MAXISING YOUR PROFIT

Maximising your profit by maximising your crop we believe is an interesting feature of this astonishing series of gardening tips, as it explains a method of increasing your yield which makes pruning or tipping obsolete. Even though in the last issue we went through this process it is a well proven belief that to increase your yield is to tie your plants down. In doing this all of the arms of the plant are encouraged to grow vertically, each arm is then capable of holding a much greater weight than normal. BDSM practitioners would be familiar with this method.

The best way to go about this method is by tying them down for about halfway where you think they are big enough. From then on once your plants start maturing not only will the main tip be able to produce fat heads but so will all the other arms of the plant.

This method of growing does vastly increase the yield of your crop and I think that for the grower that it is a revolution in the cultivation of high grade yields. When tying your plants down one must first be careful not to pull the plant down too far straight away, simply because you could snap the main stem. A good method to use when tying them down is to start off by pulling your plant down about half way and leave it to get used to the concept for at least a week. By the end of the week we would suggest that it would be safe to pull them down the rest of the way to your desired height.

When to Plant:

This is a controversial subject, and more often than not a question that seems not to be forgotten about in most other books. The answer is that there are several times a year which are good for planting. If growing plants commercially, which we don't recommend for the home gardener, you may try growing in a warm indoor environment under artificial light. This allow growing all year round but will produce more than you could safely consume.

For outdoors, especially in heavily wooded country, it depends very much on climate (Victoria is primarily October-March) and whether you want a long season (availability of sunlight) or a short season (exposed to the elements) and if you want a summer or winter crop. (Frost is not good for these plants).

If it is to be a long Summer season that you want you should sow your seeds no later than the first week of October. By doing this you are effectively getting in early as the days are starting to get longer again. This season can last right through until April or May which effectively gives you about 10 months from Jiffy to Jolly.

A short season on the other hand can last anything from 4 to 6 months and the general opinion is that for resin purposes there is no difference between the two. There are a considerable number of garden plants that produce resin with a variety of different purposes. A good gardener will need to refer to their Issue of 'Everything Has A Resin' for details of this process.

The shorter season should be started no later than early December and it will go right through to May which is about 5 months. We personally have a crowing season planned each year to start a month prior to Daylight Saving and harvest it all by the end of the Fire Restriction Season. This way we get the good warm to hot months for rapid growth and can burn off the stubble and residue without causing alarm.

We learned this the hard way when an Emergency Call was made to the Linton C.F.A by a passing motorist believing that out property was on fire. In reality it was only dust created by our ploughing stubble back into the garden to fertilise the next crop. Of course the C.F.A were not amused initially but after a generous donation of our recent harvest several of their members went off laughing and giggling to the Take-away for some munchies.

If you want to repeat this process for several seasons, and this depends on discovering the optimum growing space, you will notice that the plants you are growing will get bigger and better as the years go by.

A couple more things need to be mentioned. Firstly we have already covered the fact that seasons vary from state to state and even region to region. This is not confined to cultivation but to the governing bodies as well. So please make sure you have the regulations for growing in mind at all times.

Other publications in the Hanging Garden Series.

SEVERAL WAYS TO BEAT THE WRAP – Salads Without Bread by Lindsay Doyle

GARDEN AND PRUNE

Whether Muggle or Hagrid the process of pruning is much the same. At Dumbledore our property near Snake Valley we have been propagating the finest plants of any Hippie Garden undetected by the experts for a decade now. We are not publicity hounds and don't even have a sign on our fence. We rely on words of mouth to provide both keen gardeners and their admirers with all the enjoyment they need.

Pruning is generally done to create more yield off your plants, producing more fruit or nuts or buds, or to limit the size of the plant to fit the area in which you grow it. As a weed it can grow a little too prolific and will have every dickhead and dunce between here and Ballarat out looking for more dopes. S pruning becomes a necessity rather than a way of restricting production.

There are several methods of pruning but the most commonly used method would be stem tip removal. We have personally seen what we call 'panic pruning' occur more often than is necessary. This is a method whereby pruning is the rather drastic affair of pulling the whole plant out by its roots, something outside authorities seem to prefer, and getting rid of it either by the authorised version of incineration under Police supervision or by a quick dispersal sale at the back of Sebastapol High.

The tip removal process is achieved by simply removing the tips of the plant. (a.k.a 'Duh') and by doing this the plant effectively creates two new growing tips just below where you removed the original tip. Obviously good pruning by this method not only thickens the bush but doubles its cropping potential. This method is often used where the chances of having your crop decimated by disease or discovery is very low. Although effective we believe there is a superior method to creating more yield which I will explain under Maximising Your Crop.

I think this method of pruning is good for limiting the size of your plants, and thus better for indoor and hydroponic fanatics, more so than increasing your yield. The way you can limit the size of your plant/s is by tipping the arms at their desired lengths.

If your plants head off early enough in the season, meaning there is still a couple of months of summer remaining, it is good to prune your plants by cutting the larger buds off and putting them away for a rainy day. Once you have pruned the plants back it is good to start off by giving them a good feed of lifter and a nice big drink. An alternative is to distribute your excess crop along with a good stiff drink. Over the next couple of months it will be a very heady time as the plants will give head again and create even more yield.

Note: The Linton C.F.A Fire Restriction Period is almost equivalent to the Hagrid and Muggles growing season. This has the advantage of your crop not being 'incinerated in situ' but the disadvantage of being secretly admired by aircraft keeping their eyes out for bushfires.

Other publications in the Linton Hanging Garden Series.

IT'S THYME - by the author Seymour Cumming

The story of Kerr's Cur