CHAPTER XIV

THE GARDEN

$How to Dig.$--It is beyond the scope of this book to enter into all the intricacies of gardening. To do this we should need a volume larger than this devoted to that subject alone. Whatever branch of gardening a boy may pursue, however, whether he grows gooseberries, sweet peas, or cabbages, he will need to know how to dig. One of the pleasures of life is to come to a garden that has been neglected or to a plot of land that hitherto has been a field and to see it gradually become a well kept garden without a weed, under the magic of good spade work. It is like subduing an enemy. The simplest way to dig is to take a spade full of earth, turn it over, and put it back where you found it. This, however, is only for lightening the soil when the garden has been cultivated already. You would not subdue an unruly garden in that way.

$Shallow Trenching.$--If ABCD is a plot of land and you are beginning at the AB end, dig out the earth ABEF and convey it to the DC end and put it near but off the plot you are digging. Now dig EFGH and throw the earth from that into the trench ABEF and so on for the rest of the plot. When you have come to the end of the plot there will be a trench, but this will be filled by the earth you took there at the beginning of your digging.

$Deep Trenching.$--The best basis for gardening, however, is a more drastic, deeper trenching than this. Let ABCD be the plot we are going to dig deeply. Divide it into equal parts by the line EF. Make the line GH 3-1/2 feet from FC. Dig out the earth from GHCF and carry it to X where it may be put in a heap. Make the line IJ 3 feet from GH. Dig out the earth one spade deep from GHIJ and throw it upon the heap at X. This earth at X taken from the top is known as top soil. Now return to GFCH and go another spade deeper, throwing the soil of this digging into a heap at Y. Still at GFCH break up the soil there with a fork, and manure and refuse may be placed there. Weeds put down here would have no chance to grow again. Go now to GIJH, dig out the subsoil there and put it into GFCH. On the top of this subsoil so removed place the top soil from KIJL. Go on like this until you come to EB, when the top soil from AEMN should go to NOQR and the subsoil of AEMN into NOQR and the top soil from MNPQ into EBON. When you get to DF you will find the subsoil at Y and the top soil at X ready for the filling of the last trench. It is important to keep the top soil on the top and the subsoil underneath. Drive the spade into the earth in a perpendicular direction and the full depth of the blade. Let the garden endure the winter with a rough surface so that the soil may present as many surfaces to the frost as possible. Jack Frost is one of the very best gardeners, and to see soil before he has bitten it and afterwards will be a revelation to the young gardener.

$Double Digging.$--The deep trenching just described, in which the top soil was kept upon the top, and the subsoil underneath, is excellent where the subsoil is unfit for plant food, but there is a problem which it does not solve. Suppose we come to a garden matted hard upon the surface with buttercups, convolvulus, grass, twitch, groundsel, thistles and other tiresome weeds, then the last thing we desire is that these should remain on top. You cannot pull up the weeds by hand because the ground is so hard that you do no more than break the weeds, leaving the roots embedded firmly in the earth. Before there is any peace in the garden these weeds must be killed, and we will now describe how to do it. Suppose ABCD is the plot of ground. From AB measure four feet and draw the line EF. From ABFE take out the soil one spade deep, that is the top soil, and put it in a heap at G outside the plot. Now from ABFE take out the soil another spade deep, the subsoil, and put it in a heap at H. Now from EF measure two feet and draw the line IJ. Take the top soil, weeds and everything, from EFJI and throw it to ABKL--KL is two feet from AB--leaving KLFE empty for the present. Now take the subsoil from EFJI and throw it into ABKL, that is upon the top of the top soil you have just thrown there. Now measure another two feet from IJ and draw the line MN. The soil from IJNM will go into KLFE, top soil first and the subsoil on the top of it. Proceed in this way, two feet at a time, and when you come to CD throw the soil at G and H into the trench that will be left, top soil first and subsoil upon the top of it. The plot ABCD will now be well dug, and all the weeds will be deep under the soil where they will speedily die and decay; and even supposing that the subsoil you had brought to the top is not good, you may double dig again next year and so recover the old top soil minus the weeds. Any weeds that grow now may be eradicated easily from the loose soil, and even the weeds of twitch and convolvulus may be followed down and extracted. Unless you have unlimited time and patience to look after them do not be tempted to leave grass paths, but dig the garden from side to side. Grass paths are always spreading upon the garden and making the edges weedy and untidy. If you prefer it you may do this double digging with the plot divided as we divided it for deep trenching.

$How to sow Seed.$--It is not wise to sow old seed. Even if they grow the plants are often without vigour. Go to a seedsman who has a good character and do not buy seed because its price is low.

The soil must be fine and firm, porous and moist. It must not be sticky nor dry. The seeds will not germinate until they can have both warmth and moisture. Sow thinly because crowded plants do not grow well. It is best to sow small flower seeds in pans and boxes well drained, as explained in our article on window-boxes to follow. Level the surface of the earth and make it firm. Water it with a fine spray and then stand it in the shade for about five hours. Now scatter the seed thinly and cover it very lightly with sifted earth. White-washed or paper shaded glass may be placed over the box or pan until the seeds appear. The glass will keep the air warm and moist. Except in the case of the very small seeds, the depth at which they are sown should be about three times their size or thickness.

In the garden do not sow broadcast, but in drills, as the ground can then be more easily weeded and kept loose when the seeds have grown.

After sowing press the soil well down and then water gently so that the seeds are not washed out, and the water drains away quickly.

The soil must not be allowed to get quite dry, and yet excessive moisture must be avoided. Too much watering is a common cause of failure.

If the soil becomes caked before the seedlings appear or patches be lifted by them, break it up with the point of a knife, and then water gently and just sufficiently to settle the soil round the plants.

Do not water seeds or seedlings with water that is colder than the soil, and in summer do not water until the evening. If the watering of very small seeds is necessary, stand the pans or boxes in a shallow vessel of water for an hour.

For watering seedlings use a vaporiser, or dip a hair brush in water, shake off most of the fluid, and then, while holding the brush over the plants draw the hand along the bristles several times.

When the seedlings are up, loosen the soil around them very gently.

$A Window Box.$--There are not many forms of gardening that are so pleasant as that of having a window box. There need be no bearing of the heat and burden of the day, no laborious double digging, no tedious weeding, no back-aching hoeing, no hard days with the wheelbarrow. The window box, too, is not merely a fine weather friend. As you sit in your room upon a rainy day it is at the window beside you, and if your window is open the scent from the flowers comes in with every breeze. If you have a succession of window-boxes you can have a blaze of flowers upon your window sill at most seasons of the year.

The box need not be made elaborately, and though some people do give themselves much trouble yet flowers look as well or even better in such a roughly made box painted green as most boys can make out of a packing case bought for a few coppers from the grocer. You may put plants already in pots in your box, but if you desire to grow flowers in the box itself it will be necessary to fill it with earth. Before this is done holes about the size of a farthing should be bored in the bottom of the box with a brace and bit or with that more homely if unjoiner-like tool the red hot poker. These are to provide drainage. Then there should come between one and two inches of broken stones and upon this the earth. As a rule this may be the ordinary earth from the garden, but it is better to add some coarse sand if you have it, and if in your walks into woods and along the hedges you can secure some leaf mould to put with the earth so much the better. Well decayed manure, odds and ends of mortar and lime which the builders may have left about will all help to provide the flowers with food. There are so many flowers that look well in window-boxes that no complete list can be given. Boys should be ever on the look out to find from the boxes of other people what thrives in these boxes. Each end of the box should be left for climbers that will run up each side of the window, and no better plant for this position can be named than the delicate canary creeper with its pale green leaves and dainty yellow flowers. Nasturtiums, too, look well in this position, and no better border for the front of the box can be imagined than the blue of the beautiful lobelia. Another good climber is convolvulus major. These climbers live for one season only, but one that grows year after year is tropæolum pentaphyllum. In the winter the tubers of this plant are kept in sand and are placed in position each spring. Plants that hang over the front of the box are graceful like single petunias and rock bindweed, and for the rest each boy can make a selection of his favourites for the remaining part of the box. If he likes he may have a number of boxes so that when one has had its day another may be ready. In the spring box he would have crocuses, snowdrops, squills, daffodils and such flowers; then a box with primroses, tulips and hyacinths; and after that a box of pinks, lilies of the valley, anemones, and next the real summer flowers and blooms of autumn. Let the plants be watered regularly with water that is not too cold, and if it be possible use rain water.