Home Gardening: home gardening Fruit Planting.—Until the 20th century the history of fruit growing was the history of the home gardening orchard, a local product raised for local consumption. The phenomenal growth of the fruit industry tends now to overshadow this past, and the fact that home gardening planting, which for years was on the decline, is once again arousing interest and effort. The trend toward the decentralization of industry, the suburban movement, garden club activity as well as the interest in gardening stimulated during World Wars I and II have contributed to this end.
Don't fall into the error of thinking that the test tube boys have made gardening so easy that there is little to do but get the right kind of squirt gun or duster, the right kind of hormone or vitamin or the latest offspring of science that is being advertised and ballyhooed. Modern research has produced important aids to better gardening but they are canes to help us walk more easily, not crutches to limp along with or depend on entirely. To garden well you must be observant, willing to work intelligently and without skimping when basic tasks are done, and so informed that you can form sound judgments based on conditions as they exist on your particular plot. Gardening is an art, not an exact science. |