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 »

Lima beans, horticultural beans, and blackeye peas are my favorite shell beans. I pick them when the beans inside have formed but are still soft and tender. They can grow to the dry stage, but if you let them do that, you’ll miss out on an early harvest and some very good eating.

Lima beans need 11 or 12 weeks of frost-free weather

To know the real taste of lima beans, you must eat them fresh from a home garden. There’s no comparison between fresh and store-bought. Succotash, that terrific blend of fresh corn, milk, butter, and limas, isn’t worth a hoot without fresh lima beans. Read the rest of this entry »

I blanch it with its own leaves

A thriving row of cauliflower is a spectacular sight in the vegetable garden, but few people think they can have great success with it. I think it’s as easy to grow as any cabbage family crop. Cauliflower is less tolerant to hot weather than its relatives, though, so it’s important to set your plants out very early or plan on a fall crop. If the heads mature in the heat, they’re apt to have a bitter taste or go by very quickly.

For your first crop, set out some plants 3 or 4 weeks before the average date of the last spring frost. Pinch off a couple of the lower leaves.

As cauliflower heads get to be 4 to 5 inches across, they should be blanched by preventing sunlight from reaching the heads. Read the rest of this entry »

Some gardeners are hesitant to try celery and I understand why. It needs a long time to grow—up to 4 months of mostly cool weather. Celery also demands steady water and fertilizer because its root system is near the surface. But if your soil holds water well and has plenty of organic matter in it, you’re in good shape, especially if you plant early and harvest early.

Because celery takes such a long time to grow, start the seeds indoors early. Celery seeds are slow to germinate, so you can soak them overnight to speed the process. Plant them indoors 10 to 12 weeks before the average last frost date. Read the rest of this entry »

Chard has a lot going for it. You can plant it as soon as you can work your garden in the spring, and it will provide tasty, nutritious greens for months. Through cold weather or hot, it won’t get bitter, tough, or strong as long as you keep it harvested.

With wide rows you can get basket after basket of chard to can or freeze for the winter. To me, it’s the perfect green for a wintertime meal. It tastes good, it’s nutritious, and it’s a lot cheaper than store-bought greens. Read the rest of this entry »

Building your rows up to form raised beds can help you grow better root crops. Sometimes in heavy clay or shallow soils it’s a hassle getting long, straight carrots or parsnips, or large, well- shaped beets. The answer is to create a raised bed and heap extra topsoil onto the row from the walkways. It sounds like a lot of work but it’s not.

No matter what kind of soil you plant root crops in, get the seedbed smooth and as free of clods and rocks as possible. In rocky, clumpy ground, all the seeds won’t poke through the soil at the same time. This is a problem when you rake-thin and weed the first time.

Coaxing carrots with 0-20-0

To coax the best root crops possible from your soil, add a little phosphorus fertilizer to the seedbeds before planting. Broadcast a common commercial fertilizer such as 5-10-10. Use about 1 quart for each 100 square feet and mix it in the top 2 or 3 inches of soil. Read the rest of this entry »

squirrels & chipmunks

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 »

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.

Four fertilizers that supply all the major foods.

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.

• Blood, fish and bone Slowly releases nitrogen, phosphorus and potash; use before sowing or planting, or around established plants.
• Fishmeal Dig in before planting or sowing in spring. Read the rest of this entry »

These are the essential tools, used during soil cultivation, sowing and planting.

• Fork For digging heavy soils, breaking down rough-dug soil and for light surface cultivation. The head of a full-size four- tine fork measures 30.5 x 19cm/12 x 7¹/2in; that of a small border fork measures 23 x 14cm/9 x5 1/2 in.

• Hoe For surface cultivation, particularly to eradicate weeds between rows of plants. There are two basic types: the Dutch Hoe, which cuts horizontally through the soil; and the Draw Hoe, which is used with a chopping action (particularly recommended for stony or heavy soils, and also for making seed drills). Both have 1.5m/5ft handles. Read the rest of this entry »

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 »

Success with this method depends upon providing the right conditions. Warmth and humidity are essential for good results in every case.

• Alpines Take small cuttings as soon as ready in spring. Best rooted in greenhouse.
• Chrysanthemum Outdoor and greenhouse kinds. Remove 5cm/2in-long cuttings from as close as possible to crown of plant. Root in greenhouse.
• Dahlia Start tubers into growth in heated greenhouse early in year. Take 8cm/3in-long cuttings from the tubers and root in warmth and humidity.
• Delphinium Remove 8cm/3in-long shoots from as close as possible to crown of plant in spring. Root in greenhouse. Read the rest of this entry »

To extend the lift of a cut flower display, pick the bloomsin the early morning or in the evening. Cut at an angle to expose more water-carrying cells. The following are specially recommended for cutting, as the flowers are long-lasting when arranged in water.

• Chalk plant (Gypsophila elegans) Half-hardy annual with sprays of tiny white flowers in summer. 45-60cm/1¹/-2ft. A good choice for chalky soils.
• China aster(Callistephus chinensis) Half-hardy annual. Blooms (mid-summer to autumn) vary from chrysanthemum shape to pompon, and come in many colours. 30-60cm/1-2ft. Sun and good soil are needed for best results; but choose a sheltered spot for tall varieties. Read the rest of this entry »

Annuals and Biennials

Annuals and biennials flower once before dying. They are easily raised from seeds and are thus a comparatively inexpensive — but time-consuming — way to provide a wealth of colour in spring or summer, whether for container gardening, for bedding schemes, as aplentiful source of cut flowers, or as colourful fillers in a border or rock garden. Most plants in both categories perform best when situated in plenty of sun and planted in well-drained soil.

Hardy annuals are sown outdoors in early to mid- spring in the place where they are to flower. Half- hardy annuals (also known as summer bedding plants) are frost-tender and need to be raised in a greenhouse in early or mid-spring and planted out when the danger of frost is over. Some hardy annuals propagate themselves by self-sowing. Read the rest of this entry »

Three pruning methods for roses

Pruning roses will not reward you with more flowers nextyear. However, it will control shape and maintain health. Wild (species) roses and hybrid shrub roses need no pruning — just the removal of dead wood.

• Bush types Large-flowered (hybrid tea) and cluster-flowered (floribunda) roses are pruned annually in early spring. Remove all weak growth and reduce remaining strong stems to 15-20cm/6-8in above ground level. Cut to outward-facing buds. Make sure centre of each bush is free from growth: shape bush like a vase.
• ClimbersAllow a framework of permanent stems which are trained to their supports. From these stems side shoots grow, which produce the flowers. To prune, cut back old side shoots to within one or two buds of their base in early spring. Tips of main stems can also be cut back, if becoming too tall. Read the rest of this entry »

Three bulbs and corms for growing in grass

Grassy areas can be made colourful by planting bulbs andcorms, perhaps around the bases of trees or on banks. Do not cut the grass until at least 9 weeks after the flowers have faded, or there will be few or no flowers next year.

• Crocus, large-flowered Dutch Large, goblet-shaped flower in shades of yellow, purples, blue or white in spring. 10— 15cm/4-9in. Full sun needed for blooms to open.
• Crocus, autumn-flowering (Crocus speciosus) Lilac flowers in autumn, leaves following in spring. 10cm/4in. Full sun and well-drained soil.
• Daffodil, miniature (Narcissus bulbocodium and N. cyclamineus) Yellow flared and trumpet-shaped miniature flowers respectively, in spring. 15cm/9in. Moist soil, and sun or partial shade. Plant generously in drifts. Read the rest of this entry »

Bulbs and corms are virtually guaranteed to flower, with a minimum of soil preparation, as the flower buds are already formed inside them when they are planted. If you give them the right conditions, they will bloom regularly each year.

Because, on the whole, bulbs and corms are relatively inexpensive compared with, say, shrubs, you can afford to mass-plant them, which certainly creates the best effect. Spring bulbs are so well known that many gardeners do not realize that there are bulbs and corms that can be planted for flowering at other seasons — not just in spring, which is the peak time. Spring-flowering bulbs are planted in autumn, summer-flowering bulbs in spring, and autumn-flowering bulbs in summer. Read the rest of this entry »

These are widely planted small trees which you could include in a shrub border to give extra height; or, if you prefer you could use them as isolated specimens, although none of them has a particularly distinctive shape.

• Autumn cherry (Prunus subhirtella `Autumnalis) An extremely useful deciduous tree for winter interest, as the small, semi-double, white flowers are produced, on and off, between late autumn and early spring. 6m/20ft. Any fertile soil is suitable. Sun or partial shade.
• Crab apple(Malus floribunda) Popular and beautiful deciduous spring-flowering tree. The arching branches bear masses of white flowers, from red buds. Later, small yellow and red fruits appear. About 4.5m/15ft. Sun or partial shade, fertile soil. Read the rest of this entry »

Birds usually create the biggest problem, but you should look out too for mites and weevils.

• Apple blossom weevil The small white grubs of this tiny brown beetle eat the central parts of apple flowers. Infested blossoms fail to open. Spray with permethrin as the buds are forming or fenitrothion as the buds burst open.
• Big bud mites Tiny mites that live in large numbers inside the buds of blackcurrants. Infected buds are swollen and round, and usually fail to come into growth. Pick off and burn; spray with benomyl fungicide in spring and early summer. Read the rest of this entry »

Corny it may be, but there is no more heart-warming sight to a gardener than the emerging spikes of the first spring bulbs. If you plant your bulbs early in boxes of good peaty compost— not bulb fibre, some of which is about as much good as sawdust—you should see the first signs of growth soon after Christmas. As I write (in early March) I have snowdrops and crocus, both the tiny species crocus, which I prefer, and the big fat hybrids, which I like less but have to admit are a welcome splash of colour just now. Then there are Eranthis hyemalis, the winter aconite, which has buttercup flowers surrounded by a frilly ruff of leaves as early as February and so is beginning to go over now, and chionodoxa, which have blue, pink or white star-shaped flowers; C. gigantea reaches 8 inches in height and has large pale violet-blue flowers with a paler centre and C. luciliae ‘Alba’ reaches 5 inches and has white flowers. The pink form C. luciliae ‘Pink Giant’ reaches 6 inches; it is not always easy to get hold of but worth growing if you can find it. Read the rest of this entry »

Succulents are easier to handle, though some of the agaves have sharply toothed leaves. Crassulas make good tree-like subjects for a desertscape.

C. argentea, the jade plant or money tree, could be combined with an aloe such as A. humilis, the hedgehog aloe, which is predictably very spiny, or with one of the echeverias, which make nice rosettes of fleshy, sharply tipped leaves. Sempervivums are not dissimilar in shape and

S. arachnoideum, the cobweb houseleek, is covered with a netting of fine cobwebby hairs. Among the sedums you can have S. morganianum, which grows down like a donkey’s tail, or S. rubrotinctum, the jelly bean plant, which looks just like that. Senecio rowleyanus is the string of beads plant, which grows tiny strings of green beadlike leaves. Lithops are pebble-like plants that are fascinating in themselves and very much more so when sporting their large daisy flowers. Read the rest of this entry »