Soil preparation and management

Soil preparation for vegetable growing involves many of the usual operations required for other crops. Good drainage is especially important for early vegetables because wet soil retards development. Sands are valuable in growing early vegetables because they are more readily drained than the heavier soils. Soil drainage accomplished by means of ditches or tiles is more desirable than the drainage obtained by planting crops on ridges because the former not only removes the excess water but also allows air to enter the soil. Air is essential to the growth of crop plants and to certain beneficial soil organisms making nutrients available to the plants.

When crops are grown in succession, soil rarely needs to be plowed more than once each year. Plowing incorporates sod, green-manure crops, and crop residues in the soil; destroys weeds and insects; and improves soil texture and aeration. Soils for vegetables should be fairly deep. A depth of six to eight inches (15 to 20 centimetres) is sufficient in most soils.

Soil management involves the exercise of human judgment in the application of available knowledge of crop production, soil conservation, and economics. Management should be directed toward producing the desired crops with a minimum of labour. Control of soil erosion, maintenance of soil organic matter, the adoption of crop rotation, and clean culture are considered important soil-management practices.

Soil erosion, caused by water and wind, is a problem in many vegetable-growing regions because the topsoil is usually the richest in fertility and organic matter. Soil erosion by water can be controlled by various methods. Terracing divides the land into separate drainage areas, with each area having its own waterway above the terrace. The terrace holds the water on the land, allowing it to soak into the soil and reducing or preventing gullying. In the contouring system, crops are planted in rows at the same level across the field. Cultivation proceeds along the rows rather than up and down the hill. Strip cropping consists of growing crops in narrow strips across a slope, usually on the contour. Soil erosion by wind can be controlled by the use of windbreaks of various kinds, by keeping the soil well supplied with humus, and by growing cover crops to hold the soil when the land is not occupied by other crops.

Maintenance of the organic-matter content of the soil is essential. Organic matter is a source of plant nutrients and is valuable for its effect on certain properties of the soil. Loss of organic matter is the result of the action of micro-organisms that gradually decompose it to carbon dioxide. The addition of manures and the growing of soil-improving crops are efficient means of supplying soil organic matter. Soil-improving crops are grown solely for the purpose of preparing the soil for the growth of succeeding crops. Green-manure crops, grown especially for soil improvement, are turned under while still green and usually are grown during the same season of the year as the vegetable crops. Cover crops, raised for both soil protection and improvement, are only grown during seasons when vegetable crops do not occupy the land. When a soil-improving crop is turned under, the various nutrients that have contributed to the growth of the crop are returned to the soil, adding a quantity of organic matter. Both legumes, those plants such as peas and beans having fruits and seeds formed in pods, and nonlegumes are effective soil-improving crops. The legumes, however, are more valuable, because they contribute nitrogen as well as humus. The rate of decomposition of plant material depends on the kind of crop, its stage of growth, and soil temperature and moisture. The more succulent the material is at the time it is turned under, the more quickly it decomposes. Because dry material decomposes more slowly than green material, it is desirable to turn under soil-improving crops before they are mature, unless considerable time is to elapse between the plowing and the planting of the succeeding crop. Plant material decomposes most rapidly when the soil is warm and well supplied with moisture. If soil is dry when a soil-improving crop is turned under, little or no decomposition will occur until rain or irrigation supplies the necessary moisture.

The chief benefits derived from crop rotation are the control of disease and insects and the better use of the resources of the soil. Rotation is a systematic arrangement for the growing of different crops in a more or less regular sequence on the same land. It differs from succession cropping in that rotation cropping covers a period of two, three, or more years, while in succession cropping two or more crops are grown on the same land in one year. In many regions vegetable crops are grown in rotation with other farm crops. Most vegetables grown as annual crops fit into a four-or five-year rotation plan. The system of intercropping, or companion cropping, involves the growing of two or more kinds of vegetables on the same land in the same growing season. One of the vegetables must be a small-growing and quick-maturing crop; the other must be larger and late maturing.

In the practice of clean culture, commonly followed in vegetable growing, the soil is kept free of all competing plants through frequent cultivation and the use of protective coverings, or mulches, and weed killers. In a clean vegetable field the possibility of attack by insects and disease-incitant organisms, for which plant weeds serve as hosts, is reduced.