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November 1945
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Cleaning up Now is the time of
the year for a little bit of "garden hygiene." A bit high falutin' that
term? Well, it simply means keeping the garden clean. Cleanliness, we are
told, is next to godliness, and that applies to gardens and allotments as
well as to persons. An unclean body—inside or outside—is asking for trouble
of some sort, and an unclean vegetable plot means harbouring pests and
encouraging disease. Pests and diseases have to winter somewhere, and if
they don't find their quarters in cracks in the wall or the fence or on
trees or shrubs, they may take them up on those beansticks that ought to
have been put away for another season, or in the rubbish pile, or among
those decaying brassica leaves. |
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So
let's have a good clean up and make things tidy, putting all suitable waste
on the compost heap and burning all the rest. Don't forget that the ash
contains potash and should be stored away in some dry place for future use.
And when you can, stir up the oil by hoeing between the plants
still on the plot, for later on this will not be feasible and it is
important that you should let the air and what sun there is get into the
soil to make it warm and in better condition for the roots. Weeds may have
to be kept down by hand weeding; they must not be allowed to compete with
your food plants. |
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Does early digging
pay? Well, many of us allotment holders and gardeners were pretty late in
starting our gardening offensive this year and have been trying to catch up
ever since. Perhaps because of a late start we sowed our onions too late and
have regretted it. If we get a wet sticky winter—or our land is frost or
snowbound for many weeks, we may well regret later on that we didn't make a
start with our digging in the late autumn when we had a chance to get out on
the plot. |
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Of course, on really well-cropped gardens and allotments there won't be much
bare ground we can dig at this time of year. But we can tackle the bare
spaces from which we have taken our potatoes, runner beans, carrots and
turnips.
To the "digger" with a clay or very heavy soil, early digging is a
necessity. On sandy or very light soil it is less important. Turning up the
heavy stuff and leaving it rough gives Nature the chance to do her work;
frost, wind and rain work on the heavy lumps, making them loose and
friable—easily crumbled—and so much easier to work when sowing and plating
come spring.
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