Just Take the Soil As You Find It A gardener must make up his mind to use the soil he has. Of course, there is such a thing as buying top soil and having it trucked in. But it is expensive and not always satisfactory. So, what should be done? Here is a sound pattern Pick up trash and have […]
Planting Information on popular plants “Isn’t it pretty, I simply must have one of those” is a phrase which has rung the death knell of any number of gardens. Bought for some particular moment of flower or fruit, with no thought for the character or balance of the garden as a whole, any number of unrelated plants jostle in beds […]
The Delphinium Society was founded in June 1928. These were the days of large gardens with the staff to maintain them and many nurseries specializing in delphiniums. The first show was truly spectacular with literally hundreds of delphiniums being exhibited. There were 13 trade stands and the classes called for large numbers of spikes, 50 in one, 42 in another. […]
Fuchsias are shrubs and in mild districts the hardiest kinds, such as F. magellanica and its variety riccartonii, are used for hedges. But most of the hybrid forms grown are not so hardy and are treated as disposable bedding plants or plants for a ‘cool greenhouse, apart from the warmer parts of the country. They are readily trained as bushes, […]
The genus Dianthus is large, but the popular garden flowers are border carnations, growing about 2 1/2 ft. tall, with exquisitely formed blooms and smooth-edged petals, and pinks in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and heights. They need a sunny, well-drained position, but are not suited to areas which have severe winters. Any soil suits them, so long as […]
Plum Tree Plums are popular for cooking, jam making and bottling or canning, but the sweeter varieties are among our most delicious dessert fruits. Damsons ripen a little later than most plums. The fruits are small, oval and richly flavored, but not really sweet enough for the general taste for eating raw. They are, however, excellent for cooking, preserves and […]
You can control many planting conditions. You can add water with a hose if it does not rain. But you can’t turn the sun on if your plants need extra light or heat This just means that you must take normal sun and prevailing wind conditions into consideration when you plan and when you plant. Use shady lawn mixtures where […]
While bananas, pineapples and the various members of the genus Citrus require so much heat that they are mostly outside the range of the ordinary amateur gardener, a number of hardier fruits can be obtained earlier with the aid of glass protection. Some heat is necessary. The blossom and newly-set fruitlets of all our so-called hardy fruits are vulnerable to […]
Cherries Two main groups of cherries are cultivated for the merit of their fruit, the `sweet’, dessert (Prunus avium) and the `sour’, culinary (Prunus cerasus); a third group, the ‘Duke’ cherries, form an intermediate class. The sweets are subdivided into the ‘black’ and ‘white’ varieties. All fruiting cherries are hardy in the British Isles, though the blossom may be damaged […]
Fruit If you have space in the garden, people like to grow fruit and vegetables due to better flavored, fresher and less expensive than stores. If the are to be grown at all it is worth growing them really well. So before planting make sure that your soil is deep, well dug, clean of weeds, moist, open to sun and […]