Crop rotation may sound complicated, but this age-old practice is such a useful method for thwarting pest and disease problems that it’s worth gaining a basic understanding of why crop rotation is important and how to try it in your garden. In The American Gardener’s Assistant (1869), Thomas Bridgeman offers this reason for crop rotation: […]
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How To
How to Clean Wood Furniture
Learn how to clean wood furniture with our tried-and-true cleaning tips. They’ll help you remove everything from dirt to crayon marks. Clean Wood Furniture with Wax or Varnish Finish If your wooden furniture has a finish such as wax or varnish, clean it every few months with lemon oil (which is actually scented mineral oil). […]
Cooking Advice
How the Pickiest Pick Produce
Of course, today’s supermarkets have already narrowed your fresh fruit and vegetable choices for you—and you don’t have to worry about such nuisances as weevils or borers in the produce on most grocery shelves. Just about anything you buy will be uniform and good quality. but there are ways to choose the tastiest of what’s […]
Cooking Advice
Baked Eggs with Bacon
Bacon and eggs are an unbeatable breakfast combination, and making them doesn’t have to be a matter of spattering grease and frying pans. Instead, try this convenient, quick combination of baked eggs with bacon adapted from New Delineator Recipes (1929): Curl one slice of just-cooked bacon around the inside of each cup in a six-muffin […]
It’s tempting to skip tool cleanup when your gardening chores are done — there’s always something else that needs your attention. But wise gardeners will heed this advice from the British Ministry of Agriculture’s Allotment & Garden Guide of January 1945: “A little care is well worth while. Many a tool has had years taken […]
Gardens
Make a Rain Barrel
Keep your garden hydrated by making your own rain barrel that will save money and water. Keeping your garden well-watered through the summer months is easier when you make a rain barrel to use as a reservoir to store spring rain in. Traditional rain barrels were typically made of wood, but wooden barrels are heavy […]
Expand your choice of floral materials beyond the carnations from grocery store flower stands, and you can keep arrangements in your house much more often—and enjoy more creative fulfillment from your artistry. One oft-overlooked choice is cuttings from blooming shrubs such as lilacs or azaleas, or even bamboo or reeds. However, you can’t just plunk […]
Sweeping a tile or linoleum kitchen floor can be a dust-swirling proposition, particularly if you’ve had a recent baking spree or beachgoers have descended on you with sandy feet. Instead of struggling to suck up every last grain of flour or sand with the vacuum, do a better job with a plain old broom. These […]
Gardens
Planting Buddies for Your Crops
Companion planting is a time-honored, if not always scientifically proven, technique for combining certain plants with others to protect them from pests or to otherwise enhance their growth. Garden lore includes an almost endless supply of “recipes” for supposedly beneficial plant combinations, and research by scientists and gardeners indicates that many companion planting arrangements really […]
Watering mistakes kill plants sooner than nearly any other factor, and letting plants sit in standing water is one of the common ones. J. P. Casey, author of Treatise on the Culture and Growth of Different Sorts of Flower Roots, and of Green House Plants Kept in Rooms (1821), notes: “All green house plants… must […]
When you arrange flowers, it’s critical to place them in containers that will showcase the blooms–not detract from their beauty. Back at the turn of the 20th century, Gertrude Jekyll was a respected authority on home decor, and her expertise on vases still holds true today. If you don’t own any (or enough) formal vases, […]