Summer squash and zucchini varieties are space-efficient, fast- maturing, and one of the easiest crops to grow. In fact, they’re too easy. First-timers find out in a hurry that you don’t have to plant much summer squash to get a big yield.
I’ve heard the suggestion that gardeners should practice “ZPC”—zucchini population control. I’ll bet that if only one out of three gardeners planted zucchini, there would still be plenty for everyone, and with much less waste. Read the rest of this entry »
Our Thanksgiving meal is not complete without a serving of home-grown winter squash. We store Blue Hubbard, Gold Nuggets, Butternut, Acorn, and Buttercup in the root cellar. For Thanksgiving, we choose our favorite, Blue Hubbard. I have yet to taste as flavorful a squash.
Winter squash is getting more popular with gardeners. Perhaps it’s because they require very little work, yield well, and keep for months in a cool place. You don’t even need a root cellar.
If you have a small garden, try the Gold Nugget. This winter squash takes up as much space as a zucchini plant and yields a bundle of small, delicious squash. We cut them in half and bake them— they’re wonderful. Read the rest of this entry »
If you fertilize pumpkins they’ll get very big and take up a lot of garden space—but they’re worth every inch I give them.
We grow a lot of pumpkins for our grandchildren—they like them big—plus plenty for making pumpkin pies. The smaller varieties have better flavor than the big ones, so we use them for pies.
The bigger jack-o’-lantern types, such as Big Max, can be used for pies but I don’t think they’re as good.
There’s no secret to growing a super-sized pumpkin that might win a ribbon at the fair. Here are the steps: Read the rest of this entry »
I have a new technique for coaxing my horseradish bed to produce the straightest roots I’ve ever seen. Straight roots are the easiest to clean and process.
First, let me explain that I harvest most of my horseradish roots quite early in the spring.
The taste is real hot in spring and I like hot horseradish.
I fertilize after the harvest and let the plants get about 6 inches tall. Then I till half the bed as deeply as I can. This chops up the roots and mixes the pieces into the soil. Many of the pieces are near the surface where they will quickly sprout and grow again. The important thing is that my roto-tiller leaves the soil so soft and fluffy that the roots have an easy, unobstructed path down into it. Read the rest of this entry »
The best way to grow an asparagus bed is to plant 2-year-old roots which you can order from a seed catalog or pick up at a garden store. One-year-old roots may be cheaper, but the savings are not worth waiting an extra year for your first harvest. I think the 2-year-old roots are more reliable in transplanting.
If you live in the North, set out asparagus roots in the early spring. In the South, set them out in the fall because it can be so dry and hot in the summer that the plants may not make it through.
Asparagus will grow in most types of soil, but since it must have dry feet, it does best in soil that drains well. Place the plants about 2 feet apart with 5 feet between rows. Twenty-five to 30 crowns will produce enough asparagus for a family of four once the bed is established, which takes three seasons. Read the rest of this entry »
I encourage gardeners with animal problems to put a fence around the garden. Nothing beats a secure fence for keeping out rabbits, woodchucks, raccoons, dogs, and cats. It even helps to control the traffic of neighborhood kids scooting through the yard.
Get your fence up early, before animal pests make their first forays. Once they get a taste of what’s in your garden they are determined to get back in for extra helpings.
I use fences made of 3-foot-high chicken wire (1- or 11/2-inch mesh), topped by a single strand of electric wire 1 inch above the top. An electric fence is the best way to keep raccoons out of the corn patch. The jolt a raccoon gets when he grabs the electric wire convinces him to try a garden somewhere else. The only time I hitch up the battery and energize the wire is before and during the corn harvest. I run it from late afternoon until early morning. Read the rest of this entry »
A woodchuck will eat anything green it can gets its teeth into. Woodchucks, often called “groundhogs,” come out of their underground burrows at dawn for their first meal. They’re lazy and like to make their home near a convenient food source—like a nice vegetable garden. (I have a woodchuck that tries each fall to nest in my garden!) You can tell if a woodchuck is eating your crops because it moves efficiently down one row at a time, eating everything in its path. You couldn’t do a neater job with a lawnmower.
After their morning eating binge, woodchucks go back underground to sleep it off. You might spot them later in the day coming out for another meal. What a life! Read the rest of this entry »
Squirrels and chipmunks are fun to watch, but they are the hardest to keep away from your corn and sunflowers. A fence won’t keep them out, not even an electric one. They jump so well and scurry into the garden so fast that an electric shock doesn’t stop them. They’re in the garden while they’re still feeling the zap.
In the sweet corn or popcorn rows, squirrels climb right up the stalks and eat the ears. They’re smart. Often they only work the inside rows so you won’t notice them. A few times I have seen squirrels trying to haul away whole ears of corn. In a row of sunflowers they can jump from one stalk to the next as if they were in a tree.
In a small garden you may be able to use old stockings or heesecloth on the sunflower heads and corn ears to foil the squirrels at harvest time. In a big garden, an active cat or an eager dog may be your only hope. Read the rest of this entry »
We home gardeners are lucky. We don’t depend on the garden for our livelihood. Gardening is not a business for us. We don’t have to worry about keeping our crops totally free of blemishes and damage so they will bring top prices at the market. We can afford to share a part of the harvests with insects and not get upset by it. We can use and enjoy slightly damaged crops.
Check your garden at least every 2 or 3 days so you can spot bugs before they do much damage. When you see some unusual insect activity, take a good look at it. Be sure the bugs actually pose a serious problem before you take steps to control them. Read the rest of this entry »
Keep your berries weed-free. Mulching is the best way to beat weeds in a strawberry patch. Build up a 4- to 6-inch layer of a weed-free mulch such as wheat straw, chopped cornstalks, or a late cut of hay.
Place a little mulch around the young plants early in the season and add more as it packs down. A 2-inch layer of composted mulch should do the job of keeping the weeds down and still allow daughter plants to root.
In early summer, shallow cultivation between rows will get rid of small weeds. If you spot large weeds next to the plants, pull them carefully so that the berry roots are not disturbed. Read the rest of this entry »
Plant your berries in a sunny location for the sweetest berries and the healthiest plants. Try for an open spot on a slight south facing slope. Low spots on your property could be trouble since cold air flows like water down a slope and will collect in pockets. Frosts will hit these low spots first.
Strawberry plants are usually set out in the early spring (March or April) in the North, but southern gardeners often have the best luck with fall planting.
Fertile, well-drained soil is a must. If you have heavy clay, make raised beds. These keep plants from sitting around with wet feet” which lowers production. Raised beds also prevent plants from being heaved out of the ground by frost during the winter. Add plenty of organic matter to help loosen up clay soil. Read the rest of this entry »
Nitrogen is a nutrient that plants require in great amounts. Commercial nitrogen fertilizer is an energy-intensive product, and it accounts for about 32 percent of the energy budget for Midwestern corn. At Rodale, efforts are being directed toward using natural, less energy-intensive sources of nitrogen. Legume plants like soybeans, alfalfa, and clovers are well known for their ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen in the soil. But what about such strange- sounding plants as azolla and anabaena? Azolla is a water fern and anabaena is a blue-green algae. Both are found in the rice paddies of Vietnam. Their association seems to be synergistic—that is, when they are planted together, nitrogen fixation is greatly enhanced, thus benefiting the associated rice crop. Rodale hopes to grow these plants in the greenhouse and use them for fertilizer. Read the rest of this entry »
Maxatawny, an Indian word whose translation’is “Creek Where the Bears Walk,” is the site of Rodale Press’s new Organic Gardening Experimental Farm (OGEF). This land was originally farmed by a German family. Rodale purchased the chemically farmed acreage. The acquisition of these 122 hectares (305 acres) in eastern Pennsylvania has opened the door to more extensive research in agriculture production based on simpler and saner techniques. The farm fits nicely into other Rodale activities. It is on the not particularly fertile soils of this farm in Emmaus that Rodale’s Research and Development people have set up their Home Utilities Workshop to test small-scale gardening and farming tools and equipment. Devices like seed and bean sprouters and food driers are tested in the Fitness House Kitchen, also in Emmaus, which uses food produced on the farm. Rodale’s findings are published and disseminated throughout the world. Read the rest of this entry »
Digging is usually necessary to incorporate bulky organic materials, relieve compaction, improve drainage, improve soil texture and control growth of weeds.
Inadequate soil preparation before planting or sowing is a major cause of horticultural disappointment. Digging and the application of fertilizers and bulky organic materials are usually necessary to ensure that the soil is suited to the plants or crops that you want to grow. Drainage may also be required.
There are certain fertilizers that supply all three of the principal foods required by plants: nitrogen for leaf and stem growth; phosphorus for good root growth; potassium (potash), which helps to form and ripen flowers, fruits and seeds.
These are the essential tools, used during soil cultivation, sowing and planting.
Here is a selection of garden tools used for pruning, cutting hedges and grass, plant propagation and other tasks of this nature.
The large range of lawn mowers available falls into two basic categories: cylinder and rotary.
Garden compost is the next best thing to farmyard manure. There are many materials that can be composted — that is, formed into a heap and rotted down.
Setting up the bins To retain the heap of compost material construct a wire-netting enclosure 1.2m/4ft high, 1.2m/4ft wide and any length you wish. Alternatively, use a proprietary compost bin. It’s best to have two compost heaps: one for immediate use, the other in the process of rotting.
Choosing the compostable materials Mix the various materials together before adding them to the heap. You can use annual weeds, lawn mowings, potato peelings, animal manure, torn-up newspaper, soft hedge clippings, vegetable leaves and stems, tree and shrub leaves, and many other kinds of soft material — but not hard woody stuff such as fruit-tree prunings. In a separate wire bin you can also rot down deciduous leaves on their own to make soil-enriching leafmould. Read the rest of this entry »
Raising your own plants is much cheaper than buying from a nursery or garden centre. Although a greenhouse is helpful if you want to raise tender plants, a cold frame also has plenty of possibilities for propagating plants.
Apart from a greenhouse and cold frame, there are various other tools and materials which you will find useful for the successful propagation of plants.
