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The herbaceous border, which is a comparative newcomer to the garden scene, is still one of its most popular features. Introduced at the turn of the century by Gertrude Jekyll as a protest against the monotonous formality of Victorian garden design, its popularity has steadily increased until today there are few gardens without some kind of perennial border to enhance […]
Beetroot This sweet salad vegetable has a high food value. It needs deep soil and is best suited to a place where a previous non-root crop has been grown. Do not add fresh manure, as this is inclined to cause root forking. If instead of growing vegetables in the kitchen garden, they are grown in the old-fashioned cottager’s way interspersed with […]
BEANS Beans include many types of snap beans, pole beans, and Southern peas, such as black-eyed types. Plant these in spring after all danger of frost has passed. Because they grow so fast, start beans from seed directly in the garden. To speed their sprouting, soak seeds in water overnight before planting. Green beans that grow on low, bush type […]
Information pertaining to broadleaf trees. Listed below are common trees with care facts. ACER Most maples thrive on lime and chalk, including British natives and those commonly planted. The Chinese species, such as AA, capillipes, davidii, ginnala, griseum and rufinerve, make a splendid display in chalk gardens. A. palmatum and its cultivars need more fertile soil. The American A. rubrum […]
SWEET CORN No other vegetable captures the succulence of summer like sweet corn. Whether you like your kernels white, yellow, or with both colors on the same ear, new hybrids offer incredibly delicious flavor with very little effort. A warm weather vegetable, sweet corn must not be planted until after the last frost when the soil is warm. Because sweet […]
Summer Mulching. An even temperature around the roots and a steady supply of moisture in the soil are all important to growing plants. A mulch, applied in early summer after hot weather begins, tends to maintain these conditions as well as to control harmful weeds. Mulch materials suitable for summer use are numerous, and the choice will often depend on […]
The cabbage family includes the following vegetables that grow best in cool weather: cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, kale, collards, and a delicious, yet little-known vegetable, called kohlrabi. Most of these vegetables are sold as transplants in the spring and again in late summer for planting in the fall garden. They are not difficult to grow if you give them […]
The flower form resembles an eagle’s claw, hence the probable origin of this name from aquila the Latin for eagle (Ranunculaceae). Columbine. Hardy herbaceous perennials for the herbaceous border and rock garden. The flowers and leaves are very dainty. Unfortunately, they are inclined to be short lived in heavy wet soils, but they are easily increased by seed. The flowers […]
Said to be an old Greek name for a similar plant (Compositae). Hardy perennials with white wooly foliage and flowers which can be cut before maturity and dried for use as `everlastings’, sometimes being dyed. Species cultivated Cultivation Anaphalis are suitable for the rock garden or for borders, according to size. An ordinary garden soil and a sunny position suits […]
Broccoli, Sprouting This is another variety, italica, of Brassica oleracea. Both purple and white sprouting produce a profusion of young shoots invaluable for prolonging the supplies of winter greens. Purple sprouting is the most hardy and will safely overwinter in most open situations. Young shoots may be produced for Christmas, but it is in March and April that the vegetable […]