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.
Air-Slaked Lime. A pure limestone is a carbonate, and the chemical formula is CaCO3. When it is burned, the carbon dioxide (CO2) is driven off, leaving CaO, which is calcium oxide, called fresh burned...
The number of palms adapted to house culture is very limited but they comprise the most elegant of the decorative plants. Although popular now, they would be much more widely used if their culture wer...
Pansies are old and popular favorites, they embrace varieties with variously-colored flowers, from almost jet black, to pure white and yellow. They are easily grown from seed. The general custom is to...
The flower garden not being one of the necessities of life, in the usual sense of the term, people are likely to consider the making of it of so little importance that it is hardly worth while to give...
Insects Class Eating a Sucking b Diseases Parasitical c Constitutional d
Early kinds should be planted as soon as the ground has become sufficiently dry and warm. Late market varieties should be planted about two weeks later than the early ones. Unquestionably more bushels...
When the lawn is made we begin to puzzle over the planting of trees and shrubbery. What shall we have? Where shall we have it? One of the commonest mistakes made by the man who is his own gardener is...
The spring is preferable to the fall for setting out trees and shrubs of all kinds. In the Northern States they should be set out about the first of April, to give the roots time enough to become esta...
Amateur gardeners are always wanting plants for some special purpose, and, for their benefit, I propose to devote this chapter to "special-purpose" information. "What shall we grow to shade doors and...
The method of choosing and rooting cuttings has been outlined in a previous chapter (see page 29). In greenhouse work the main difference is that they are taken in much larger quantities. For this rea...
However much lime or other fertilizers may be applied to the soil, still great benefit is derived from the use of plaster, (sulphate of lime.) After all, plaster is the main dependence of the potato-g...
Cuttings and small plants are put into two-inch or "thumb" pots. Some of the larger growing geraniums or very sturdy plants require two-and-one-half inch pots, but the smaller size should be used when...