Gardening, or HORTICULTURE, the ordering and management of a garden, differs from agriculture chiefly as being conducted on a smaller scale and with more minuteness, while concerned with a greater variety of subjects. As in a house, so in a garden (though the line is seldom quite distinct), part is devoted to comfort and enjoyment, and the other part to provision for them; the former part forms the pleasure-ground, and the latter the kitchen-garden. Leaving vinery, pinery, hothouse, greenhouse, &c., as special matters, we glance briefly at our subject in this distribution.
The pleasure-grounds comprise the lawns, the walks or drives, the flower-beds, ornamental trees and shrubbery, and, in large places, terraces, lakes and fountains, statues, rockwork, fernery, and the like.
The kitchen-garden, being designed for the supply of fruit and vegetables, contains the trees, plants, and bushes needful for that purpose, with proper walks for access to them, and appliances, such as hotbeds, pots, and frames, &c., for advancing or improving them; and is often enclosed either partly or wholly by a wall, which shelters and promotes the growth.
(1) The pleasure-ground (or flower-garden), however small, has almost always one grass-plot, which is called a lawn, though it may be but a little one. Whether space be scant or ample, the lawn is the leading feature and the most pleasant part of the pleasure-ground, and it should be well kept first of all. This can be done at small expense by frequent use of the 'lawn-mower,' which has quite superseded the scythe wherever the slope of the ground permits it. It is, however, of prime importance that the grass should be of the proper kind, and not of rank or wiry growth. Hence the most perfect lawns are made by the sowing of carefully selected seed rather than by laying turf, though the latter is the quicker process. In any case, the use of the roller must not be neglected, and during the time of rapid growth the lawn-mower, set for cutting close, should be employed at least twice a week. But it is a mistake to mow very closely during periods of drought. All weeds should be extirpated as soon as they appear, and moss (which is in damp situations the worst of all foes) must be checked at once, or it will soon destroy the herbage.
The walks are even more important in many cases than the lawn or lawns, and unless they have been made with skill and care they will always be troublesome. A dry, compact, and even surface, without which no good walk can be, is not secured without depth of substance, proper form, and good drainage. The depth should be at least 12 inches, to secure freedom from weeds and worm-casts, as well as a firm, dry surface. Nine inches of brick-rubbish, clinkers, chalk, burnt earth, or other open and absorbent matter should underlie 3 inches of good binding gravel, and the middle should be rounded well to carry off the rainfall, for which purpose also there must be drain-traps on either side conducting into cesspools, or other receptacles of ample capacity. The position and frequency of these drain-traps must depend upon the slope of the ground, the average rainfall of the place, &c. It is false economy to stint the width of walk, even when carriages are not required. No walk should be less than 5 feet in width, unless there is some special reason, and 6 or 7 feet should be afforded even to a side-walk of any importance. It is a common practice to scatter salt or other poisonous matter on walks to destroy the weeds or worms, but the remedy is generally worse than the disease. With proper care a walk can be kept clean, and looks more cheerful without these applications.
As to the flower-beds, their arrangement and composition should depend upon the taste of the owner, which is too often set aside in favour of the passing fashion. A common mistake in small gardens is to cut up the grass into intricate patterns with a number of fantastic flower-beds, and to lay them out in colours, like a window of stained glass. Or even the same bed is planted with stripes and sweeps of every tint produced by bloom and foliage, and the stiff artificial effect is called a triumph of carpet-bedding. Happily this taste is growing obsolete, and a more natural style is in vogue again. But the opposite extreme must be avoided, that of having flower-beds without flowers. The borders should have at least two bright periods, that of spring-blooming bulbs and tubers, from March to the middle or end of May, and again that of bedding plants, from the latter part of June till the frost of autumn nips them. In the larger flower-beds there are also some perennial plants or shrubs of dwarf habit, such as roses, azaleas, rhododendrons, and the like, which form the back or centre, according to the slope. Whatever the shape may be, every flower-bed should have sufficient slope of soil and definite edging, whether of turf, or tiles, or box, or other dwarf-growing and tidy plants; and the surface should be dressed at least once a year, if the soil cannot otherwise be renewed, with rich material of neat appearance, such as thoroughly rotten manure, decomposed vegetable substance, &c., the darker in colour the better, but light in substance, and not apt to bind. The plants employed for summer bedding (which should be done towards the end of May) have generally been raised under glass in small pots, and their variety is almost endless, new ones being introduced continually. As a general rule those of prostrate or very low habit should be in front, with taller growth towards the centre or back, and a pleasing contrast or change of colour. Most of them will flower for weeks in succession, if well watered and not allowed to seed—for the formation of seed checks the growth at once.
In large pleasure-grounds ornamental trees add much to the beauty of the scene, by graceful form or tint of foliage, and sometimes by brilliance of bloom or berry. As a general rule these should stand far apart, unless there is something unsightly to conceal, and should not be very near the dwelling-house, except where shelter is needful. The choice and arrangement belong rather to the department of landscape-gardening, but none should be planted which have not been proved capable of enduring the coldest winter or the roughest weather they are likely to confront. This caution applies especially to all the race of imported conifers, few of which can withstand a winter of exceptional rigour. Thus in the second half of the 19th century, in 1860, 1867, and 1881, that general favourite the Abies, or Cedrus Deodara, has been greatly injured by frost, even in the south of England.
The shrubbery also is a pleasant adjunct wherever space is plentiful, affording the coolest walk in summer, and in winter the most sheltered. The shrubs should be mainly evergreen, though a few deciduous may be admitted for the sake of the bloom or variety of colour. But forest-trees must not be allowed to overhang and starve the dwarf growth.
Other features, such as terraces, lakes, and fountains, &c., pertain to the domains of the wealthy. See works on landscape-gardening by Blomfield and Thomas, Robinson, Downing, Elliott, or Parsons. But a place without any great pretensions may have its rockwork and fernery, which are often combined in some sheltered spot, and offer a pleasant retreat from the glare of the flower-beds or trimness of the lawn. Many good judges pronounce that statues are out of place even in the largest garden, intruding on the sense of repose, and competing for attention with fairer nature. But, if the owner must have them, he should not post them too conspicuously, and should have them as little as possible at enmity with nature.
(2) The kitchen-garden, for the supply of fruit and vegetables, is generally kept out of view from the house, either by walls or a fringe of trees or shrubs. This also should have good walks and drainage; but use is more studied than appearance here, so that graceful curves are dispensed with, and the ground is divided conveniently into squares or parallelograms. When the case permits, this garden is enclosed by walls of stone or brick—the latter to be preferred for fruit—and should slope towards the south or south-east, and must not be overhung by trees. There are very good gardens not favoured thus; but the ideal kitchen-garden perhaps should be a square of from one to two acres, facing not the cardinal but the intermediate points, SE., SW., NW., NE. Every wall thus obtains a share of sunshine, the south-east aspect is quite as good as the south, and the south-west not very far inferior, at least in the warmer part of England, while the north-east aspect is much better than due north for Morello cherries or other hardy fruit. Parallel with the walls inside are borders from 12 to 25 feet in width, parted by straight walks at least 5 feet wide from the squares or parallelograms forming the chief area, which are intersected by paths at right angles, with two main walks crossing at the centre of the garden. Very often these inner squares, or quarters, are cropped with vegetables or bush-fruit, while the wall-borders are reserved for strawberries, early lettuce, kidney-potatoes, or other dwarf growth which is advanced by the warmth of the situation. Although the produce of the kitchen-garden may be roughly distinguished as vegetables and fruit, the two are very seldom kept entirely apart, the general practice being to crop the ground with vegetables between the lines of fruit-trees. And it is still more difficult to part the two by any botanical definition. Popular usage must therefore be followed, though even this is sometimes uncertain, the tomato, for instance, being assigned by some to the fruit and by others to the vegetable class.
In common parlance, vegetables are described as plants grown for culinary use. Of some the esculent part is the root; of others, the stem or foliage; of others, the bloom or its receptacle; of others, the seed, whether ripe or unripe, and with or without its capsule. As an instance of each may be given the carrot, celery, cabbage and cauliflower, peas and beans, of which latter the seed is consumed without the pod or with it, according to the variety. The vegetables chiefly used in Britain are as follows, some attempt being made to place them according to their importance, though all households may not concur in this. The potato, the cabbage-tribe (including the hearted cabbage, the colewort, the savoy, the broccoli, and cauliflower, seakale, couve troncuda, and others), onions and leeks; salad-plants, such as lettuce, endive, radishes, &c.; the leguminous—i.e. peas and beans, of several varieties; the carrot, celery, turnips and parsnips, asparagus, spinach, rhubarb, beet-root, shallots and chives, artichokes (both Jerusalem and globe), cucumbers and marrows, salsify and scorzonera, horse-radish, and culinary herbs of divers kinds. The tomato or love-apple (Lycopersicum esculentum) has of late years become so popular, and is considered so wholesome, that it claims a high place in the foregoing list, which is not presented as exhaustive. For all of these plants a soil of medium staple is desirable, for a stiff clay is cold and too retentive of moisture, while a sandy or gravelly land both suffers from drought and affords little nourishment. The soil which gardeners describe as a rich loam is the best of all for their purposes; and if it be 3 or 4 feet in depth, with a substratum of gravel to ensure drainage, it will grow the very best vegetables, without that excess of manure which is apt to increase the size, but to impair the flavour. Space forbids us to do more than cite a few general rules to be observed in the growth of vegetables, and there are plenty of excellent books on the subject.
A heavy soil is much improved by the mixture of light materials, such as sand, ashes, leaf-mould, road-scraperings, or anything that tends to keep the surface open and the mass more permeable. A poor sandy staple, on the other hand, should be made more retentive and tenacious by the addition of clay or heavy loam or manures of a moist and substantial kind. Whatever the soil be, it should be moved deeply at every time of planting, but the subsoil, if very poor, should not be brought up, especially for shallow-rooted plants. All the cabbage-race, and nearly all plants that are grown for their flower or foliage, require strong nurture and plenty of moisture; while many plants cultivated for the sake of the root, especially the potato, are injured by reeking and heavy manures. Even the onion, though it likes a rich bed, should not have a rank one. Watering, if once begun, should be repeated, until there is sufficient rainfall. The use of the hoe between growing plants is most beneficial, and the surface should be kept loose and open. Let nothing run to seed, unless the seed is wanted. It is better to give too much space than too little, and the sequence of crops should be carefully considered, so that like should never follow like, when it can be avoided. If it cannot be avoided, the ground should be deeply turned over, and plenty of fresh nourishment supplied. In planting, let the fibrous roots be spread well, and the soil made firm round the stem or collar. Whether the crop is sown or planted, the drills or rows should be so arranged that the sunshine may pass along rather than across them, and few plants come to perfection under trees even in the brightest summers.
Fruit, which forms an important part of kitchen-garden produce, is ranged in three classes generally, according to its mode of growth, whether on plant, or bush, or tree. Of plant or ground fruit we have chiefly the strawberry and the melon. The latter is rather a subject for cultivation under glass—although in warm spots and fine summers the hardier sorts may succeed in the open; but the strawberry is to be found in almost every kitchen-garden, a universal favourite, and not difficult of culture if the right kinds be selected. A sunny wall-border deeply dug, and then trodden firm, if the soil be light, is the best position for the early kinds. The distance between the plants is governed by the vigour of the growth, but the rows should generally be two feet apart, or even three, when the growth is very strong. The beds should be renewed every second or third year, according to the constitution of the kind. Probably this fine fruit takes its name, not (as is often supposed) from the use of straw to keep it clean, but from the way in which the berries, having but a slender footstalk, are strewn or strawn by their weight upon the ground.
Of bush-fruit the most important are currants, gooseberries, and raspberries, the former two being raised from cuttings, and the last from suckers. Raspberries delight in a rich and heavy soil, and a place where no drought can reach them. The black currant also rejoices in moisture; but the white and red currants and gooseberries thrive well in lighter places.
Tree-fruit is of many kinds, and grown in divers manners. A broad distinction was made of old betwixt wall-fruit and that of standards, as if the former were far superior both in size and quality. But now it is acknowledged that any fruit which can be ripened thoroughly or brought into proper state for gathering 'in full wind', as the French express it, will prove of higher flavour and of finer flesh than if it had received the relaxing influence and coddling of a wall. Still, the wall affords much fairer chance of protecting tender bloom from frost, and heavy fruit from winds, as well as of ripening later kinds, which ought not to be culled till October.
Taking wall-fruit first, we find the following chiefly favoured thus: the peach, the nectarine, and apricot, the finer sorts of plums and gages, cherries, pears, sometimes apples of dessert varieties, and also figs and hardy grapes, which ripen in warm seasons and warm places with good management. For stone-fruit the usual mode of training is to spread the branches against the wall in radiations, like those of a fan, removing the breast-wood while quite young, and laying in the bearing wood on one or both sides of the leading branches, and at proper intervals. Very few gardeners understand the education of a wall-tree; and a peach-tree perfectly trained and equally balanced, yet full of vigour, is one of the fairest and rarest sights. Nothing less than loving labour and great skill can bring this to pass; but for ordinary work and good results these points must be attended to—vermin must be nipped in the bud, gross shoots must be removed or reduced, and redundant fruit taken off right early. These rules apply to the pear as well, when trained against a wall, although that fruit is less oppressed by insects, and the tree is usually trained in the horizontal or rectangular form—that is to say, with side-branches issuing at intervals of about a foot from the main stem or leader. Another mode of training, called the 'cordon system,' is now in vogue with the pear, the plum, cherry, and other wall-fruit. This is not by any means a novelty, but rather a revival; and where the walls are high, and many varieties are needed, it is sometimes employed with good effect, though the difficulty is to repress the longing of the tree for ampler foliage. It is a system of strict repression, and the victim requires frequent care; and even at the best we have a triumph of art over nature, instead of with it.
Without the aid of a wall, fine fruit—quite as handsome in some cases, and often of better quality—can be grown in good situations and average seasons with ordinary skill. Trees planted thus for fruiting 'in full wind' are described as either standards, pyramids, or bushes. The first have a single stem free from branches for several feet above the ground—perhaps 6 feet is the average. There the branching begins, and the growth continues according to early treatment, with either an upright leader or open divergence of coequal shoots. This tall growth is mainly used for orchards now, or in gardens for planting alternately with pyramids or bushes. The pyramid—more correctly perhaps it should be termed the conical tree—is formed by allowing the lower shoots to remain, and even encouraging them (when the habit of the sort requires it) by stopping the leader at intervals, so that we have a young tree furnished with tiers of side-shoots from the base upwards in regular succession, yet still possessing a central upright. In the bush the leader has been removed, if there ever was one—for some varieties branch thus by nature; and then we have a spreading growth without any central occupant, as the nut-trees are usually formed in Kent, and the currant and gooseberry everywhere.
Where space is restricted and growth must be compact, the conical form of tree suits well, and offers most temptation to those who love experiments. But when great bulk of fruit is called for, either the 'pyramid' must be allowed to earn its name by magnitude, or the free and tall standard must have its own way, with coercion administered prudently. Many writers, especially nurserymen, have pleasure in proving that the maximum of fruit is to be achieved with the minimum of tree; but nature works otherwise, and if she be not heeded experience will impress the error. Continual lifting and pinching of trees (alternated as such correction is with doses of rank liquor) act upon their systems as feast and fasting might act upon the gardener. To those who have not studied the precepts (rather than the practice) of recent authorities this will appear a truism.
Without controversy, it is enough to say that in this, as is in most other matters, the middle course is the best and safest. Fruit-trees in the open should be planted at fair distance from one another; pyramids of strong sorts 10 feet asunder, and of weakly kinds not less than 8; standard-trees 15 feet apart, to do justice to themselves and allow it for some years to the humbler growth betwixt them. Many must be checked in their lateral spread until they have filled their forms, not densely, but with equable bearing wood; and none should be allowed to sacrifice their future for the sake of present gain. It should also be borne in mind that stone-fruit, if any is thus grown, does not bear the knife as kindly as the pears and apples do. If the plum and cherry must be brought into the form of bush or cone, it can only be done to good effect by nipping the young growth before midsummer, and by very slight winter-pruning. Any amputation of thick branches produces gumming, and maims the tree. To achieve the pear and apple in small compass and with quick increase dwarfing stocks are much employed, the pear being grafted or budded on the quince, and the apple on the Paradise or doucín. Many varieties thrive well on these, some for many years, and others for a shorter time, according to their liking; and larger and finer coloured fruit is the early result of the union. Nurserymen by experience know what sorts to offer in this form, and what are less complaisant. The espalier also, which may be termed a multiple form of cordon, is frequently found in kitchen-gardens, though not universal as in days gone by. The tree is trained horizontally on stakes, or wires, in tiers proceeding from the central stem, and for heavy fruit this method doubtless offers more stability; but the disadvantages are many, and in common with the quenouille (which is a modification of it) the espalier has yielded place to the less exacting pyramid.
For fruit-trees, as for vegetables, a few well-known but often slighted cautions may be offered. Let sufficient space be given; luxuriant growers may sometimes stand alternate with the feebler; let no tree be planted deeply, nay, if the soil be wet and heavy, plant almost upon the surface, banking up and staking well. Remove the coarser tap-roots if there be enough of fibre; prune but slightly, if at all, until fresh growth has started, and then be not too hard with it. Do not clog with rank manure, but let the ground have been well worked before the tree is planted. Give the needful nurture, when the fruit is taxing the resources of the root, either by mulching with fat manure, or presenting it in liquid form. Let not the tree be overcropped: a hundred puny fruits are not equal in bulk to a score of fine ones, and far less in quality, yet they exhaust the powers of the parent more than the worthy progeny. Be careful as to the time of culling: even the earliest fruit should not be allowed to get dead-ripe on the branch, whereas the winter kinds are often gathered prematurely, especially under the menace of a storm. General pruning should be done in winter, when the trees have filled their spaces, and should be tempered with mercy; but for this directions will be found in our article upon that subject.
Hot-beds in the kitchen-garden are chiefly for promoting and protecting early growth of tender stuff, such as marrows, cucumbers, potatoes, mnshrooms, &c. No description, but experience alone and common sense can give the key to the management of this close work. Only it may be said that half the failures which occur are caused by excess of heat, stint of air, and injudicious coddling. See also PLANT-HOUSE.
The gardener, whether he has to study beauty or utility—not that these are discordant powers—must endeavour to move along the broad walk of intelligence, despising nothing because it seems new, still less because it is old; and striving to learn from others all he can, and from himself the whole of it. The multiplicity of art for him is multiplied by the infinitude of nature, and before he is out of his rudiments his time comes to be made perfect.
Among the many treatises upon Gardening, general or special, a few may here be mentioned: Loudon's Encyclopaedia of Gardening (1878); Loudon's Encyclopaedia of Plants (Wooster's edition); Lindley's Vegetable Kingdom; Lindley's Botanical Register; Lindley's British Fruits; Vilmorin's Vegetable Garden; Sweet's British Flower-garden (7 vols.); Robinson's Flower-garden; Paul's Rose-garden; Hibberd's Rose-book; Hibberd's Amateur's Greenhouses; Hogg's Fruit Manual (5th edition); Johnson's Gardener's Dictionary (Brown's edition); Barron's Vines and Vine-culture; Thompson's Gardener's Assistant; Cassell's Popular Gardening; Hemsley's Hardy Trees and Shrubs; Smith's Economic Plants; Sedding's Garden-craft, Old and New (1892); Miss Amherst's History of Gardening in England (1896).