Independent gardening advice for real gardens, balconies and windowsills.
Practical advice on growing food and flowers, improving soil, and making the most of small spaces. Start anywhere — the garden will meet you.
Much of the above is applicable also to the starting of plants out-of- doors, for second and for succession crops, such as celery and late cabbage. Select for the outside seed-bed the most thoroughly...
This beautifully prepared garden spot--or rather the plant food in it-- is to be transformed into good things for your table, through the ever wonderful agency of plant growth. The thread of life inhe...
With cucurbits, germination depends on high-enough soil temperature and not too much moisture. Squash are the most chill and moisture tolerant, melons the least. Here's a failure-proof and simple tech...
Soaking seeds before sowing is another water-wise technique, especially useful later in the season. At bedtime, place the seeds in a half-pint mason jar, cover with a square of plastic window screen h...
Location April May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Eureka, CA 3.0 2.1 0.7 0.1 0.3 0.7 3.2 Medford, OR 1.0 1.4 0.98 0.3 0.3 0.6 2.1 Eugene, OR 2.3 2.1 1.3 0.3 0.6 1.3 4.0 Portland, OR 2.2 2.1 1.6 0.5 0.8 1.6...
The large-growing sorts are set as much as six by eight feet apart, though with careful staking and pruning they may be comfortably handled in less space. The smaller sorts need about four by six. Whe...
Before taking up the garden vegetables individually, I shall outline the general practice of cultivation, which applies to all. The purposes of cultivation are three--to get rid of weeds, and to stimu...
This is really a trailing blackberry and needs the same culture, except that the canes are naturally slender and trailing and therefore, for garden culture, must have support. They may be staked up, o...
Under this heading are included: Bean, dwarf Bean, pole Corn Peas Cucumber Egg-plant Melon, musk Melon, water Okra Pepper Pumpkins Squash Tomato Most of these vegetables differ from both the preceding...
This is given practically the same treatment as the currant. It is even more important that it should be given the coolest, airiest, location possible, and the most moist soil. Even a partially shaded...
No garden is so small that there cannot be found in it room for three or four grape-vines; no fruit is more certain, and few more delicious. If it is convenient, a situation fully exposed to the sun,...
Having selected the garden spot, the next consideration, naturally, is what shall be planted in it. The old way was to get a few seed catalogues, pick out a list of the vegetables most enthusiasticall...