Make Your Garden Feed You. E. Brown T.
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It is suggested that espalier fruit trees should be planted at the north end of plots 1 and 2, and that a herb bed, 4 ft. in width, should be sown or planted at the far end of plot 3, while to accommodate a greater number of soft fruit bushes 8 ft. or 10 ft. long pergolas—a string of connected arches—should be erected at each end of the two main paths. The bee-hives can be placed conveniently close to the fruit trees of the centre plot, where the bees will help to fertilize them.
WHY THREE VEGETABLE PLOTS ARE ESSENTIAL
Whatever else you may not do, you should divide the area to be used for growing vegetables into three separate plots. It does not matter whether these are separated by a path, as shown in the diagram, or not, but you should mark their confines in one way or another.
Much of the success that will attend your efforts depends upon planning your crops in three groups. Here are the reasons:
1. No crop should be taken off the same plot two years in succession.
2. Some crops are shallow-rooting and only take plant food from the surface, while others are deep-rooting and obtain their food from the lower soil. By arranging for a deep-rooting crop to follow a shallow-rooting one, and vice versa, you are saved spending a lot of extra money on manure or chemical fertilisers.
3. Some plants require a large quantity of one kind of plant food, but others need little of it. Again, manure is saved by growing one such crop after the other.
The three plots are marked : Plot 1, Green Crops; Plot 2, Peas, etc.; and Plot 3, Root Crops. The second year the crops are shifted round, so that Plot 1 carries the roots, Plot 2 the greens and Plot 3 the peas, etc. The next year they are moved a step again, and so on. Each crop comes back to its original site every third year.
VEGETABLES YOU ARE ADVISED TO GROW
Various points have been taken into consideration in the choice of vegetables to be grown, and the amount of space which is devoted to each—easy cultivation, high food value, health-promoting qualities, and a regular supply of vegetables in season without a surplus of any. In connection with the last point it must be remembered that the requirements of the rabbits and poultry have to be taken into account.
The vegetables to be grown are set out below in the order in which they are placed in their respective plots.1
GREEN VEGETABLES ON THE FIRST PLOT
Reading from the left side of the diagram (Fig. 1), the crops recommended are as follows:
SUMMER CABBAGES.—Two rows, with 18 in. between the plants, giving a total of 56 heads.
SUMMER CAULIFLOWERS.—Two rows, 18 in. between the plants, a total of 56 plants.
EARLY SAVOYS.—One row, 15 in. between the plants, a total of 34.
LATE SAVOYS.—Two rows, 18 in. between the plants, a total of 56.
BRUSSELS SPROUTS.—Three rows, 2 ft. between the plants, a total of 63.
AUTUMN CAULIFLOWERS.—One row, 2 ft. between the plants, a total of 28.
BROCCOLI.—One row, 2 ft. between the plants, a total of 28.
KALE OR BORECOLE.—One row, 2 ft. between the plants, a total of 28.
These crops take a long time to grow to maturity. To conserve valuable space, turnips, early carrots, lettuces, summer spinach and salad onions should be sown between the main vegetable crops as catch-crops. These crops will all be ready for harvesting before the main vegetables attain any great size and require the space they occupied.
VEGETABLES FOR THE SECOND PLOT
On Plot 2 the crops are as follows: Early peas, 2 rows; main-crop peas, 3 rows; dwarfed runner beans, 2 rows; celery (grown in a trench), 1 row ; dwarf French beans, 2 rows; leeks, 1 row ; and shallots, 1 row. It is not possible to say how many bushels of peas and beans will be produced, but with 1 ft. between the plants there should be 42 heads of celery and, with 6 in. between the plants, there will be about 84 leeks.
Lettuces and other salad plants should be grown as a catch-crop on the ridges at each side of the celery trench, sowings being made every three weeks to provide a succession.
THE ROOT CROPS ON THE THIRD PLOT
The two rows of carrots are placed close to the path, the reason being that this crop is not thinned in the usual way, but young roots are pulled as they are required in the house. Ultimately the carrots should stand 3 in. apart, so 168 are available for storing for winter use.
Two rows of early potatoes—the new potatoes which are so acceptable after months of stored ones—should suffice for the average household. Seven rows of main-crop potatoes are allowed for, however, not only because they are wanted for many months, but so that there will be a goodly number for the fowls and, possibly, the other live stock. The 126 beetroots from the single row should prove sufficient both for pickling and cooking as a vegetable; the 252 onions from the two rows should see the family through the winter; and the 56 parsnips, grown 9 in. apart in the one row, is about the correct proportion for these vegetables.
These crops—with the exception of the parsnips, which are best left in the ground, at any rate until after there have been a good few frosts—are cleared off the ground some time before October, when a number of crops should be planted. When the potatoes have been gathered, two rows of broad beans should be sown and the remainder of the ground planted with spring cabbages. When the carrots, beetroots, and onions have been harvested, their places should be taken by prickly spinach and winter lettuce.
FRUITS OF THE THREE-YEAR CROPPING PLAN
If you follow the three-year cropping plan suggested above, you will never be without delicious vegetables from year end to year end. How does this succession appeal to you—and to the members of your household ?
Spring (February 15th to May 15th).—Beetroots, broccoli, cabbages, carrots, kale, leeks, onions, parsnips, late savoys, and spinach.
Summer (May 15th to August 15th).—Broad, French, and runner beans, beetroots, cabbages, carrots, cauliflowers, lettuce, onions and peas.
Autumn (August 15th to November 15th).—Runner beans, beetroots, broccoli, brussels sprouts, carrots, cauliflowers, celery, lettuce, onions, spinach and turnips.
Winter (November 15th to February 15th).—Beetroots, broccoli, brussels sprouts, carrots, celery, kale, leeks, onions, parsnips, early savoys, spinach and turnips.
1 For quantities of seed and planting details, see pages 19, 27, 28-53.
IF the allotment or garden plot is to be cultivated properly a certain number of tools is necessary. The list is a fairly long one, and if all are purchased by each individual gardener it runs away with a lot of money. There are certain tools which are in frequent use, such as a spade, fork and hoe, and these should certainly be bought. It is suggested, however, that many of the others might well be bought by a number of allotment-holders and used on a communal basis. Failing this, an agreement might be come to for one to purchase one or two articles, another one or two different ones, and so on. For example, a syringe, garden hose, and a spraying machine are required now and again, but not sufficiently often to warrant individual purchase.
It must be for war-time gardeners to decide which tools should be bought outright and which obtained collectively; so perhaps