Potatoes are not a crop for most home gardeners to grow in large quantities - but young potatoes, an inch or two across, have a special flavor and are worth growing. Most varieties have brown skins, but some have reddish or bluish skins. The flesh of potatoes is usually white or cream-colored.

The variety to plant depends upon where you live and whether you want early potatoes for eating in summer and fall or late potatoes for storage.

In most of the U.S. and southern Canada, where frost is expected in winter, early varieties are Early Gem, Irish Cobbler and Norgold Russet; late varieties are Katandin, Kennebec and the most famous potato for baking, Russet Burbank, sometimes called Idaho or Idaho Baker. In frost-free regions only one crop is grown each year; good varieties are Irish Cobbler and Russet Burbank. Twenty-five feet of row yields 25 to 50 pounds of potatoes at one harvesting.

If it becomes necessary to cultivate, penetrate the soil no deeper than 1 inch. When the plants become 8 to 10 inches tall, use a hoe to pile the soil up around the stems to a height of 3 to 4 inches; this hilling-up with soil protects the potatoes and keeps them from turning green. Do not fertilize.

Green pea, also called garden pea or English pea (Pisum sativum); edible-pod pea, also called Chinese snow pea or sugar pea (P. sativum macrocarpum)

Peas are among the earliest vegetables to be picked each year and should be eaten almost immediately because, like corn, they lose their sweet flavor very rapidly. All grow on vines and do best in cool weather.

Green peas are classified as smooth or wrinkled, according to the way their seeds look when dried. Since wrinkled varieties are sweeter than smooth ones, only wrinkled varieties are recommended here.

Peppers grow best in soil with a pH of 5.5 to 7.0. In most of the U.S. and southern Canada, where winter frosts are expected, start seeds indoors in spring six to eight weeks before minimum night temperatures are expected to average above 55. Sow the seeds in a flat and transplant the seedlings to individual pots when they are about 1 inch tall. Or sow two or three seeds in individual pots, and when the seedlings become an inch tall, cut off all but the strongest one in each pot. The plants need indoor temperatures of 70 to 80.

Parsnips are grown for their delicate-tasting roots, which grow up to 15 inches long and 3 to 4 inches across at the top. The plants are biennials but are grown as annuals and should be harvested before the second year’s leaves form.

Never pick any wild plant that looks like parsnip; the poisonous water hemlock is easily mistaken for it. Good varieties of parsnips are All American, Guernsey, Model and Hollow Crown. A 15-foot row yields about 15 pounds in a single harvesting.

Excellent white varieties are Crystal White Wax, an early Bermuda onion, which keeps only about a month; and White Portugal, also called Silverskin, and White Sweet Spanish, both of which keep about two months. Typical yellow varieties are Downing Yellow Globe.

Ordinary onions can be harvested about five months after the seeds are sown or about three and one half months after sets or young plants are planted.

The plants are cold resistant and can be grown over winter to provide tender young stems in early spring. Bunching onions keep only one to two weeks. Good varieties are Evergreen White Bunching and Hardy White Bunching. A 10-foot row yields about 10 bunches over four weeks.

The barbecue is a great way to enjoy a meal

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

There are however some rules you should follow to guarantee everything goes smoothly. You don’t want phone calls from all your neighbours next day regaling you with stories of their tummy upsets. Following these rules should make sure the event goes off OK.

Getting the barbecue lit can usually be relied upon to set the pulse running for more than one reason.

Once lit make sure you set aside enough time for the barbecue to reach it’s optimum cooking temperature. Be sure you take that into account.

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.

We’re all used to seeing rising prices, but the cost of food seems to have skyrocketed in the last few years. One way to protect yourself against high food prices is to grow your own vegetables. This is also a very good way to insure you will have plenty of fresh, wholesome food, even in the face of food shortages. Surprisingly, just about anyone can grow a good vegetable garden just about anywhere. You just have to put in a little hard work.

Starting a vegetable garden isn’t difficult, but it will take some attention and time. By following some guidelines, however, you will soon be well on your way. If you have never had a vegetable garden before, you may find it easier to start on a small scale or even try container gardening. In this way, you can get used to how plants grow. You can also familiarize yourself with the amount of work you will need to do.

In order to grow your own vegetables, you’ll need to have plenty of sunshine. Select an area on your property that receives at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight. Having it closer to your home is convenient, but not always practical because it will be shaded by your home or trees, if any.

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.

Beets grow best in soil with a pH of 6.0 to 7.5. In most of the U.S. and southern Canada, where frost is expected in winter, sow seeds in early spring as soon as the soil can be worked and continue planting at three-week intervals until 60 days before maximum daytime temperatures are expected to average about 80. In late summer, when maximum daytime temperatures average below 80, start successive plantings until 10 to 12 weeks before minimum night temperatures average below 20. Beets are not harmed by spring or fall frosts.

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.

Modern varieties have a built-in resistance to verticillium wilt and fusarium wilt, diseases that can wipe out a crop and for which there are no effective sprays; several varieties are also resistant to nematodes, microscopic pests that eat and weaken tomato plants. The resistance of each variety is indicated by the letter “V” for verticillium wilt, “F” for fusarium wilt or `V” for nematode.

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.

The most modern type is the modular log cabin. They are built with modular cabin kits similar to the assembly of automobiles. The kits are made in factories and then delivered to the proposed site where it will be assembled. It is quick and easy to assemble.

Modular log cabins are more economical than the traditional way of constructing log cabins. While the modular cabin kit is being manufactured, the site location is being prepared just in time for the arrival of the kit.

Log cabin kits are more affordable and could be finished in lesser time than the traditional construction method.

In order to get everything done very smoothly and quite perfectly you would need a lender who is quite experienced in this type of loan lending and is like an expert in the job. In rural areas the local banks are usually much more flexible to the buyers as they want the development of the unimproved lands.

In order to construct the building and make other improvements to the land property one would need to finance the constructions and therefore would need a construction loan for the purpose.

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).

The plants generally grow 1 to 11/2 feet tall. The red or green deeply crinkled leaves have prominent central ribs that may be cut away from the rest of the leaf to be cooked and served like asparagus. The remainder of the leaf is eaten as greens.

Swiss chard is unusual in that a single planting can be harvested throughout an entire three-month growing season and even sometimes during a second season as well if flower stalks are removed during the second year. Fordhook Giant is a fine green-leaved variety; Rhubarb is an excellent variety with wine-red leaves. An 8-foot row yields about 7 pounds of leaves during each three-month period.

The familiar apricot, believed to have originated in China, has been cultivated for many thousands of years. A standard tree grows about 20 feet tall, spreading in a vase shape to a diameter of 25 to 30 feet; dwarf varieties grow about 8 feet tall, spreading to 10 feet. Apricots have attractive pink flowers that open so early in the spring that they are sometimes nipped by frost. They are followed in late summer by 11/2- to 2-inch fruit with orange, very sweet flesh. The fruit are most tasty when allowed to ripen on the tree; when ripe they are plump, fairly firm and a uniform golden-yellow color.

Blackberries grow best in a moist but well-drained soil of pH 5.5 to 7.5 that has been supplemented with compost or manure. From Zone 5 north, plant blackberries in the early spring as soon as the ground can be worked; from Zone 6 south, set the plants out in the fall, winter or spring.

The culture of bush and vine types differs considerably, primarily because of their habits of growth. Set bush-type plants 4 to 5 feet apart in the row and space rows 6 feet apart. Cut back the canes of newly planted bushes to 6 inches from the ground.