Читать книгу Make Your Garden Feed You - E. Brown T. - Страница 17

The next thing to do is to find out the nature of the soil, because the preparation of the allotment depends largely upon this. Two or three holes should be dug in different parts and the sides examined. It is quite easy to see how deep is the layer of top soil (this should be good) and what lies below, whether fairly good soil, gravel or clay.

The holder of a new allotment will find it best to put in a lot of work digging the whole plot at the start, so it is advised that full trenching should be adopted. There are two methods of full trenching²—working the soil to a depth of about 3 ft.—and which one should be followed must be decided when the nature of the soil is known.

If the top soil (this may be of any depth from a few inches to a foot) is vastly better than the subsoil (the second spit or foot) the ground should be trenched so that the top soil is kept on top and the subsoil beneath. If, however, the good soil goes down to a depth of 2 ft., the second method is better, in which case the top soil becomes the subsoil and the subsoil the top soil. Weather action thus benefits the former subsoil.