To water or not to water

 To water or not to water is always the question, on the allotment.   There is this much to be said about the application of water to the garden. If thorough, cultivation has been properly done, there will be much less need of watering, and when it is decided that watering is necessary, let it be thorough, so that the soil is soaked to a depth of a foot or so. Then as soon as the soil has dried out somewhat, stir up the surface so that the moisture is not lost by evaporation.

The best way to apply water is by means of a sprinkler, throwing a fine spray, which can be left operating for two or three hours. This insures a proper wetting of the soil without washing away any of the loose soil on the surface. 

The next best thing is to use a hose, if you do not have mains water, then, the watering-can  comes into its own.

On my plot, I have a ten foot deep well and water with a watering-can.

I water everything, because to my mind, plants are made up of water and cannot thrive without it. People laugh at me for watering my rhubarb, however, my rhubarb grows the whole season and I eat it daily. 

In order to obtain good crops it is necessary to allow the plants sufficient room to grow. They must have space in the earth for their roots to ramify in search of food, and room above to spread their leaves to the air and sunshine. A number of seeds, including beet, carrot, corn, lettuce, onion, parsnip, radish, spinach, and Swiss chard, are sown in such a way (in order to insure a good stand) that when they germinate the young plants stand too close together. These have to be thinned out.^[3] This operation should be carried out as soon as the seedlings are large enough to handle. Choose a cloudy day when the soil is fairly moist, and pull out the weak, spindly plants, leaving the strong, healthy ones.