Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

PROPAGATION Several methods of propagation are so simple that any amateur may practice them. Probably the simplest of all is layering. In this case a new plant is procured without severing a stem from the parent plant. The simplest forms of this method are with the strawberry, which sends out runners that need only be […]

Salsify is grown for its tap roots, which are cooked and served like carrots and parsnips. The cultivation is the same as for parsnips (which see). The best known variety is the Mammoth Sandwich Island.

” About 12 years ago,” writes W. T. Suter of Pennsylvania,” I began to sit up and take notice that rhubarb would make a fair side dish for our general meal of market goods. The following spring’s inventory showed about 150 hills of worn-out and grass-grown rhubarb roots. These were divided and laboriously transplanted by […]

Radish seed is sown in drills in the earliest spring and for successional plantings at intervals of a week or ten days. By allowing 4 to 6 feet of the drill to each member of the family, and making five or six sowings at intervals, there should be a sufficient supply until early summer. During […]

According to D. S. Kelsey of Connecticut, any good land, stable manured the previous year, or full of half-decayed sod, will do for garden peas. He says : I plow late in the fall and harrow thoroughly in April. Late peas collect their own nitrates on such land, and for them any good super-phosphate is […]

Peppers are grown in practically the same way as tomatoes and eggplants, except that they should be planted about 2 feet apart in rows 3 feet apart. Among the best known varieties are Ruby King, which is a large, smooth, bright red, mild flavored sort, and Cayenne, which is long, slender, and exceedingly pungent.

Cultivation of the parsnip is practically the same as that of beets and turnips. The ;seeds are sown in drills in rich friable soil in the early spring. As they are slow to sprout, it is desirable to plant a few radish seeds at the same time to mark the rows where the parsnips are. […]

The leaves of parsley are used for flavoring and garnishing. The crop is managed in the same way as parsnips, except that the leaves are gathered whenever desired and the roots allowed to remain where they are until the seed stalk begins to grow the following spring. For winter use the roots may be taken […]

As to growing onions for market, Henry Price of Hardin county, Ohio, says ” I like loam or muck soil best for onions. On hard ground, the crop is uncertain. This type f soil dries out so easily that the ground gets hard, and when you weed the land the weeds break off instead of […]

Okra is cultivated for its green pods or its immature seeds. The former are sliced and used in soups; the latter are cooked like peas. It is largely grown in the south, where the seed is planted 2 inches apart, in rows about 2 feet apart, in rich warm soil, at the same time the […]