Uneven water cracks cabbage and forks carrots

Marketable winter vegetables are uniform. Stop-start irrigation after cabbage heads form splits them. Stones, clods, and wet-dry swings fork carrots. Beetroot and onion stall, then catch up ugly. The farmer sees defects at harvest that were written in the water weeks earlier.

Drip or careful furrow that wets the row the same way, every cycle, beats a heroic overnight flood. Mulch helps the surface stay even. After heads or bulbs form, do not chase drought with a drowning.

If last season's reject pile was split heads and twisted roots, fix uniformity before you change the seed.

In this series

• Choose the buyer before you choose the crop
• Secure water before the winter bed is sown
• Rotation is disease control, not a pretty calendar
• Uneven water cracks cabbage and forks carrots
• Weed and scout while the plants are still small
• Maturity and shade at harvest set the price