Small Vegetable Garden, Big Yield

from Marie Iannotti
People have vegetable gardens form many reasons, but almost everyone considers taste a priority. Farmer's Markets have reintroduced the lusciousness of fresh produce to people who don't have the space or time to garden. But space really shouldn't be a consideration. Everyone has room for a pot or two and that's all it takes to enjoy growing something you can pick and eat fresher than even the best Farmer's Market.

 

Vegetable Gardening in a Small Space

 

You don’t need a farm to grow fresh vegetables, herbs and fruits. You don’t really even need a garden. Plant breeders know that after taste, home gardeners want a high yield in a small space. So they’ve been developing more varieties that can grow in a small foot print or even live in containers all year long.

The Small Vegetable Plot

Vegetable gardening used to be the poor relation of home gardens. Perennial borders reigned, mixed borders were most gardeners reality and vegetable gardens were hidden in the back yard, usually the domain of the man of the house. Vegetable gardens were about producing and a man could still be a man and garden with vegetables.

Now that vegetables have taken a more prominent place on the table, they are gaining more respect in the gardening world.

And with the increased interest from home gardeners, there has been a surge in the development of new varieties: colorful novelty vegetables, heirlooms, ethnic varieties and compact growers.

You don’t need a large area to have a vegetable garden. You do need good soil, plenty of sunshine, a water source and probably a fence. If you think the deer love your Hostas, the entire woodland community is going to enjoy your vegetable garden. If you plant it, they will come.

Siting Considerations

Sun: Vegetables need a good 6 or more hours of sun each day. Without sun, the fruits will not ripen and the plants will be stressed. There are a few crops that can survive in light shade, lettuce and other greens, broccoli and cole crops, but if you can’t provide sun, you might want to reconsider having a vegetable garden.

Water: Vegetables also require regular watering. Without regular water, vegetables will not fill out and some, like tomatoes, will crack open if suddenly plumped up with water after struggling without for awhile.

You can’t always rely on rain. If you have the means, a drip irrigation system is a definite plus for a vegetable garden. The new component systems are really quite easy to install and cost a lot less than most people think. And you’ll save money on water, because it goes directly to the plant’s roots. Less is lost to evaporation.

If you don’t want to opt for drip irrigation, try and site your vegetable garden near a water spigot. You’ll be more likely to water if you don’t have to drag the hose out.

Soil: The final consideration is essential. Vegetables need a soil rich in organic matter. Soil is important to the growth of all plants, but more so with vegetables, because even taste is affected by the quality of the soil. That’s part of why wine from the same grape variety can vary from region to region and why some areas grow hotter peppers than others.

If you can provide these three basics: sun, water and great soil, you can vegetable garden.

How Much Space Does it Take

Granted, a small space vegetable garden may not be enough for subsistence farming, but it will be enough to grow great tasting tomatoes, some beautiful heirloom eggplants or an endless supply of cutting greens. If you have limited space, consider what vegetables you can purchase fresh in your area already and what vegetables you truly love and/or miss.

Compact Varieties: If you must have a beefsteak tomato or a row of sweet corn, the variety in your small space vegetable garden will be limited. But you can choose varieties that are bred to grow in small spaces. Anything with the words patio, pixie, tiny, baby or dwarf in their name is a good bet. Just because a plant is bred to be small doesn’t mean the fruits will be small or the yield will be less.

Most seeds and seedlings will tell you the mature size of the plants you are selecting. Knowing that, you can space things out and see how much you can fit into your space. More likely however, you will do what most gardeners do and squeeze in as many seedlings as you can fit into your garden and deal with the crowding later. That’s one way to get a large yield from a small space.

If you are truly short of space, interplant your vegetables with your flowers. There’s no rule that says you can’t mix the two. It can be a bit harder to harvest, but many vegetables are quite ornamental in their own right.

Growing Up: If you do opt for a variety of vegetables in your garden, I would recommend the compact varieties and also vining crops that can be trained up on supports. Pole beans take up less space than bush beans. Vining cucumbers and squash, as aggressive as they can be, actually take up less area than their bush cousins.

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FIGHTING PLANT ENEMIES.

The devices and implements used for fighting plant enemies are of two sorts:

 

(1) those used to afford mechanical protection to the plants;

 

(2) those used to apply insecticides and fungicides.

 

Of the first the most useful is the covered frame. It consists usually of a wooden box, some eighteen inches to two feet square and about eight high, covered with glass, protecting cloth, mosquito netting or mosquito wire. The first two coverings have, of course, the additional advantage of retaining heat and protecting from cold, making it possible by their use to plant earlier than is otherwise safe. They are used extensively in getting an extra early and safe start with cucumbers, melons and the other vine vegetables.

 

Simpler devices for protecting newly-set plants, such as tomatoes or cabbage, from the cut-worm, are stiff, tin, cardboard or tar paper collars, which are made several inches high and large enough to be put around the stem and penetrate an inch or so into the soil.

For applying poison powders, the home gardener should supply himself with a powder gun. If one must be restricted to a single implement, however, it will be best to get one of the hand-power, compressed-air sprayers. These are used for  applying wet sprays, and should be supplied with one of the several forms of mist-making  nozzles, the non-cloggable automatic type being the best. For more extensive work a barrel pump, mounted on wheels, will be desirable, but one of the above will do a great deal of work in little time. Extension rods for use in spraying trees and vines may be obtained for either. For operations on a very small scale a good hand-syringe may be used, but as a general thing it will be best to invest a few dollars more and get a small tank sprayer, as this throws a continuous stream or spray and holds a much larger amount of the spraying solution. Whatever type is procured, get a brass machine it will out-wear three or four of those made of cheaper metal, which succumbs very quickly to the, corroding action of the strong poisons and chemicals used in them.

 

Of implements for harvesting, beside the spade, prong-hoe and spading- fork, very few are used in the small garden, as most of them need not only long rows to be economically used, but horse- power also. The onion harvester attachment for the double wheel hoe, may be used with advantage in loosening onions, beets, turnips, etc., from the soil or for cutting spinach. Running the hand- plow close on either side of carrots, parsnips and other deep-growing vegetables will aid materially in getting them out. For fruit picking, with tall trees, the wire-fingered fruit-picker, secured to the end of a long handle, will be of great assistance, but with the modern method of using low-headed trees it will not be needed.

 

Another class of garden implements are those used in pruning but where this is attended to properly from the start, a good sharp jack-knife and a pair of pruning shears will easily handle all the work of the kind necessary.

 

Still another sort of garden device is that used for supporting the plants; such as stakes, trellises, wires, etc. Altogether too little attention usually is given these, as with proper care in storing over winter they will not only last for years, but add greatly to the convenience of cultivation and to the neat appearance of the garden.

 

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Gardening on a Patio or Terrace

Your small garden on your patio or terrace is limited only by your imagination. You don't have to be confined or defined by the space. It's possible to grow fruit trees, fragrant vines, cutting flowers and patio tomatoes - all within an arms reach. It's an age old tradition that air conditioning has pushed out of favor.

Some of the most creative gardening takes place on patios. Create a touch of Tuscany on your terrace, incorporate the sound of spilling water or enclose yourself with fragrance.

Creating an Outdoor Room or a Small Garden Playground

Sometimes gardening isn’t limited by space, but by time and interest. If you love the idea of being surrounded by a garden, but you can’t see yourself spending countless hours with a pruner in your hands, a wonderful option is to create a garden paradise on your patio or terrace. You could still incorporate beds and containers, but you have the added element of hardscaping. They haven’t invented a stone yet that doesn’t look even better next to a plant. Even concrete looks chic. Building a patio or terrace is a major undertaking and not within my expertise. Many people would just as soon hire a professional for this job. About’s Landscaping Guide, David Beaulieu, has several excellent how tos for laying stone and brick. They’ll be very helpful for you do-it-yourselfers and I’ve provided links.

Once you have your terrace, planting it is the enjoyable part. Here I’ll talk about framing, softening the edges, creating paths and maximizing your patio’s potential.

Planting a Patio or Terrace

The main purpose of a patio or terrace is to have a place to relax and entertain. Surrounding yourself with the beauty of plants will make it that much easier. Even non-gardeners now consider their patios an extension of their homes - a room without walls. Rather than just providing a view, interior design is carried from the inside out.

Framing

Creating a distinction between your patio or terrace and your lawn is how you turn this outdoor space into an outdoor room. You can accomplish this by outlining the patio with a border, by building raised planters around the edge or by creating an edge with containers.

Borders: Having a border around your terrace is enjoying the best of both worlds. You have a true garden to putter in and you never have to leave the comfort of your living area. The border will probably be somewhat narrow, 2-4 feet, but a lot can be accomplished in this space. In addition to plants that spill onto the patio, like lady’s mantle and geraniums, you can create clusters of height with grasses or small shrubs. If the border runs between the house and the patio, you might want to try your hand at espalier, or growing a fruit tree trained to lay flat against the house wall. The heat of the house and the openness of the branches produces a considerable yield in a small space.

Built-ins: Many patio designs have built-in flower boxes along the perimeter. They delineate the space and provide additional seating. But more importantly, they provide an eye level garden. You have all the advantages and control of container gardening as well as the root insulation provided by brick or stone. Many plants will do well in these circumstances, but it’s especially nice to have scented plants: roses, heliotrope, gardenias, jasmine and sweet peas.

Containers: If you don’t have an edge border or built-in boxes, you can always create the effect with containers. Either an entire row of matched containers, simulating built-ins, or clusters of different sizes and shapes, filled with a variety of plant material.

Any of these options will create a distinction between your living space and the openness of the rest of your property.

Softening Hard Edges

Stone is beautiful, but on its own it can look cold, hard and uninviting. Two types of plants will be especially useful in turning your patio or terrace into an welcoming retreat.

1. Spillers: Plants that flow out onto the stone will automatically soften the hard edges. Light, airy foliage is especially good for this. Lady’s mantle (Alchemila mollis), Love-In-A-Mist (Nigella damascena), coreopsis, lavender and ferns are good examples. Just be sure to suit your plants to your sun exposure, because proximity to stone is going to intensify the heat.

2. Creepers: Unless your patio or terrace is paved, there are bound to be spaces between your stones. You’ll learn soon enough that weeds will readily grow there. So why not use the spaces to grow something more attractive? Thyme, sedum, scotch moss and creeping jenny are often used for this purpose. Don’t try to fill every crack. Plants can become slippery when squished or wet and you should use care that heavy traffic areas are safe. But a few selected spots will give your terrace a touch of Tuscany and a well lived in feel. You’ll be surprised how quickly these plants will acclimate and find their own way around the patio.

• Next

Getting Creative with Containers

Container Gardening - Photos and Ideas for Creating Container Gardens

Ornamental Grasses for Containers

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Fragrant Harvest

by: Laura Langston

Make the most of the magical herbs that grow in your garden. Learn when and how to pick and preserve nature’s own remedies, seasonings and crafty flowers

Herbs are useful as well as attractive. They perform beautifully in dried flower crafts, as seasonings and in remedies. It’s a shame to let them grow, blossom and fade without taking advantage of all their many properties. So we offer this simple guide to harvesting and preserving your herbs. When you harvest your herbs will depend, to some extent, on whether roots, flowers or leaves are used, and on what you’ll be using them for. If you’re crafting potpourri, for instance, you might gather rose petals, calendula flowers or poppy pods. In the kitchen, you might need basil leaves, chive flowers or dill seed. Making medicine, you might reach for feverfew leaves, camomile flowers or marshmallow root (herbs intended for medicines are harvested and dried by the same “rules” as other herbs). Generally, whatever your end result, keep these points in mind: NOTES Dill, rosemary, savory and sage—the treasures of your herb garden can translate into teas, medicines and heaven-sent seasonings. Harvest culinary herbs before their flowers bud, dry using a variety of simple techniques, and enjoy. A piece of screening, elevated so air can flow under it, is perfect for drying small-stemmed plants such as thyme, and flowers such as lavender and geranium (left). Harvest flowers just prior to full bloom, and seeds—sunflower, poppy and coriander—when they turn from green to brown. Many soft-leafed herbs—dill, chives, parsley, lovage and fennel—freeze even better than they dry. Put clean, dry herbs, whole or chopped, into plastic freezer bags. Or slip them into ice-cube trays and top with water. Hanging herbs in paper bags keeps dust and insects out. • Pick herbs on dry days only, late in the morning, after the dew has evaporated but before the sun is hot. Or pick at dusk. • Check plants daily: many open or mature quickly once they begin. •For optimal flavour, harvest culinary herbs just before buds open. (Once the plant flowers, it concentrates its vitality on blooms rather than leaves.) • For medicinal uses, harvest roots in fall before the ground freezes, and don’t harvest first-year plants—the roots need time to develop, strengthen and store the medicinal properties. •Harvest seeds when they turn from green to brown. Some may be brown but are still moist inside, so make sure seeds are also brittle and crushable. •Harvest flowers just prior to full bloom. •Discard wilted, yellowed or insect-attacked leaves, flowers, seeds or roots. •Fresh herbs are fragile. Handle gently, taking care not to crush leaves or flowers. DRYING Always dry herbs as quickly as possible. Choose a warm, dry spot with good air flow. Avoid kitchens, where airborne grease will cling to plants. Choose a dry basement, spare room, barn or an airy closet. Darkness isn’t necessary, but it does help retain flavour in culinary herbs and colour in dried flowers. If plant material isn’t starting to dry in a few days, a little extra air circulation from a fan or air conditioner (set on “circulate,” not “cold”) can help. Just make sure the flow is gentle and indirect, and not too hot. DRYING ON A FLAT SCREEN A piece of screening, elevated so that air can flow under it, is excellent for drying small-stemmed plants such as thyme, flower heads such as camomile, flower petals such as roses, and the decorative leaves of scented geraniums or lady’s mantle. Larger-stemmed herbs, especially those being used for cooking, such as tarragon, can also be dried this way. Just strip the leaves from the stems first. Spread herbs or flowers in a single layer and cover them with a thin sheet of cheesecloth or paper towel to keep the dust away. Stir them daily, changing their position to make sure they dry evenly. DRYING UPSIDE DOWN Gathering stems together with elastic bands and suspending them with a piece of string from the ceiling or a clothes hanger is a common way of drying culinary and crafting herbs such as sage, rosemary and artemisias. Hanging herbs sometimes attract insects or dust particles. To avoid this, tie the bundles and slip them into paper bags before hanging them. Punch a few holes in the bags to encourage air flow. Keep the herb bundles small and loose; large, tight bundles may hinder air flow, distort the herb’s shape or encourage mould. Select four to six stems per bundle. DRYING UPRIGHT BOTTLE IT Herbal vinegars—a great treat—can be expensive to buy but easy and economical to make at home. And they are another way of preserving the harvest. Single herbs—or combinations thereof—can be turned into herbal vinegar. Some cooks use a hot steeping method, warming the vinegar and herbs together, then leaving them to steep. Others insist heat destroys the acidity of the vinegar and dilutes the herbal taste. Whatever your opinion, cold steeping is faster and easier, and produces a highly flavoured vinegar. Start with a good-quality white or red wine vinegar, rice vinegar, sherry vinegar or cider vinegar. Take one clean, large glass jar and fill it three-quarters full with the herbs of your choice. Make sure the herbs are fresh, clean and in good shape. Top the herbs with vinegar. If the herbs float, take a wooden spoon and gently push them below the surface. Leave the blend to steep for at least four weeks (several months is better). Strain, bottle and store away from direct light. Slip a clean, fresh herb sprig into the vinegar when you bottle it if you plan to use it or give it away soon. Here are two recipes to get you started: ITALIAN BLEND Place handfuls of clean, dry oregano, basil and rosemary into a large glass jar. Add flat-leafed Italian parsley, two hot peppers and a few unblemished, clean and peeled garlic cloves. Top with white wine vinegar. FRENCH BLEND Place handfuls of clean, dry tarragon, thyme and chives into a large glass jar. Add two bay leaves, a few peppercorns and a clean, peeled shallot or two. Top with rice or white wine vinegar. A great choice for everlastings—flowers or herbs with stiff stems, such as lavender and yarrow—is to dry them in empty dry vases, jars or tin cans (avoid plastic, which encourages mould). Don’t crowd the herbs. To keep them separate, fasten a piece of chicken wire over the top and poke the stems through the holes. MACHINE DRYING Oven drying must be done carefully. As with the screen method, the herbs are dried in a single layer. The trick is maintaining a low enough oven temperature (38°C/100°F) over two to six hours. Oven drying requires regular stirring and careful watching. If you begin to smell the herbs while they are in the oven, they are losing precious oils. A less labour-intensive option is a food dehydrator. Use the lowest setting and check the herbs often. Leafy herbs such as nettles and scented geraniums might dry in a few hours, while flower heads might take a day or two. Herbs should be “cornflake crisp” when dry, which can take several weeks at room temperature (less with machine drying). Dried herbs should retain their colour. If they have turned brown or faded quite a bit, they were dried too rapidly or at too high a temperature and, in the case of culinary herbs, have lost a significant amount of flavour. Avoid storing dried herbs in plastic bags or plastic containers—it invites mould and mildew. If you have room, you can leave delicate crafting herbs such as baby’s breath to hang. Otherwise, store herbs in clear, covered glass jars and keep them in a cool, dark place. Replace dried culinary herbs annually. FREEZING Many soft-leafed herbs freeze even better than they dry. These include basil, parsley, chives, cilantro, lovage, dill and chervil. Wash the herbs, run them through the salad spinner and slip them into plastic freezer bags. You may want to chop the herbs ahead of time if you’re going to use them as a garnish; otherwise, freeze them whole. They’ll crumble easily when frozen. In recipes, use one teaspoon of frozen herbs to half a teaspoon of dried. Fresh herbs can also be slipped into ice- cube trays, topped with water and frozen. Try blue borage flowers or sprigs of mint to garnish summertime drinks.

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Choosing Plants for a Small Garden

From Marie Iannotti,
Your Guide to Gardening.
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This is one of those times when gardening in a small space is not easier than conquering a large area. Part of the problem is that poorly performing plants have no where to hide. Perhaps a bigger challenge is limiting the variety of plants in your small space garden. If it seems to cruel a task, remind yourself that it's not forever. You can always dig up the astilbes you thought you had to have and trade them with a friend who has tired of her iris. Or just build another garden.

 

Design Considerations for a Small Space Garden

The difficulty in choosing plants for your garden is cutting down the list of plants you love to the list of plants you will use. This is even harder with a small garden. Try to avoid this challenge by creating a framework for plant selection, before you begin your list.

What will influence your decision

Budget Constraints: I put this first because it is something to consider in any garden design. A small space garden should cost considerably less than its larger cousins, but there is still an expense. Don’t forget to budget for any soil you must bring in or amend. If you have your heart set on expensive specimen plants, you may want to create your garden in stages, over a series of years.

Pre-existing Plants: With the exception of trees, it is usually easier to remove pre-existing plants than to design around them.

You can save the plants to incorporate into your design, move them to another area or give them to a grateful gardening friend. However there will be times when you primary interest is in complementing an existing planting, whether a favorite tree, a hedge or a row of peonies. If that is the case, you are going to have to be very strict with yourself.

• What types of plants will survive under the trees shade and over its roots?
• Will you need to remove part of the hedge to make room for the garden space?

Proportion: Small space gardens still need to have balance. The rule of thumb for garden borders is that the width be no less than 1/3 the length. But small borders tend to look better with at least a 1 to 2 ratio. A 6 foot border that is only 2 feet wide doesn’t give you much space to play with depth. 3 or even 4 feet makes the border look less like an edge. Better still, use irregular shapes with curving lines. The space itself become interesting and the size diminishes in importance.

The Basics: USDA Zone and Sun Exposure: You’ve gone through all the effort of a site analysis for a reason. To know what plants will thrive in your garden. So now it’s time to pull out that list of site conditions and see what plants suit your site. You’ll have to be tough with yourself now or you’ll be making work and regrets for yourself later. You can change your mind about color or style, but a plant that isn’t hardy in your Zone 4 garden is going to be an annual. And plants that are suffering from too little or too much sun are going to attract all kinds of problems.

Your Gardening Style: Style here can mean a preference for pastels over hot colors or a theme, such as fragrance or an actual style, like cottage or woodland gardens. You’ll have more leway here than other areas, but since your space is limited, every plant counts. You may love red poppies, but they are going to become the focal point in your pastel garden. When choosing plants for style, it helps to group your plants. This way you can see the sore thumbs. Ferns, pulmonaria and Solomen’s Seal will look lovely together. Primrose may suit the site conditions but the loud colors may be too jarring for the look of a woodland garden. Or not.

Maintenance Requirements: Since this is a small space garden, maintenance will be less intensive. But be honest with yourself about what you are willing to do. Your garden may look good initially, but many perennials need to be divided every few years or they will start to die out or perhaps squeeze out their neighbors.

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A Small Front Yard

This modest-sized front yard offers seasonal color and space for outdoor living.

Free Garden Plan Our free Planting Guide for this landscape plan includes a larger version of the illustration, a detailed layout diagram, a set of five regional plant lists, lists of alternatives for each plant, and complete instructions for installing the garden. (Free, one-time registration allows unlimited access to Planting Guides for all garden and landscape plans.) • Click here for a detailed Planting Guide for this garden >> Garden Description There is a trellised sitting area, but the open area in the yard could have willow chairs or another seating arrangement with tables. Lighting can be added along the walk, or line the edge of the garden border. Lights at the base of the trees would add a measure of drama.

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Planning a Wildlife Garden

Follow these tips for welcoming birds and butterflies to your yard.
When you welcome birds and butterflies to your yard, you add colors, movements, and sounds that make your garden seem more alive and vibrant. The following tips from the National Audubon Society will help you create a habitat that allows wildlife to flourish.

Plant for food sources. Birds are attracted to seeds, berries, fruits, and nectar. Migrating birds such as tanagers, robins, orioles, and Cedar Waxwings may stop for several days to feast before they continue on their long flights. Butterflies -- essential pollinators in the garden -- need flowers that have nectar, such as those in the Aster family. Offer a variety of plants for nesting and protection from predators. Bushy shrubs, canopy trees, and groundcovers will provide the nooks and crannies birds and other wildlife need to nest and find good. Such plants also provide protection from sun, wind, and rain. A water source is essential. The single most important thing you can do to attract birds is to provide a source of dripping water. Keep it low to the ground, but make sure it's protected from cats. Create a dust bath. Birds use dust baths to clean themselves and get rid of parasites. Try building a small area (about 3 feet square) bordered with attractive rocks or bricks. Fill with loose soil (a mix of sand, ash, and loam). The bath will attract native sparrows, thrashers, and other ground-dwelling birds. Provide nesting materials. Fill a loosely woven net bag (like those onions are sold in) with clean dryer lint or short scraps of yarn or string. (Cut the pieces of string or yard to less than 2-inches long; longer pieces are a hazard to wildlife.) Orioles, robins, and chickadees will be most appreciative. Offer supplemental food. If you live in a cold climate, offer a supplemental food source, such as seeds, suet, and fruit, during the winter months for woodpepckeers, bluebirds, and other species. Plan for windbreaks for shelter. If your climate is windy, provide shelter in your wildlife-friendly garden. Plant tall, deciduous trees at the edge of the property, with progressively smaller trees and shrubs as you near the house. Provide perches. Although butterflies are attracted to tubular, nectar-bearing flowers, they also need flat flowers where they can rest. A good variety of flowers, shrubs, and trees will provide plenty of resting sites. Birds need exposed perching places; dead twigs and small snags are the most beneficial. Thin bamboo poles stuck into the ground will attract resting dragonflies. Plant groundcovers and create slopes. Birds such as sparrows, thrashers, and thrushes find their food among fallen leaves and groundcovers, where they search for insects. Rosemary, Lantana, and creeping juniper are good choices. Creating artificial slopes in the garden provide more nooks and crannies for birds to forage. Provide a variety of plants. Birds and butterflies are attracted to colorful, flowering plants that provide food and camouflage. It's important to select plants that produce seeds and fruit in various seasons of the year. Technorati Tags : gardening, wildlife+gardening

Wild Flower Gardening

 

In today's world, it seems that almost any topic is open for debate. While I was gathering facts for this article, I was quite surprised to find some of the issues I thought were settled are actually still being openly discussed.

 

A wild-flower garden has a most attractive sound. One thinks of long tramps in the woods, collecting material, and then of the fun in fixing up a real for sure wild garden.

 

Many people say they have no luck at all with such a garden. It is not a question of luck, but a question of understanding, for wild flowers are like people and each has its personality. What a plant has been accustomed to in Nature it desires always. In fact, when removed from its own sort of living conditions, it sickens and dies. That is enough to tell us that we should copy Nature herself. Suppose you are hunting wild flowers. As you choose certain flowers from the woods, notice the soil they are in, the place, conditions, the surroundings, and the neighbors.

 

Suppose you find dog-tooth violets and wind-flowers growing near together. Then place them so in your own new garden. Suppose you find a certain violet enjoying an open situation; then it should always have the same. You see the point, do you not? If you wish wild flowers to grow in a tame garden make them feel at home. Cheat them into almost believing that they are still in their native haunts.

 

Wild flowers ought to be transplanted after blossoming time is over. Take a trowel and a basket into the woods with you. As you take up a few, a columbine, or a hepatica, be sure to take with the roots some of the plant's own soil, which must be packed about it when replanted.

The bed into which these plants are to go should be prepared carefully before this trip of yours. Surely you do not wish to bring those plants back to wait over a day or night before planting. They should go into new quarters at once. The bed needs soil from the woods, deep and rich and full of leaf mold. The under drainage system should be excellent. Then plants are not to go into water-logged ground. Some people think that all wood plants should have a soil saturated with water. But the woods themselves are not water-logged. It may be that you will need to dig your garden up very deeply and put some stone in the bottom. Over this the top soil should go. And on top, where the top soil once was, put a new layer of the rich soil you brought from the woods.

 

Before planting water the soil well. Then as you make places for the plants put into each hole some of the soil which belongs to the plant which is to be put there.

 

I think it would be a rather nice plan to have a wild-flower garden giving a succession of bloom from early spring to late fall; so let us start off with March, the hepatica, spring beauty and saxifrage. Then comes April bearing in its arms the beautiful columbine, the tiny bluets and wild geranium. For May there are the dog-tooth violet and the wood anemone, false Solomon's seal, Jack-in-the-pulpit, wake robin, bloodroot and violets. June will give the bellflower, mullein, bee balm and foxglove. I would choose the gay butterfly weed for July. Let turtle head, aster, Joe Pye weed, and Queen Anne's lace make the rest of the season brilliant until frost.

 

Let us have a bit about the likes and dislikes of these plants. After you are once started you'll keep on adding to this wild-flower list. 

The best time to learn about Wild Flower Gardening is before you're in the thick of things. Wise readers will keep reading to earn some valuable Wild Flower Gardening experience while it's still free.

 

There is no one who doesn't love the hepatica. Before the spring has really decided to come, this little flower pokes its head up and puts all else to shame. Tucked under a covering of dry leaves the blossoms wait for a ray of warm sunshine to bring them out. These embryo flowers are further protected by a fuzzy covering. This reminds one of a similar protective covering which new fern leaves have. In the spring a hepatica plant wastes no time on getting a new suit of leaves. It makes its old ones do until the blossom has had its day. Then the new leaves, started to be sure before this, have a chance. These delayed, are ready to help out next season. You will find hepaticas growing in clusters, sort of family groups. They are likely to be found in rather open places in the woods. The soil is found to be rich and loose. So these should go only in partly shaded places and under good soil conditions. If planted with other woods specimens give them the benefit of a rather exposed position, that they may catch the early spring sunshine. I should cover hepaticas over with a light litter of leaves in the fall. During the last days of February, unless the weather is extreme take this leaf covering away. You'll find the hepatica blossoms all ready to poke up their heads.

 

The spring beauty hardly allows the hepatica to get ahead of her. With a white flower which has dainty tracings of pink, a thin, wiry stem, and narrow, grass-like leaves, this spring flower cannot be mistaken. You will find spring beauties growing in great patches in rather open places. Plant a number of the roots and allow the sun good opportunity to get at them. For this plant loves the sun.

The other March flower mentioned is the saxifrage. This belongs in quite a different sort of environment. It is a plant which grows in dry and rocky places. Often one will find it in chinks of rock. There is an old tale to the effect that the saxifrage roots twine about rocks and work their way into them so that the rock itself splits. Anyway, it is a rock garden plant. I have found it in dry, sandy places right on the borders of a big rock. It has white flower clusters borne on hairy stems.

 

The columbine is another plant that is quite likely to be found in rocky places. Standing below a ledge and looking up, one sees nestled here and there in rocky crevices one plant or more of columbine. The nodding red heads bob on wiry, slender stems. The roots do not strike deeply into the soil; in fact, often the soil hardly covers them. Now, just because the columbine has little soil, it does not signify that it is indifferent to the soil conditions. For it always has lived, and always should live, under good drainage conditions. I wonder if it has struck you, how really hygienic plants are? Plenty of fresh air, proper drainage, and good food are fundamentals with plants.

It is evident from study of these plants how easy it is to find out what plants like. After studying their feelings, then do not make the mistake of huddling them all together under poor drainage conditions.

 

I always have a feeling of personal affection for the bluets. When they come I always feel that now things are beginning to settle down outdoors. They start with rich, lovely, little delicate blue blossoms. As June gets hotter and hotter their color fades a bit, until at times they look quite worn and white. Some people call them Quaker ladies, others innocence. Under any name they are charming. They grow in colonies, sometimes in sunny fields, sometimes by the road-side. From this we learn that they are more particular about the open sunlight than about the soil.

 

If you desire a flower to pick and use for bouquets, then the wild geranium is not your flower. It droops very quickly after picking and almost immediately drops its petals. But the purplish flowers are showy, and the leaves, while rather coarse, are deeply cut. This latter effect gives a certain boldness to the plant that is rather attractive. The plant is found in rather moist, partly shaded portions of the woods. I like this plant in the garden. It adds good color and permanent color as long as blooming time lasts, since there is no object in picking it.

There are numbers and numbers of wild flowers I might have suggested. These I have mentioned were not given for the purpose of a flower guide, but with just one end in view your understanding of how to study soil conditions for the work of starting a wild-flower garden.

If you fear results, take but one or two flowers and study just what you select. Having mastered, or better, become acquainted with a few, add more another year to your garden. I think you will love your wild garden best of all before you are through with it. It is a real study, you see.
 

As your knowledge about Wild Flower Gardening continues to grow, you will begin to see how Wild Flower Gardening fits into the overall scheme of things. Knowing how something relates to the rest of the world is important too.

 

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Landscape gardening

This interesting article addresses some of the key issues regarding landscape gardening. A careful reading of this material could make a big difference in how you think about landscape gardening.

 

Landscape gardening has often been likened to the painting of a picture. Your art-work teacher has doubtless told you that a good picture should have a point of chief interest, and the rest of the points simply go to make more beautiful the central idea, or to form a fine setting for it. So in landscape gardening there must be in the gardener's mind a picture of what he desires the whole to be when he completes his work.

From this study we shall be able to work out a little theory of landscape gardening.

 

Let us go to the lawn. A good extent of open lawn space is always beautiful. It is restful. It adds a feeling of space to even small grounds. So we might generalize and say that it is well to keep open lawn spaces. If one covers his lawn space with many trees, with little flower beds here and there, the general effect is choppy and fussy. It is a bit like an over-dressed person. One's grounds lose all individuality thus treated. A single tree or a small group is not a bad arrangement on the lawn. Do not center the tree or trees. Let them drop a bit into the background. Make a pleasing side feature of them. In choosing trees one must keep in mind a number of things. You should not choose an overpowering tree; the tree should be one of good shape, with something interesting about its bark, leaves, flowers or fruit. While the poplar is a rapid grower, it sheds its leaves early and so is left standing, bare and ugly, before the fall is old. Mind you, there are places where a row or double row of Lombardy poplars is very effective. But I think you'll agree with me that one lone poplar is not. The catalpa is quite lovely by itself. Its leaves are broad, its flowers attractive, the seed pods which cling to the tree until away into the winter, add a bit of picture squeness. The bright berries of the ash, the brilliant foliage of the sugar maple, the blossoms of the tulip tree, the bark of the white birch, and the leaves of the copper beech all these are beauty points to consider.

 

Place makes a difference in the selection of a tree. Suppose the lower portion of the grounds is a bit low and moist, then the spot is ideal for a willow. Don't group trees together which look awkward. A long-looking poplar does not go with a nice rather rounded little tulip tree. A juniper, so neat and prim, would look silly beside a spreading chestnut. One must keep proportion and suitability in mind.

I'd never advise the planting of a group of evergreens close to a house, and in the front yard. The effect is very gloomy indeed. Houses thus surrounded are over capped by such trees and are not only gloomy to live in, but truly unhealthful. The chief requisite inside a house is sunlight and plenty of it.

 

As trees are chosen because of certain good points, so shrubs should be. In a clump I should wish some which bloomed early, some which bloomed late, some for the beauty of their fall foliage, some for the colour of their bark and others for the fruit. Some spireas and the forsythia bloom early. The red bark of the dogwood makes a bit of colour all winter, and the red berries of the barberry cling to the shrub well into the winter.

 

 Certain shrubs are good to use for hedge purposes. A hedge is rather prettier usually than a fence. The Californian privet is excellent for this purpose. Osage orange, Japan barberry, buckthorn, Japan quince, and Van Houtte's spirea are other shrubs which make good hedges.

 I forgot to say that in tree and shrub selection it is usually better to choose those of the locality one lives in. Unusual and foreign plants do less well, and often harmonize but poorly with their new setting.

Landscape gardening may follow along very formal lines or along informal lines. The first would have straight paths, straight rows in stiff beds, everything, as the name tells, perfectly formal. The other method is, of course, the exact opposite. There are danger points in each. 

Think about what you've read so far. Does it reinforce what you already know about landscape gardening? Or was there something completely new? What about the remaining paragraphs?

 

The formal arrangement is likely to look too stiff; the informal, too fussy, too wiggly. As far as paths go, keep this in mind, that a path should always lead somewhere. That is its business to direct one to a definite place. Now, straight, even paths are not unpleasing if the effect is to be that of a formal garden. The danger in the curved path is an abrupt curve, a whirligig effect. It is far better for you to stick to straight paths unless you can make a really beautiful curve. No one can tell you how to do this.

Garden paths may be of gravel, of dirt, or of grass. One sees grass paths in some very lovely gardens. I doubt, however, if they would serve as well in your small gardens. Your garden areas are so limited that they should be re-spaded each season, and the grass paths are a great bother in this work. Of course, a gravel path makes a fine appearance, but again you may not have gravel at your command. It is possible for any of you to dig out the path for two feet. Then put in six inches of stone or clinker. Over this, pack in the dirt, rounding it slightly toward the center of the path. There should never be depressions through the central part of paths, since these form convenient places for water to stand. The under layer of stone makes a natural drainage system.

 

A building often needs the help of vines or flowers or both to tie it to the grounds in such a way as to form a harmonious whole. Vines lend themselves well to this work. It is better to plant a perennial vine, and so let it form a permanent part of your landscape scheme. The Virginia creeper, wistaria, honeysuckle, a climbing rose, the clematis and trumpet vine are all most satisfactory.

close your eyes and picture a house of natural colour, that mellow gray of the weathered shingles. Now add to this old house a purple wistaria. Can you see the beauty of it? I shall not forget soon a rather ugly corner of my childhood home, where the dining room and kitchen met. Just there climbing over, and falling over a trellis was a trumpet vine. It made beautiful an awkward angle, an ugly bit of carpenter work.

Of course, the morning-glory is an annual vine, as is the moon-vine and wild cucumber. Now, these have their special function. For often, it is necessary to cover an ugly thing for just a time, until the better  things and better times come. The annual is 'the chap' for this work.

Along an old fence a hop vine is a thing of beauty. One might try to rival the woods' landscape work. For often one sees festooned from one rotted tree to another the ampelopsis vine.

 

Flowers may well go along the side of the building, or bordering a walk. In general, though, keep the front lawn space open and unbroken by beds. What lovelier in early spring than a bed of daffodils close to the house? Hyacinths and tulips, too, form a blaze of glory. These are little or no bother, and start the spring aright. One may make of some bulbs an exception to the rule of unbroken front lawn. Snow drops and crocuses planted through the lawn are beautiful. They do not disturb the general effect, but just blend with the whole. One expert bulb gardener says to take a basketful of bulbs in the fall, walk about your grounds, and just drop bulbs out here and there. Wherever the bulbs drop, plant them. Such small bulbs as those we plant in lawns should be in groups of four to six. Daffodils may be thus planted, too. You all remember the grape hyacinths that grow all through Katharine's side yard.

 

The place for a flower garden is generally at the side or rear of the house. The backyard garden is a lovely idea, is it not? Who wishes to leave a beautiful looking front yard, turn the corner of a house, and find a dump heap? Not I. The flower garden may be laid out formally in neat little beds, or it may be more of a careless, hit-or-miss sort. Both have their good points. Great masses of bloom are attractive.

You should have in mind some notion of the blending of colour. Nature appears not to consider this at all, and still gets wondrous effects. This is because of the tremendous amount of her perfect background of green, and the limitlessness of her space, while we are confined at the best to relatively small areas. So we should endeavor not to blind people's eyes with clashes of colours which do not at close range blend well. In order to break up extremes of colours you can always use masses of white flowers, or something like mignonette, which is in effect green.

 

 Finally, let us sum up our landscape lesson. The grounds are a setting for the house or buildings. Open, free lawn spaces, a tree or a proper group well placed, flowers which do not clutter up the front yard, groups of shrubbery these are points to be remembered. The paths should lead somewhere, and be either straight or well curved. If one starts with a formal garden, one should not mix the informal with it before the work is done.

 

When word gets around about your command of landscape gardening facts, others who need to know about landscape gardening will start to actively seek you out.

 

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