Planned spring planting plus knowing how to store crops at harvest time add up to fresh vegetables out of your garden in summer, fall, winter, and spring. Of course, to have a greater variety and more interesting menus the year around, you’ll want to freeze or can some. But, you know, there’s nothing like fresh, … Read more
Gardening is one exciting adventure with many side trips along the way. One of my favorite trips was made with a cardoon plant. The 18-month sojourn began when I saw dried cardoon flowers used in an interesting arrangement. Discovering The Cardoon Vegetable Checking with an encyclopedia, I discovered that the cardoon is a vegetable. I … Read more
For a real treat this winter, why not freeze your home-grown corn right on the cob? In the first place, I believe that this method produces the finest-flavored frozen corn. The second place is the easiest way to freeze corn. Freezing Method Cutting the kernels of a large quantity of corn direct from the garden … Read more
By planting tubers of Jerusalem artichokes (Helianthus tuberosus), a colorful plant may be added to the shrubbery border, or to brighten a corner of the garden. This sunflower grows 6’ to 8’ feet high. In autumn, it is topped with many clusters of gay, golden-yellow, daisy flowers, 2” to 3” inches across. In my shrubbery … Read more
The alliums lend a note of aristocracy to any flower garden. The largest genera of the lily family, they possess great diversity. Allium Albopilosum “Star of Persia” For instance, there is Allium albopilosum, which I call the Star of Persia because it originated in that far land and is a loose, open ball of some … Read more
If you consider fine food one of life’s pleasures, you are probably aware that there is no substitute for tender, succulent vegetables right from your garden. Not only is the flavor finer when picked before it fully matures, but you can also plant better varieties, often neglected by commercial growers. Their main interest is a … Read more
With home-freezing of foods steadily on the increase, fresh homegrown vegetables and fruits are still more important than ever before. Since the revival brought about by the recession, the continued interest in backyard vegetable and fruit growing owes at least part of its popularity to enthusiasm for home-freezing. Growing food for this purpose is no … Read more
After spending most of the summer fighting bugs and insects and praying for rain to grow vegetables that are fit to eat, some of our gardeners like to store surplus vegetables. When I was a youngster at home, stored vegetables made up a large part of our food supply. Among those items that seemed to … Read more
So, here we are again! Just for the fun of it, dear readers, go back to your last issue of HORTICULTURE to pick up the reference to Cleopatra and her all-important share in this yam—about salads and salad making! Garlic and Olive Oil This last half of the story, in a sense, deals with a … Read more
I became convinced of the value of planting strawberries in the fall of the mid-1990s. I have been systematically experimenting with strawberries since 1993 to grow the greatest yield from a given area. Dozens of experiments confirm this statement: you get the largest yield from the matted row system. Mother plants are set in September … Read more