I have a fascination with old garden lore and gardening tips. Most tips work or have a basis to them somewhere. Below are two I just found. They have the original date, and where they were published under the tip.
A New England farmer says: “In my own gardening I have found a most satisfactory substitute for bean poles, which latter are not only expensive, but a source of trouble and care. I plant a sunflower seed by each hill of beans, the stock answering the same purpose as the ordinary beanpole, besides providing an excellent feed for my poultry. I have been using for this purpose a mammoth variety of sunflower seed, many of the flowers of which measured fifteen inches across the seed bed.”
The Farm and Household Cyclopædia – circa 1888
*I have used sunflowers, which are more stable, and corn stalks for beans and my second crop of peas to grow up. It works well and adds interest to the garden. Denise
Making Pumpkins Grow Fast. – A good way of hustling the growth of pumpkins, marrows*, etc., is to feed the fruits with water. It is only needful to secure some pieces of round lamp wick. Holes are made in the stalk of the fruit and, into these, one end of the wick is inserted. The other end of the wick rests in a jar of water, which is kept well supplied. The pumpkins grow at twice the rate they do normally and are ready for cutting much sooner. In this way the produce secured from the plant is largely increased. The plan is well worth following out.
S. Leonard Bastin from: The Garden Magazine – June 1918
* My brother grew pumpkins for about six years to make additional money. We had a pumpkin patch and over 6 hay wagons filled with pumpkins more many years sitting over by the barn area. So, water does work to make the pumpkins grow but a milk mixture works better and will give you huge pumpkins. Some people use added miracle grow or compost tea, but milk works the best in my opinion. Denise
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