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.
Beet, early | 1 oz. | Edmund's Early, Early Model Broccoli, early | 35 | Early White French Borecole | 25 | Dwarf Scotch Curled Brussels sprouts | 35 | Dalkeith, Danish Prize Cabbage, early | 35 | Wak...
It may seem to the reader that it is all very well to make a garden with a pencil, but that the work of transferring it to the soil must be quite another problem and one entailing so much work that he...
Does crop growth equal water use? Most people would say this statement seems likely to be true. Actually, faster-growing crops use much less soil moisture than slower-growing ones. As early as 1882 it...
For white-grub and cut-worm see pages elsewhere in the text. For rust, which frequently injures the leaves so seriously as to cause practical loss of crop, choose hardy varieties and change bed freque...
I use the term "methods of fighting" rather than the more usual one, "remedies," because by both experience and study I am more and more convinced that so long as the commercial fields of agriculture...
Formerly it was the custom for gardeners to invest their labors and achievements with a mystery and secrecy which might well have discouraged any amateur from trespassing upon such difficult ground. "...
Beet, late July-August 2 3-4 in. 15 in. Borecole May-June[2] 1/2-1 2 ft. 2-1/2 ft. Broccoli May-June[2] 1/2-1 2 ft. 2-1/2 ft. Brussels sprouts May-June[2] 1/2-1 1-1/2 ft. 2-1/2 ft. Cabbage late May-Ju...
Probably one of the good resolutions made with the New Year was a better garden for the coming summer. The psychologists claim that the only hope for resolutions is to nail them down at the start with...
Depending on the garden for a significant portion of my annual caloric intake has gradually refined my eating habits. Years ago I learned to like cabbage salads as much as lettuce. Since lettuce freez...
When roots decay, fresh organic matter and large, long-lasting passageways can be left deep in the soil, allowing easier air movement and facilitating entry of other roots. But no cover crop that I am...
Spring-sown market kohlrabi are usually harvested before hot weather makes them get woody. Irrigation is not required if they're given a little extra elbow room. With ordinary varieties, try thinning...
For the first years that I experimented with dry gardening I went overboard and attempted to grow food as though I had no running water at all. The greatest difficulty caused by this self-imposed hand...