Crop Rotation
"Rotating your vegetable crops is very important in maintaining nutrient balance in your soil and to ensure your plants are receiving the correct nutrients."
Plants are divided into three categories: heavy feeders, light feeders and soil builders.
As you plan your rotations, follow heavy feeders by light feeders the second season and by soil builders the third. Or, follow heavy feeders by soil builders and then by light feeders the third season.
Try never to have heavy feeder following light feeders.
Heavy Feeders:
Asparagus, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Celery, Collards, Corn, Cucumbers, Eggplant, Endive, Escarole, Kale, Kohlrabi, Lettuce, Okra, Parsley, Pumpkins, Radishes, Rhubarb, Spinach, Squash; Summer and Winter, Tomatoes, Tobacco.
Light Feeders:
Beets, Carrots, Garlic, Leeks, Mustard, Onions, Parsnips, Potatoes, Rutabagas, Shallots, Sweet Potatoe, Swiss Chard, Turnips.
Soil Builders:
Alfalfa, Broad Beans, Clover, Lima Beans, Peanuts, Peas, Snap Beans, Soybeans.
Vegetables
Freshly grown vegetables are not only a delight to eat and
a healthy alternative to purchasing produce from the local
green-grocer but growing your own vegetables will in most
cases help to balance the household budget and give you
some outdoor recreation and exercise as well.
Siting Your Vegetable Garden
The site you choose for your vegetable garden should ideally
be either flat or with a slight slope. A slight slope in the site
will assist in providing the necessary drainage required for
most produce.
Vegetables require plenty of sunshine, so use a spot on your
block that receives maximum sun, is reasonably sheltered from
strong winds, is easily accessable from the kitchen, has water
available and is close to your compost heap.
Try to design your garden so that the rows will run from North
to South to maximise the amount of sunlight available.
If strong winds prevail in the area, construct a trellis fence
to protect the garden and also provide an open wall to grow
climbing produce on such as beans and peas etc.
Soil Requirements
The preparation of the soil for vegetables is the most important
work you will undertake when installing your vegetable garden.
Dig over the entire area to a spade's depth and turn each spade
full upside down so that what was the top-soil becomes the base
of the bed.
Cover the entire area with a 15cm layer of a mixture of compost
and manure. This mixture can contain straw or other fibrous
material. Leave the area for at least two weeks for the mixture
to rot down a little. Keep the mixture damp by watering it with
the hose if it becomes dry.
Dig this mixture into the soil making sure that any clods of
earth are broken up during the process. This should raise the
beds slightly and help to provide good drainage for the site.
Add some gypsum or lime to the soil if it has a lot of clay content
and leave the area for about three weeks to allow it to break down
a little. A measure of about 350g per square metre should suffice
to achieve this result.
Planting Out
Use a string line to keep the rows straight and an old clothes peg
or pointed stick to make the holes necessary for seedlings. The
back of a rake will help to make shallow trenches for seed planting
and also help to keep the line straight.
Handle your seedlings carefully so as not to damage the delicate
root systems. Place the seedlings in the pre-formed holes and firm
down the soil around the seedlings by hand.
Water gently with a watering can. Unless it is very hot, you should
not need to water them again for several days.
Using Fertilisers
Nitrogen is very important for continued growth as are measures
of potash and phosphorus. These chemicals are contained in all
artificial fertilisers in different proportions for various plants
and are available from your nurseryman or plant centre.
Follow the instructions on the packet or bottle as too much
fertiliser is worse than too little. Liquid fertilisers are quite
justly popular, as they can be applied with a watering can and
are normally very high in nitrogen.
Crop Rotation
Always rotate the crops you are planting each year. As a rule you
should never plant the same crop in the same position two years
in a row.
The following is a guide to rotating your crop:
Root crops should never be planted in the same position for two
succesive years, rather plant root crops the year after planting
cauliflour, cabbage or sprouts, as these crops require a rich soil.
Peas and beans produce nitrogen from the soil, so the following
year plant leafy vegetables such as silver beet or lettuce as these
crops require plenty of nitrogen.
Plant peas and beans to build up the nitrogen in the soil,
following root crops which require plenty of nitrogen and may
leave the soil depleted. The peas and beans will replenish the
nitrogen removed by the root crop.
Copyright (c) Brian Rondel,GrowIt Gold, Innovative Thinking Software, All Rights Reserved
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