Snap bean, also called string bean, green bean or wax bean; shell bean, also called horticultural bean (Phaseolus vul garis); Lima bean, also called butter bean (P. limensis, also called P. lunatus macrocarpus); baby Lima bean, also called baby butter bean (P. lunatus); edible soybean (Glycine soja, also called G. max).

Set poles about 2 feet apart in rows 3 feet apart, and plant four to six seeds around each; after the plants have sprouted, thin out all but the best three or four in each group. If pole beans are grown along fences, sow seeds singly about 6 inches apart.

When both bush and pole plants are about 6 inches tall, sprinkle a 6-inch band of 5-10-5 fertilizer along each side of the row at a rate of 5 to 8 ounces to every 10 feet of row. Keep the fertilizer off the leaves and 3 inches away from the stems of the plants. Avoid overhead watering, and never touch the plants when the leaves are wet.

The two most popular types of onions are ordinary onions and bunching onions. Ordinary onions are bulbs that lie on or close to the surface of the soil and bear 18-inch high hollow rounded blue-green leaves.

Plant sets or young plants about 2 inches deep and 2 to 4 inches apart: if 2-inch spacing is used, pull and serve alternate plants when they are 6 inches or more tall. If seeds are used, sow them 1/2 inch deep in rows 12 to 18 inches apart. When the seedlings are 2 inches tall, thin them to stand 2 inches apart. When they become about 6 inches tall, pull up every other plant (they are edible), making the final spacing 4 inches apart.

Fertilize onion plants. twice-when they are about 6 inches tall and again when they are about 12 inches tall; scatter a 4-inch band of 5-10-5 fertilizer along each side of the row at the rate of 3 ounces to 10 feet of row. Onions have shallow roots and need constant moisture.

Unlike most other vegetables, which are annuals, asparagus is a perennial plant that may remain productive for 20 years or more. However, it requires a dormant period during winter months and grows only where dormancy is induced naturally by climate or can be forced artificially by cultivation methods. It grows well anywhere in the United States and southern Canada except Florida and along the Gulf Coast, where the moist soil and mild temperatures prevent it from getting its necessary period of rest.

Asparagus does not produce the first crop until its third season if it is grown from seeds, or until its second season if it is started from year-old roots. Thereafter, it is one of the first vegetables to be ready for picking each spring. The plant has fine fernlike foliage and would grow 4 to 6 feet tall if left unpicked, but it should be harvested when its stems are only about half a foot tall. One of the best varieties for most areas is Waltham Washington. A widely used improved form in the Midwest is Viking, sometimes called Mary Washington Improved. Of special value in California is a variety called 500W. A 12-foot row yields about 6 pounds of asparagus over a period of 6 to 10 weeks.

Celery and celeriac need an extremely rich moist soil with a pH of 6.0 to 7.0. Most home gardeners who grow celery buy 4 to 6-inch-tall seedlings; they can be planted when night temperatures are no longer likely to fall below 40 (lower temperatures make the plants send up inedible flower stalks instead of edible leafy stalks).

A good variety is Michihli. A loose- leaved type, B. chinensis, grows 12 to 18 inches tall and has edible greenish white stalks; a good variety is Crispy Choy. A 10-foot row yields about 12 heads over three weeks.

Chinese cabbage does best in soil with a pH of 6.0 to 7.5. The soil requires special preparation: dig a 2-inch layer of compost or a 4-inch layer of well-rotted cow manure into a strip 12′ to 18 inches wide and 8 inches deep, then add 1 pound of 10-10-10 fertilizer per 10 feet of row.

Everyone loves a barbecue

The warm breeze on your face, the gentle drift of aromatic smoke accompanied by a chilled glass of chablis. Pure heaven!

There are a couple of things you need to do to make sure your barbecue is a success. Don’t have the day ruined by a mishap that could easily have been avoided.Keeping to a few simple guidelines will ensure that any excitement is of a positive kind!

The first job is to get the BBQ lit which frequently results in a lot of macho action as dad goes into “man make fire” mode.

Once it’s lit you’re going to have to allow the barbecue an hour or more to reach a suitable temperature. Ensure you account for that.

If the whole process of getting the thing going is just too much for you the answer is a Gas or Electric barbecue which simplifies the whole lighting process and is the usual grounds for choosing that type.

Charcoal barbecues can be a nightmare to light but don’t be tempted to use lighter fluid or God forbid, petrol. At best the food will taste awful. At worst you will have the Fire Brigade enjoying your barbecue alongside your friends and guests.

Where cuttings are particularly woody, such as may be found with a rubber plant or other members of the ficus family, some ivies and perhaps the crown of thorns, it will sometimes be helpful to enlist the aid of a garden chemical and make use of a root hormone powder.

Although best results are obtained by early pricking out of young plants into larger pots, this can be a delicate process and if you are at all doubtful or inexperienced it is wiser to let the seedlings grow a little longer before you do this.

Again fill a pot with the rooting medium, leaving an inch or so between compost surface and the pot rim. Then select your cutting. Choose a strongly growing shoot and cut about eight inches from the tip, preferably at a point just below where a leaf joins the stem. Pull off the basic leaf or two to allow up to two inches of bare stem and insert this in the rooting medium, firming around the base with the fingers. In a few weeks, probably about a month, new roots will have formed.

In southern Canada, where the frost-free period is short and maximum summer daytime temperatures average less than 90, recommended varieties are Burpee’s VF Hybrid, indeterminate, 72 days, VF; Spring Giant, semideterminate, 65 days, VF; and Springset, determinate, 67 days, VF.

In the East and Northeast, where the frost-free period is longer than it is north of the Canadian border but maximum summer day-time temperatures still average less than 900, recommended varieties are Beefeater, indeterminate, 75 days, VFN; Better Boy, indeterminate, 70 days, VFN: and Spring Giant, semideterminate, 65 days, VF.

In the Midwest, where winters are extremely cold but maximum summer daytime temperatures average over 90, recommended varieties are Better Boy, indeterminate, 70 days, VFN; Bonus, semi-determinate, 75 days, VFN; and Campbell 1327, semide-terminate, 69 days, VF.

In the Northwest, where maximum summer daytime temperatures average less than 90 and cloudiness and mist are common, recommended varieties are Beefeater, indeterminate, 75 days, VFN; Terrific, indeterminate, 70 days, VFN; and Vineripe, indeterminate, 80 days, VFN. In the Southwest, where the climate is arid and maximum summer daytime temperatures average over 90, recommended varieties are Beefeater, indeterminate, 75 days, VFN; Better Boy, indeterminate, 70 days, VFN; and Spring Giant, semideterminate, 65 days, VF.

Trees of at least two different varieties should be planted, for pollination of one variety by pollen from another is usually necessary to ensure that the trees bear fruit.

Pear trees back to 3 feet at the time of planting and shorten the branches on both standard and dwarf varieties by one half. Train the trees as they grow so that they will have four to eight well-distributed branches arising from the trunk, spaced 6 to 12 inches apart; the angle between each branch and the trunk should equal 45 degrees or more.

Prune trees as little as possible after the skeleton branches have been established. It is important that pear trees carry only as much fruit as they can support. Part of the problem of overproduction will be taken care of naturally, as some of the young fruit will drop about six weeks after the flowers bloom. Thin out the remaining fruit, saving the best of each cluster, so that pears are about 6 to 8 inches apart. In many gardens pear trees do not need fertilizer; if the foliage, however, is pale or yellowish green, use 1 pound of 10-10-10 fertilizer per year of the tree’s age, scattering it under the spread of the branches. Pears should not be mulched but should be grown on a lawn area where they must compete for food and moisture with grass. The chief reason for deliberately undernourishing pear trees is to forestall damage by a bacterial infection called fire blight that attacks trees that are growing too luxuriantly.

Blackberry plants are long-lived, usually bearing fruit for as long as 20 years, and are extremely prolific: a single plant may produce several quarts of berries during the midsummer fruiting period.

Despite their many names, botanists consider all of these berries to be varieties of blackberries. The additional names were coined by an enterprising nurseryman years ago and, in the process, confused generations of gardeners who sought out these “wonder” berries, thinking them to be of some exot;c species. They are all hybrids of blackberries and red raspberries and have reddish black fruit, instead of the black fruit of the ordinary blackberry.

Apricots grow best in soil with a pH of 6.0 to 7.0. For fruit within three or four years, buy one-year- old trees 3 to 5 feet tall. Plant them, if possible, on a north- facing slope; there they will not blossom so early that they will be caught by frost, and the slope allows cold air to flow away.

During the summer, mulch with 4 to 6 inches of old hay or 2 to 3 inches of wood chips, sawdust or ground bark. When the new shoots that grow during the summer reach a height of about 3 feet, cut off the tips of the stems to force the development of side branches.

Blueberries do best in acid soil with a pH of around 5.0. The soil should be supplemented with peat moss, which should make up 50 per cent of the soil mixture around the plants. From north, set out the blueberries in the early spring as soon as the ground can be worked; from south, set them out in fall, winter or spring.

Fertilizer should be applied only if the leaves are uniformly pale, indicating a need for nourishment. Blueberries’ roots are so fine they cannot assimilate strong fertilizers. The safest source of nutrients is cottonseed meal, which is non burning and decays slowly.

Use 1/4 pound around young plants and 1/2 pound around old ones; apply it very early in the spring, scattering it beneath the branches. However, ammonium sulfate is an excellent chemical fertilizer for old plants if cautiously applied: use a maximum of 1/4 pound for a plant 5 to 6 feet tall. Ordinary 10-10-10 fertilizer can also be used at the rate of 11/2 ounces for each year the plant has been in the garden, up to 8 ounces.