Gardens v farms

[tootles]

Perhaps some one can explain this one...............

Why is it that when we gardeners plant our seeds, we nurture them and love them and follow the spacings on the packet. We water them and weed them and go out at night to catch the slugs that eat them. Farmers, on the other hand, plough a field, spray manure, sow seed and then pretty much leave it all to get on with it. They produce larger veg and seem (if my local corn farmer is anything to go by) to cram in far more in the space. Do farmers really germinate their parsnips in bog rolls in their (obviously huge) airing cupboards too????? If not - how do they manage to produce enough??

Any ideas??

[zazen999]

Chemicals and planning in a %age loss of seed.

[Eyren]

Chemicals and planning in a %age loss of seed

Plus F1 varieties that are more reliable but which are also expensive and which mature all at the same time. Great for farmers, not so useful for home growers who want a steady supply, not a glut.

In any case, intensively-cultivated garden/allotment plots are up to 12 times more productive than an equivalent area of farmland. What looks like an impressive field of crops is actually very wasteful in terms of seeds sown and plants ultimately thrown away because they are not "up to scratch" (i.e. conforming to EU and supermarket standards).

[jacob marley]

;. are .impressive field of crops is actually very wasteful in terms of seeds sown and plants ultimately thrown away because they are not "up to scratch" (i.e. conforming to EU and supermarket standards).

They are not all thrown away they end up on market stalls and in corner shop's .
There is good business to be had from suplying Wholesale markets with what is known in the trade prepack rejects.jacob.