil is still friable and is easily worked. The ground must be cleared, the soil drained and aerated, the lime content increased if need be and be brought into a friable condition by the time the first sowings are made in spring. At this stage, double digging or trenching is essential for only by working the soil two spits (spades) deep will it be possible to incorporate the necessary humus and drainage materials and to remove the deep-rooting weeds. When once the land has been deeply worked, trenching or double digging will not be necessary again though, for a number of crops, trenching will be done each year to achieve best results. In this way, it is possible to concentrate the food requirements of the plants into a limited area so that they are more readily available whilst there will be less wastage.
Ground which has not been worked for some years is usually bastard trenched. This means removing the top 9 inches or so and placing it to one side of the ground which is being prepared whilst the lower spit is treated separately for this will be soil which has nor been subjected to the aerating and sweetening influences of the weather, neither will it contain plant foods in readily assimilated form. During this operation, plant 16ods and drainage materials should be incorporated into the lower spit so that it will be in the best possible condition for the plant roots to penetrate, whilst a well drained soil will never become sour.
Before beginning the operation, several garden lines of strong twine should be available for the work will be easier if the ground is marked out to a plan. Whatever the area to be worked. divide it into two sections.
At (A), the top spit is removed and placed at (C) —see diagram. When the top spit of an area sq yd has been removed, break up the lower spit, incorporating drainage and humus materials also, then cover it with the top soil, taken from the next yard of ground, at the same time removing all perennial weeds. Work across section (I) and replace the top soil at the end, with that from the end of the section (2) marked (B). The top soil at (C) will be used to complete operations. The ground should be limed at this stage, depending upon clay content and pl I value whilst the ground should be treated for wireworm and millepedes by incorporating, as the work proceeds, Gamma-BHC: powder but this should not be used if planting the ground with potatoes within t2 months.
Where there is a good depth of top soil and the ground is in a friable, well drained condition, ordinary double digging may be done. Again, the area should he marked out into sections of square yard and soil two spits deep should be taken from (a) and placed at the side of the plot (E). Soil from the next yard of ground (B) two spits deep is then moved to (A) and so on until soil at (E) is used to complete the operation by replacing that moved from section (1)). Throughout the operation, the soil is treated with wireworm fumigant whilst humus and fertilisers are incorporated as the work proceeds. The ground should be left in a rough condition for the winter • weather to break down to a tine filth.
Where couch grass and other weeds. difficult to eradicate, have taken a hold, it is advisable to plant potatoes (though nor where Gam ma-13I IC has been used) in spring for they are an excellent means of cleaning the ground.
The work entailed in trenching and double digging is arduous hut of vital importance where good vegetable crops are to be grown. Land which has been worked to a considerable depth and contains an abundance of humus will be greatly improved in its structure. It will resemble a sponge, being divided into a multitude of soil particles each surrounded by an air space into which moisture is able to penetrate and which is held in suspension around each particle of soil. The air spaces, though reduced in volume, remain to provide the plant roots with oxygen whilst sufficient mbisture will be available to support healthy plant growth, even in periods of drought. Even so, after a winter of heavy rains, the surface of the soil may have formed a crust whereby the soil particles will have ‘panned’ together. In order to permit air and moisture to enter, the hoe must be used to break up the surface and to suppress annual weeds. Mulching is also important, especially between rows of broad beans and other crops which will occupy the ground during winter. A mulch will not only give some protection to the plants from frost but will suppress weeds and prevent the surface of the soil from ‘panning’. It will also improve soil texture by the activities of worms which will carry the particles of humus down into the ground, whilst a sum mer,mulch will prevent the too rapid evaporation of surface moisture. If straw or farmyard manure is used, additional plant fbod will be made available.
There are those gardeners who make so great a use of mulches that all forms of digging and other cultivations are entirely eliminated. Peat and old mushroom bed compost may be spread over the surface of the soil to a depth of 3-4 inches and this may be augmented by well decayed farmyard manure or used hops. A large worms population and bacterial activity will maintain the soil in good heart and seed is sown and plantings made without the need for any additional soil preparations. This form of cultivation is excellent on light soils, but heavy clay soils still need to be double-trenched every six to eight years.
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