Organic gardening This is a system of gardening in which organic products (derived from organisms that have had life) are used to maintain and increase soil fertility. Until the nineteenth-century gardeners relied almost solely on organic wastes for manuring the […]

Gardening has been described as ‘interfering with nature’, because in our gardens we try to make plants grow where they do not normally thrive and remove all those plants which distribute themselves naturally. In the wild state each plant grows […]

These are low-growing plants used for the front of flower beds, either annuals raised under glass and bedded out in the spring, or sown in the open where they are to flower or perennials. Although they are seen more often […]

There are thousands of species of beetles and weevils (Coleoptera) in our garden world. They vary greatly in size, appearance, and habits. A number of them are garden or household pests, but others are useful predators on other insects and […]

Fertilizers Fertilizers provide plants with nutrients; they are commonly listed in catalogues under: Straight fertilizers, Compound fertilizers, Liquid fertilizers. Straight fertilizers These are used to supply a specific nutrient. If you wish to make your spring cabbages grow away more […]

This is the practice of encouraging plants to flower or fruit early. The simplest form of forcing is done by inverting a tub over rhubarb crowns to encourage etiolated growth. Similarly rhubarb, sea-kale, dandelion and chicory can be forced under […]

Garden Path Design and Planning Paths in the garden The actual layout of a path should take into consideration the time and amount of money which is available. The garden may be a new one, where paths are to be […]

In the early days of gardening in the British Isles, garden designs were based on geometric patterns, always emphasizing regularity of form. During Elizabethan times topiary and terraces with heraldic beasts as ornaments, and quiet lawns were the order of […]

This is a valuable division of garden plants, for by the biennial habit of storing up in the first season a reserve which is expended wholly in the second season, a much greater quantity of blossom is possible than with […]

Lime and liming Lime is strictly defined as a white caustic alkaline substance—quicklime; chemically, calcium oxide (CaO); made by heating chalk or limestone. But in gardening, lime means any calcium-containing material which is capable of correcting soil acidity. Why lime […]