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A family of four can maintain a
continuous supply of fresh vegetables from a small conventional' garden
plot measuring only 8 m by 3.5 m. The area can be subdivided into 6
beds each measuring 3 m x 1 m, plus one larger bed for 'special'
growing. Retain the overall borders of the plot by brick or timber to
prevent the intrusion of grass and provide for access paths between the
beds (wood chip or pebbles are ideal all-weather materials for
pathways). A vegetable plot of this size could occupy the corner of a
large suburban garden, or a small city garden, provided it has
essential sunshine.
If you plant or sow too much you can be faced with a glut at harvest
time; the secret of success is:
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Always to have enough and to have one
crop of a vegetable following the crop of a different one in smooth
succession.
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Family preferences are important. If
lettuce and beans are in constant demand give them a whole bed to
themselves, but systematically replace each harvested space with a
sowing of carrots or onions, etc. so that the soil is not completely
robbed of the same sort of nutrient.
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The principle of crop rotation is one of
the most important in vegetable gardening.
Crop rotation was once an important
factor in successful vegetable growing as some plants demand far more
of a particular mineral or food than others, so deficiencies were
likely to occur where the same crops were replanted in the soil.
This is no longer a problem now that there are well-balanced plant
foods available, many of them containing a complete trace element
balance.
However, disease is still a consideration, so it is better to vary the
plantings, and where possible to follow each crop with vegetables from
a different family, whether they happen to be root or leaf vegetable.
For example:
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cabbages
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cauliflowers
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broccoli
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Brussels sprouts
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turnips
are all members of the same family
(brassicas), and subject to similar diseases.
Potatoes, tomatoes, capsicums and eggplants belong to another. The
first two in this group may seem to have little in common, but root
diseases can be a problem when one follows the other, or either is
planted for several seasos in the same bed.
Growing different types of vegetables
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