Intensive Cropping

Climate will also play a part in determining the cropping programme. Those gardening in the favourable areas of the south west, from a line drawn from Bristol to Southampton will be able to take several more crops during a season than those gardening in the north. In the south west, where winter temperatures rarely cause damage to crops of lettuce and broccoli,

these are grown for harvesting in the early spring, to he followed by a crop of French beans sown early in April as the ground is cleared. The beans are followed by quick-maturing cabbage or cauliflower, broccoli to cut in spring, taking their place. Thus four crops of quick-maturing varieties may be obtained from the same piece of ground in a single season whereas, those gardening in the north will be fortunate if they can harvest two crops.

In the less favorable areas, inter-cropping sometimes is a greater importance. It is also be advisable to bring on the plants under glass, making use of cloches to start them off whilst spring frosts are still troublesome. In this way, at least a month’s start will be gained over plants raised outdoors. hi northern districts, quick-maturing varieties are now making it possible to obtain additional crops in a season. At the same time, sowings should he made in frames and under cloches so that as soon as one crop has been harvested, further plantings will be ready to take its place. Every day saved in bringing the crop to maturity will make for greater productivity and this is especially important if the garden is small. Spring cabbage may be followed by French beans with carrots sown along-side and followed by hardy winter broccoli which will give all the year round cropping.

Again, early potatoes or peas can be followed by lettuce, autumn cauliflowers or winter cabbage. It is not necessary to allow the ground to remain idle after harvesting the early crops. Well cultivated land may be kept continuously productive, following rotational cropping as widely as possible though quick-maturing ‘catch’ crops may be grown in all parts of the garden wherever the opportunity presents itself. This is made possible by the introduction of new vegetables of quick maturity and of compact habit which are ideal for the small garden.

All these vegetables are quick to mature for they do not take as long a time as the more robust varieties to complete their growth.

When sowing seeds under glass or in the open ground, make a note of the date of sowing and place a small wooden label in the ground at the end of each row. By keeping a record of sowing times and of varieties, it will be possible to find out the time taken for germination and it will be additionally helpful if day-to-day records of the weather are also kept. The correct sowing time for each crop may then be determined. In this way the plants will not occupy the boxes or frames for too long a time, nor the open ground rows thereby causing them to become ‘drawn’ and starved of plant food before they can he moved to the open ground where they are to grow on to maturity. his will usually be dictated by weather conditions. Again, delayed sowing may mean the loss of valuable time in harvesting the crop with the result that there may not be time for the growing of other crops that season.

Records should also be made of the size and quality of each crop. Mushrooms and tomatoes can be weighed and the varieties compared as to which gives the higher yield, together with the cultural methods employed and the fertilisers used, how of 1 en and at what strength. A note should also be made of the culture of all outdoor crops, the time taken for them to reach maturity, their size and quality so that those varieties giving best results in certain soils and in a particular district may be noted for future planting and unsatisfactory varieties discarded.