“Black plastic has freed me from hours of weeding. I never used to finish that chore,” explains a Massachusetts gardener. “I resisted black plastic because it looks so awful, but we put dirt along the edges and scatter some on top, and that helps. We use three‑foot-wide rolls in our entire vegetable garden. We plant a row, lay the plastic, anchor the edges with dirt, plant another row, and so on. The weeding always had hung over me. Now I just hand-weed in the row itself, and we have more time to canoe or play tennis.” Read the rest of this entry »

If weeds are growing around the perimeter of your garden, scattering seeds into the garden, cut those weeds with a scythe, then add them to the compost pile. The scythe is a remarkable and efficient tool in the hands of an expert. An able hand doesn’t flail at the weeds with the scythe. He holds it loosely, comfortably, and moves the blade by pivoting his body, keeping the blade parallel to and close to the ground. He stops often to sharpen the blade. The scythe doesn’t actually get dull that quickly, but frequent sharpening is a good way to relax shoulder and arm muscles. Read the rest of this entry »

The family cat prowling the garden will control its population of chipmunks, mice, and young rabbits.

Cut plastic gallon milk jugs in half lengthwise. Punch a hole in the bottom to let out rain. Set ripening melons in these contraptions. They help prevent rot and keep mice and shrews from nibbling on the melons.

Are rodents feasting on your tulip bulbs? Plant daffodils instead. Their bulbs are bitter, so mice and chipmunks won’t eat them. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s where the proverbial ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Once the woodchuck has chomped off your beans at ground level, the raccoon has stripped and devoured every ear of corn, and the cucumber beetles have decimated emerging seedlings, you may as well throw up your hands in surrender and hightail it to the nearest farmer’s market with wallet in hand. Read the rest of this entry »

Sayonara, Japanese Beetles

Hire your children to save the garden from Japanese beetles. Pay them a penny a bug. In the evening, when the beetles won’t fly away, the kids can tiptoe along and brush them from plant foliage into jars of kerosene. Bet they won’t even be able to count their catch! Meanwhile, you can relax with a long novel or take in the evening news.

If Japanese beetle grubs are destroying your lawn, introduce milky spore disease, a microbial attack against the larval form of this insect. A little energy invested this year is well spent. Put a teaspoon in the ground every three feet for several years’ protection. It’s death to the grubs, but leaves the earthworm population untouched. Read the rest of this entry »

Lazy gardeners are willing to let a few bugs eat. “I simply plant too much,” says one gardener. “I give my crops rich soil and let them fend for themselves. There are all kinds of bugs, and I don’t have time to fool with them, so if they eat half my chard, I eat the other half.”

“Most gardeners panic when they see one bug eating,” says another gardener, who chides the “spray-happy people who rain destruction on a whole garden for one squash bug. I usually let them eat, and spray only when a crop is really threatened. ” Insect pests will eventually come into balance with their natural enemies, he suggests. Read the rest of this entry »

Freeze green beans whole to prevent sogginess. Blanch in boiling water for three minutes, cool in ice water, and blot dry before freezing.

Chop or slice onions and green pepper and freeze raw. Toss into cooked dishes straight from the freezer.

To quick-freeze berries, pour them, unwashed if possible, or well-drained, on a cookie sheet and pop into the freezer. When frozen, spoon into small plastic bags or containers and return to freezer. Read the rest of this entry »

Pick herbs before noon for the best taste. Use a food processor for effortless chopping of chives, parsley, basil, dill, chervil, fennel, marjoram, tarragon, and oregano. Freeze the excess in small amounts and pop frozen into cooked dishes for almost fresh flavor.

Throw some butter into your food processor with an herb to be chopped, for quick herb butter. Use on fish, meat, or breads.

To dry herbs you can:

• spread them out loosely on screens or paper in a warm, dark attic,
• hang in perforated paper bags,
• dry in a 100° oven with the door left ajar. Spread out thinly. Read the rest of this entry »

If you have a root cellar, keep it cool in the fall when it’s full of produce by opening ventilators on brisk nights and closing them on warm, sunny days. That’s an easy way to keep the temperature and humidity at ideal levels.

Choose to grow thin-necked varieties of onions rather than thick-necked ones, and you’ll have less incidence of onion-neck rot in storage. Cure them in sun for a week or two after harvest, then lay screens in the rafters of your garage or attic and spread the onions one layer thick. Leave them there for a month or so. Make sure onion necks are thoroughly dry before clipping to an inch or two. Store in a cool, dry place with good ventilation. Read the rest of this entry »

Lazy gardeners, here’s a crop that has no weeds or insect pests, needs no soil, grows in any kind of weather, and is ready for harvest in two to five days. Grow your own sprouts in winter, for a continuing supply of high-vitamin greens. All you need to invest is a minute or two a day for rinsing. Read the rest of this entry »

Pine Origins

There are many different types of pine tree. Pinus sylvestris, one of the varieties used to produce essential oil, grows widely throughout Europe and the USSR, the main distillation centres being in Austria and the USSR.

Pine Essential oil

Steam distillation of pine needles produces a colourless oil with a strong odour reminiscent of balsam.

Pine Most common uses

Powerful antiseptic for the respiratory tract in cases of colds, influenza, pneumonia, asthma, sinusitis, bronchitis and laryngitis Read the rest of this entry »

Marjoram Origins

This is a small plant found in the eastern Mediterranean countries, southern Europe and north Africa.

Marjoram Essential oil

Steam distillation of the flowers and leaves produces an oil that ranges in colour from pale yellow to rich amber. It has a warm, spicy aroma.

Marjoram Most common uses

• calms and regulates the nervous system
• good for insomnia, depression and anxiety
• relieves aching limbs and rheumatic conditions
• helps nervous stomach and digestion Read the rest of this entry »

Geranium Origins

Of the 700 different varieties of geranium, around seven are used to produce essential oils. The most exquisitely scented essential oil is Geranium Bourbon, which is obtained from Reunion, an island in the Indian Ocean that produces half the world’s total supply, and Algeria.

Geranium Essential oil

Steam distillation of the leaves and stems, gathered before flowering, produces a yellowish green to brown oil with a powerful aroma. It is a joyful, mentally uplifting oil and a great favourite. Its perfume makes it a valuable addition to many therapeutic but otherwise unattractively scented oils. Read the rest of this entry »

Your kitchen garden can be as simple as a few herbs in pots outside your back door, or a proper vegetable and herb garden.

The type of garden you choose will depend upon the space you have available, the amount of sun it gets, the time you have to spend in the garden, and to a certain extent, your own taste in food. A small-scale kitchen garden could perhaps consist of a few herbs and some tomatoes, lettuce and carrots. Read the rest of this entry »

Every garden needs a little mulch. Mulch is a thick blanket of material laid on the ground near plants or in the walkways. It blocks sunlight, keeps weeds from growing, holds moisture in the soil, and keeps the soil temperature steady and cool. Mulch is a must for many dry-country gardeners who are trying to cut down on their watering, and for folks who haven’t got the time to stir up the soil every week to stop weeds from getting started.

People use all kinds of organic matter and material for mulch—grass clippings, bark chips, peat moss, pine needles, leaves, sawdust, black plastic, and so on. Read the rest of this entry »

Only two rules for thirsty plants

Water from this “impact” sprinkler hits a deflector, causing the head to rotate continuously. In most cases, sprinklers should run until soil is moist to a depth of 4 or 5 inches.

There are only two rules for watering the garden correctly: water at the proper time and water deeply.

Too many gardeners, especially beginners, feel they must water a garden. But you should water your plants only when they really need it. How do you tell? Look at your plants in the morning. If they are wilted, it’s a sure sign that the soil has very little moisture left to provide for plants. It’s time to water! Read the rest of this entry »

1. Gamble and Plant early

There’s more moisture in the soil in early spring than any other time of the year. As soon as you can work the soil and prepare seedbeds, gamble some seeds and plant some early crops. Push ahead your plantings of corn and potatoes, too. These crops take lots of water, and the more growth they can put on before dry weather, the better it is for you.

2. Don’t Fertilize too much early in the year

You’d be amazed at how few roots will develop in over- fertilized soils. Plants can get all the food they need close to the surface with just a small root system. So they don’t bother to go down deep. When a dry spell occurs, look out! They suffer quickly, you wind up watering them every day. It’s better for your crops if they have to work for their food and water. Let them develop far-reaching root systems which penetrate deep in the soil before you give them big helpings of plant food. Read the rest of this entry »

CIRCLE THE PLANTS

With tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, and other transplanted crops, dig a shallow circular furrow around each plant. Sprinkle the fertilizer in evenly and cover it. Put this circle of plant food about 5 or 6 inches away from the plant stem. But if the plant

Is quite large, put it right around the outer leaves or “drip line” of the plant. There are many shallow feeder roots there so the fertilizer will move down into the soil with the next rain and be taken up quickly. Read the rest of this entry »

BROCCOLI

Side-dress when the head begins to form. It may be only the size of a fifty-cent piece when you notice it, but go ahead and side-dress. Amount needed: 1 to 2 tablespoons complete fertilizer per plant.

BRUSSELS SPROUTS

I usually side-dress brussels sprouts when I harvest the first small marble-size sprouts. Amount: 1 tablespoon complete fertilizer per plant.

CABBAGE

The best time to side-dress cabbage is when it starts to form a head. In my wide rows of cabbage, that’s when the leaves of the plants are about to completely shade the row. Amount needed: 1 tablespoon of complete fertilizer per plant. Read the rest of this entry »

Composting is one of the most important things we gardeners can do. A good compost pile recycles vegetable scraps and other wastes from the garden and yard. We can “harvest” some free fertilizer for the garden, save money, and lessen our need for outside fertilizers. Composting also helps the community because it reduces the amount of garbage other people have to deal with. One of my dreams is to see every household in a town with a compost pile. Read the rest of this entry »