Organic Gardening

There are three shrubs specially suited for a wild part of your property. The first is the Rugosa rose. This stiff shrub with dark green, deeply veined leaves is completely buried in June beneath huge, fragrant, single pink or white flowers, each with clusters of yellow stamens. Cape Cod is pervaded with the sweet blossom scent. In September, round orange hips form to decorate the bush till frost. Pick the hips, add a little water, boil into juice, strain out skins and seeds, then freeze or seal in jars. All winter add this very rich essence of vitamin C in small quantities to your morning juice.

All up and down the coast from Maine to Florida grow the sweet pepper bushes. The fragrance of the erect racemes of white flowers in July and August makes swimming in Cape Cod’s blue ponds pure delight.

In June and July the elderberry produces huge flat flower heads, each a cluster of tiny white florets. Blue-black berries ripening in late summer hang dramatically on the shrub. Cut off a head and turn it upside down in the soft batter of a griddle cake while it is sizzling on the griddle. The berries slip off and presently, when you turn the cake, you have incorporated into it a tangy flavor that mingles well with butter and syrup. (more…)

Although we enjoy tremendously our big meadow-lawn, we also get a great deal of satisfaction from the 12 to 15-foot swath of regular mowed lawn around the house. We have developed some easy procedures for its maintenance. All are in the let’s-keep-it-simple vein.

We cut this strip of lawn each week. We feed it with a 5-10-5 chemical fertilizer in early April, an organic one in mid-summer and again in early September, and that’s it. Our lawn is more “grass” than lawn in the orthodox sense. We have a democratic assortment of grasses in it and a lot of clover. It’s heartening to see the clover in the quick, lush summer periods unfold its myriad furry white flowers, spread its seed, and grow thicker. Some say clover stains clothes and is slippery. But we love the flowers, and sometimes when we most need it we find a four-leaf clover!

Though our lawn is heterogeneous, it pleases us and feels fine to walk on, particularly bare-footed in the morning dew. This is supposed to do something special for you, I forget now just what, but something significant. (more…)

Be not alarmed by the rattlesnake fern (Botrychium vir-ginianum, 5 in.-2 ft.) which has no special affinity for its namesake. This charming yet stately little plant is common and happy in rich shady woods. Here the plumelike sporophyll springs stiffly up amidst a cluster of sterile fronds. This fern fruits when small as well as large.

The royal fern (Osmunda regalis, 4-6 ft.) is a tall dramatic one with great high fronds. The root of it, as with some of the other osmundas, is the source of the familiar orchid potting material. It is most at home along the banks of streams where it rises in dignity to wave its dense and lovely fronds in the breeze. The spring fronds are golden brown and appear in clusters from the midst of its cushion of black wiry “osmunda” root.

The sensitive fern (Onoclea sensibilis, 3 ft.) is sensitive to frost, not to human touch. At the first real cold snap in the fall it folds up for the season. The coarse erect fronds are thin in texture. The sporophyll appears in midsummer. The dark green berry-like nubs on it are actually rolled-up pinnules holding spore cases.   Do examine these delicate forms under a magnifying glass.

The toothed wood fern (Dryopteris spinulosa, or Aspidium spinulosum, 3 ft.) has graceful curving fronds and interesting scaly stems. You may wander through great stretches of it enjoying the feel of feathery fronds on bare legs, and stirred by the rhythmic swaying patterns created in the gentlest breeze. Notice how the fronds spring up in an almost perfect circle from the ground. This fern loves to find a decaying old tree stump to grow in. (more…)

If you, too, are converted to the idea of a meadow instead of a typical lawn, this is the way to go about it. First assess your site. If you have a twenty-five to fifty-foot stretch of fringe growth or wilderness area anywhere, you could let part of it go even wilder and enjoy there some of the meadow flowers. If you own a larger field, you are really set. You might even consider letting part of the actual lawn grow into meadow-it would mean lots less upkeep and a new kind of gardening for you.Of principal importance: Don’t mow the area till late August. Observe the area from spring on and see what plants come up by themselves. This interval will also allow what comes up to go to seed. All through the first season note and mark areas where no flowers come and where you’d like some. Plan then to sow these areas the next spring.

In naturalizing meadow flowers your eventual goal is not a half dozen of anything but a hundred or, preferably, a thousand. Only Nature can be this lavish in planting (to buy even fifty plants would be prohibitively expensive), so you start with a few plants which, once established, will reseed by themselves. You can transplant anything at any season if you follow these few suggestions.

If you go plant-hunting on public property, first check to be sure that what you are about to dig is not on the conservation list in your location. Fortunately most of the plants mentioned here are not. Usually anyone who has a field will gladly share his abundance with you. I asked the man in charge of our neighboring reservoir if I could dig some white pentstemon from along the water’s edge. “Those weeds?” he called, then, “take all you want!” (more…)

The berry bladder fern (Cystopteris bulbifera, 2-3 ft.) not only likes rich moist woods but is often found clinging to limestone cliffs. A fine ground-cover for large areas, it spreads rapidly. You will know it by its tapering almost vinelike fronds, but more especially by the tiny bulblets at the base of the pinnae that drop to the ground and sprout (hence the “berry” in its common name). It also bears the more conventional fruit dots.

Bracken (Pteridium aquilinum, 3-4 ft.) which has a nice Scotch sound, does thrive in great sweeps in Scotland as well as in almost every country in the world. In England it was the basis of an old time medicine. And in rural areas many a mattress was stuffed with the fronds to prevent rickets! Bracken is an informal fern suitable for casual plantings. It is one of the most adaptable and will grow anywhere—wet, dry, sun, shade, high, low, hot, cold. Where nothing else will live the bracken fern will thrive, and spread furiously. The sporophyll edges curl under, and spore cases are hidden beneath these rolls.

The cinnamon fern (Osmunda cinnamomea, 3-5 ft.) is not only one of the loveliest ferns but also one of the easiest to grow.   You will know it by the abundance of golden brown wooliness on its unwinding fronds in the spring. Also characteristic are brown wool-like hairs on the stem, a tuft of down at the base of each pinna, and several long slender lovely sporophyll during the summer. The fruiting stalk is a rich cocoa brown, erect and clustered.

The fragile fern or brittle bladder fern (Cystopteris fragilia, 5-18 in.) is not too fragile to grow the world over, even in the frigid areas of Greenland and Alaska. Thus it actually is a robust grower; the brittleness of its stems is responsible for its name. Clinging to shaded rock ledges, it also grows on the ground, and is among the first ferns to start up in the spring.

The Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides, 15-18 in.) with rich dark glossy leaves, is one of the sturdiest and most dependable. Last year’s fronds are still green as this year’s new ones emerge. You can easily recognize the Christmas fern for each pinna is shaped like a long Christmas stocking, foot and all (foot against the stem). Light brown scales also cling to the stalk. One plant for years remains one plant. It spreads by spores alone, not by underground runners or by division of clumps.

The evergreen wood-fern, leather wood-fern or marginal shield fern (Dryopteris marginalise 2-3 ft.) weathers almost any winter and is found among snowy boulders in thickly forested areas. It is common, easy to grow, and spreads very slowly, remaining a single plant for some time. You will recognize this fern by fruit dots located on the margins of the pinnae, the chestnut brown scales on the stems, and its habit in the growing season of erupting its roots several inches up out of the ground!
The common polypody (Polypodium vulgare, 4-10 in.) sends a parade of erect fronds marching across the surface of rocky ledges where they are bright green whether surrounded by snow or by summer. They soften harsh ledges wherever they grow, also cling to steep banks, and make splendid terrarium material.

The ebony spleenwort (Asplenium platyneuron, 4-12 in.) is almost evergreen. You can find its twisting turning stem and delicate green pinnae snuggled in any bank of snow along with ground pine and cedar. It takes many hard freezes before this fern finally gives up.  It is ideal for terrariums.