Site selection factors
These are just the things to consider when deciding where to grow.
- Soil structure – if the soil structure is poor, it will restrict gas exchange (and therefore respiration) at the roots, and also restrict the uptake of nutrients. You could try to improve the structure, but that could take quite a long time.
- Soil depth – if the topsoil is a bit thin, the roots of a plant would not be able to grow down very far, so they could rock in the wind.
- Aspect – if your plot faces north, it could be cold with low light levels. It may affect your selection of plants.
- Exposure to wind – if a site is windy, it could cause damage to plants. It could also discourage pollinating insects. You could try to make this a bit better by using a windbreak.
- Soil pH – some plants are adapted to certain pH ranges, and do poorly in any other pH of soil. This is because some nutrients are restricted at high or low pH.
- Slope – if you have an uneven site, it could get really wet and boggy at the bottom of the slope. The soil could warm up unevenly, with a frost pocket at the bottom of the slope.
Living windbreaks
To try to shelter your site from strong winds, you might grow a windbreak.
The benefits of a living windbreak are that they filter the wind (so some of it still passes through) and they last a long time. They also provide a place for beneficial insects to live. However, they might take a long time to grow to size , require maintenance and might also harbour pests and diseases.
You could also put up a non-living windbreak, like a fence, trellis, mesh or hurdles. That could go up much faster than a living windbreak, and take up less space. However, it might not last as long.
You will need to be able to name a few plants suitable for a living windbreak, for example: Crataegus monogyna, Fagus sylvatica, Buxus sempervirens, Prunus laurocerasus.
Single, double digging, tilth production
I described single, double and no-dig cultivation here: https://rhslevel2studies.home.blog/2019/08/16/r2102-soil-cultivation-digging/
The exam may also ask about tilth production, which is what you do after digging. If the soil is clay or otherwise heavy, you might leave the soil after digging in autumn, to naturally weather. If the soil is sandy, you would rake it to a tilth soon after digging in the spring. To create the tilth for planting, remove all weeds and break up any lumps of soil with the rake. Level the ground and then rake it gently, over and over until a fine crumb is formed.
Raised beds and crop rotation
Raised beds are just areas of the ground where the soil is higher – either because you worked in organic matter to create a mounded area, or because you have built an enclosure into which the soil is built up higher. The past papers have asked what you could build a raised bed from, so I guess they mean something which is actually purpose built in this case. You can build a raised bed from brick, or wooden boards or old railway sleepers. The RHS has also asked for the size you would build a raised bed – I have to say that this question seems really odd to me! I mean, how big is your plot?! Anyway, the answer they are looking for is 1.2 – 1.6m wide x 2.5 – 3m long, with paths inbetween the beds of 0.5m wide.
Crop rotation if you have raised beds is easy, since you know what you have grown in each bed and they are separated. You might want to do crop rotation to prevent the build up of the same pests and diseases, and also different crops use and put in different nutrients in to the soil. However, crop rotation only helps with soil-borne pests and diseases.
The basic 4 year rotation is:
- Bed 1 = potatoes
- Bed 2 = root vegetables
- Bed 3 = brassicas
- Bed 4 = legumes
You move one bed down the list each year, so that in year 2, the potatoes are in bed 2, root vegetables in bed 3 etc.
Extending the outdoor season
You will need to be able to draw and describe things you could use to extend the outdoor season, such as cloches, cold-frames, black polythene and low polytunnels. The important thing here is that these are for outdoor growing; if you list a greenhouse or a walk-in polytunnel, you will get no marks since these are considered to be “protective growing”.
Gardening studies 