The length of exposure during the day is also of great importance, because plants can only bloom for a certain day length. On the basis of the research, the plants were divided into three groups:
1) short-day plants, blooming on a day 10 hours or less, e.g. military, gilding;
2) long day plants, blooming only on a 14-hour day or longer; belong to them: from vegetables – radish, lettuce and spinach, and from ornamental plants – malwa, snapdragon, clarkia, larkspur, godetia, hyacinth;
3) plants indifferent to the length of the day (their flowering does not depend on the length of the day); these plants include e.g.: tomato, cucumber, beans and pumpkin.
Knowing how the plants react to the length of the day, it will be known, when to sow them; e.g. We do not sow butter lettuce and radishes in the summer, because "they are killing” in flower shoots. You also have to take into account, that varieties of one species may differ in day length requirements.
Apart from climatic factors, the topography plays a very important role in landscaping the garden. When planning planting, we must first of all pay attention to flat and undulating areas, and there, where they are wavy – on the recesses, peaks of hills and their slopes. Each of them has specific properties, making, that they are more or less useful for growing fruit trees and shrubs and other horticultural plants.
All kinds of depression of a troughy nature cause – due to temperature drop following inversion (reversals) and falling heavier – cold air – the formation of the so-called. "Frosts”, which is more demanding, when it comes to the frost resistance of planted plants. The peaks on the slopes are characterized by strong winds and the danger of not having enough moisture; covers must then be made, and by proper soil cultivation, try to store as much water as possible from winter precipitation and irrigate from the water intakes built. Create terraces on slopes, and depending on the so-called. “Exhibitions” -north and south – adjust appropriate plantings, mainly fruit trees and shrubs.
Taking into account the fact, that it is allocated for housing, or at least it should, agricultural land the weakest, and that the allotment gardens are located in less-than-perfect areas, and sometimes requiring reclamation, users of plots and home gardens usually deal with light soils, sandy or vice versa – heavy and wet. Basically it is impossible to change the soil, but to some extent it can be improved by proper cultivation and fertilization.
Must be taken into account, that not every soil with high agricultural suitability is suitable for orchards, and vice versa, in some soils with low agricultural use, fruit trees grow and bear fruit well. They have a relatively well-developed root system, therefore, they require deep soil in the first place. Most often, the growth of tree roots is limited by an excessively high level of groundwater, and sometimes a shallow compact layer of ore. The minimum allowable distance of groundwater from the soil surface should be: for walnut 2,5 m, for pears and cherries 2,0 m, for cherries, apricots and peaches 1,8 m, for apple trees 1,5 m, for plums 1,0 m [21 ]. For vegetable crops, the groundwater level should not be higher than 60 cm, but also not lower than 1 m.
The easiest way to assess the quality of the soil is to dig a few deep pits in different places of the garden 180-200 cm, in the shape of a narrow rectangle (the width of the digger). This is best done in the spring after the waters have drained at the end of May – at the beginning of June, i.e.. even before the periods of summer drought occur. One of the narrower sides of the pit should be vertical, and the opposite side formed into steps to facilitate digging and stepping down. By digging the open pit, pay attention to the color of the walls, which determines the quality of the cultivated layer and its thickness as well as the level of groundwater. Tam, where is the rotten green color – the water level is maintained for a long time and deoxidizes this soil layer. The light brick-red color indicates a short-term flooding. In general, the fruit trees and shrubs grown here are successful in all types of our soils, as long as they are sufficiently moist and rich in food.
Vegetables generally have high soil requirements. Having no choice, the user of a plot or a home garden must select the cultivated species and varieties to the soil conditions, in addition, try to improve the soil by fertilizing, keeping in mind the following rules:
1) the earliest vegetables can only be grown successfully in warm soils, airy, drying out quickly and warming up in spring; these are lighter soils with a high content of humus, constantly supplemented by abundant organic fertilization;
2) the highest yields of vegetables are achieved on medium-heavy soils, well-fertilized;
3) peat soils are well suited for growing most vegetables, if proper fertilization is applied, however, they are not suitable for thermophilic vegetables.