The car you drive is both beautiful and useful. So is your home, your kitchen, and the bridge over which the highway crosses the river. Why, then, have so many of you homeowners shied away from applying this same principle, combining utility with beauty in the landscaping of your homes? Those of you whose limited … Read more
Here at sunny acres, we have 25 dwarf fruit trees planted in the spring of 1952. These include apples, pears, plums, and cherries. This fall, there will be fruit on all trees and good crops on the Number Nine Dwarf Mailings, especially the Macintosh and Red Gravenstein. In recent years, there has been an increased … Read more
Birds are most desirable in the garden for their unique insect and weed seed destruction powers. That does not mean they should be welcome to the gardener’s laboriously tended crop of cherries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and grapes! However, the latest studies on wildlife preferences for foods among the fruiting plants make it clear that by … Read more
The grape varieties grown by home gardeners are hybrids or crosses among two or more distinct species. The European wine grape, Vitis vinifera, is part of most grape varieties used for grape juice and wines. The fox grape— labrusca, the muscadine grape—rotundifolia, and the Southern summer grape have all been used as parents. In the … Read more
Fall is a good time to plant fruits. Trees and bushes set out during the autumn months will start growth early the following spring—just as soon as weather conditions are favorable and usually before it is feasible to do any spring planting. Thus, fruits planted in the fall get off to a quicker start and … Read more
Dwarf fruit trees are both ornamental and productive. In the spring, they produce abundant flowers, and in late summer and fall, a crop of delicious and attractive fruit. Tree-ripened fruits, especially peaches, are far superior to those in city markets. A dwarf orchard on a plot of land only 60’ by 30’ feet will provide … Read more
If you have decided that you must have a pear tree in your backyard, it is best to find out about the characteristics and uses of the various varieties before you purchase your tree. Some pears are fine for canning but poor for eating raw. Others are excellent, canned, or raw, and still, others have … Read more
The wild beach plum deserves much more attention than it is now given. Prunus Maritima, in scientific terminology, is a three to 6’ foot-high bush, thin and limping when young, thick, and spreading when mature. In places, the bushes occur in extensive patches which may cover several hundred square feet. It is native along the … Read more
Every real gardener has a secret longing to keep their garden growing throughout the year. The harvest is so bountiful at times that we often wish there were some way to spread it more evenly to cover the lean months when the garden lies buried under snow and ice. When we first became interested in … Read more
In late Autumn, rural homes, boundaries of arable lands, and persimmon orchards of Japan are decorated with abundant, delicious fruits — ranging from bright red to orange-yellow — of Japanese persimmons. They have been our most affectionate and intimate fruit trees for many centuries. Now, they are becoming important not only in the home garden … Read more