GARDENING WITH MUGGLES 3

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