Allotment garden

“ Of the number of plants needed, each gardener must be the judge; also, in spite of many warnings and directions, each one must finally work on the lines of personally won experience. What is acceptable to the soil and protected by certain shelter in my garden on one side of hill crest or road may not flourish in a different soil and exposure only a mile away. One thing is very certain, however,—it is time wasted to plant a hardy garden of herbaceous plants in shallow soil. ”

“ She walked up a brick-paved path to the front door between thick box borders, inclosing beds none too well weeded, but whose bowery shrubs and great clumps of old-fashioned bulbs and perennials had acquired the secure possession of the soil that comes with age. Behind them were grape-vines trained on trellises, over which rose the blossoming heads of tall old cherry-trees, and through the interstices in the flowery wall might be caught glimpses of an old garden where grass and flowers and vegetables mingled at haphazard. ”

“ Large or small, a greenhouse garden, like any other, should be designed carefully and never planted until you have the plan firmly in mind. Each plant should be given room in relation to all the others, and not merely at planting time but with maturity time in mind. Allow plenty of space for spreaders to spread and creepers to creep; and make sure every climber has its support. And, of course, plants in close proximity should have compatible cultural preferences in soil, moisture, light, and the like. ”

“ The paths are only one or two and they never turn abruptly and ask you to keep off their corners; they have none. Neither have the flower-beds. They flow wideningly around the hard turnings of the house with the grace of a rivulet. Out on the two wider sides of the lawn nothing breaks the smooth green but a well-situated tree or two until the limits of the premises are reached, and there, in lines that widen and narrow and widen again and hide the surveyor's angles, the flowers rise once more in a final burst of innumerable blossoms and splendid hues—a kind of sunset of the garden's own. ”

“ In the garden each plant draws from the largess of the earth just what properties it needs for growth and development, and the deeper the surface soil the better the plant will thrive. From some standpoints my greenhouses possess an advantage over my garden; in another sense the garden is more satisfactory. The one is artificial, the other natural; but the greenhouse is, possibly, more easily controlled. With proper care and intelligence I can count upon certain fixed results. I am not dependent upon the uncertain watering-pot of the sky, and have nothing to fear from frost or violent winds. ”

“ If you can place the empty container in its permanent spot and plant it there, you may save someone an aching back.
These gardens are meant to grow out in the open air, but not where searing sun and hot dry winds can dry the soil too fast and burn the plants. If the plants are all of the type that need sunlight, give them only the dappled shade of a high-branched tree or the windbreak and slight noonday shade of a low wall. Woodland plants and others that like shade can be grown in more protected spots. Naturally, the two types are not combined successfully in the same garden. ”

“ The soil mixture should be suitable for the type of plant which is going to live in it—acid or alkaline, sandy or humus-rich—and should be moist—not muddy—at planting time. One at a time take your plants from their individual pots, set them in place, and make the soil firm enough to support them. Add dangling-edgers and ground cover last. Mist the finished garden with a fine spray of water, thus washing off any dirt and refreshing the foliage. Set the garden in a shaded, protected spot until the plants have recovered from transplanting shock. ”

“ For a low planting about the foundation of the house, in front of porches or to top low terraces many plants may be employed which would be unsatisfactory in places at a distance where a general effect is desired more than an intimate relation. For masking a building, hiding an undesirable view and the like, tall-growing shrubs and flowering trees are usually preferred and these being of more or less slow growth require time to develop. ”

“ The common mistake in planting trees on small home grounds is to place the individual in the middle of the lawn. As a matter of design, the center of the lawn should be kept open, and trees, at any rate, should file along the boundaries. In our northern climate sturdy, protecting evergreens will naturally choose a north boundary, and the shady summer trees with heavy foliage will cast their comfortable shadows from the south side of the garden. ”

“ A birdbath, sundial, or shrine that’s a focal point in a small garden can sometimes be embellished with a small rock garden at the base. So can the edge or corner of a raised patio. Terrace pavements with cushions of thyme rooted in the crevices are enriched with color, fragrance, and texture. The lines of stark steps are softened and the appearance mellowed by crowded clumps of fat sempervivums. Wherever you can find reason for a rock wall, or even a row of rocks laid horizontally and only a few inches high, you can plant it with rockery plants at top, bottom, or in between. ”

“ Nothing can be finer than the aspect of this plant when allowed to spread out into a mass on the turf of the flower-garden or pleasure-ground. It seems much to prefer deep sandy soils to heavy ones; indeed, I have known it refuse to grow on heavy clay soil, and flourish most luxuriantly on a deep sandy loam in the same district. Like all large-leaved plants, it loves shelter. No garden or pleasure-ground in the southern parts of England and Ireland should be without a tuft of it in a sheltered spot. ”

“ A single petunia plant against a background of foliage is worth a dozen similar plants in the center of the lawn.... The open-centered yard may be a picture; the promiscuously planted yard may be a nursery or a forest. A little color scattered in here and there puts a finish to the picture. A dash of color gives spirit and character to the brook or pond, to the ledge of rocks, to the old stump, or to the pile of rubbish." The flower garden, if there is one, should be at one side of the residence or at the rear, "for it is not allowable to spoil a good lawn even with flowers." ”

“ They will grow in smoky districts, and may be increased by cuttings of firm side-shoots under a glass in summer or by layers in September. With the protection of a greenhouse they come into flower early in spring. They are the most beautiful of all flowering hardy climbers. The stove and greenhouse varieties are best planted in loam and peat, though they will thrive in any light soil. Any good garden soil suits the hardy kinds. The herbaceous varieties are increased by dividing the roots early in spring. They bloom at various periods. ”

“ Except by the sea-coast, our dry summers, with burning sun and, in many places, frequent absence of dew, are terribly hard on a garden; but with deep, rich soil, and plenty of water and proper care, it will yield an almost tropical growth. Therefore, whenever [16] a bed or border is to be made, make it right. Unless one is willing to take the trouble properly to prepare the ground, there is no use in expecting success in gardening. ”

“ A soggy, low spot can be planted as a bog and backed up by rocks and shrubs. A brook can be coaxed to make space for a small, hummocky island. The narrow, meandering, stepping-stone path through the sharp point of our land invites you to take a walk in the woods.
Originality has challenging freedom in creating a woodland garden for level, regularly shaped grounds. You may replace the ubiquitous pachysandra in the needle-carpeted shade of a tall pine tree with native plants. Or use one of those difficult areas such as the angle of a hedge, wall, foundation or shaded patio ”

“ The general idea is that all the soil shall be concealed, not necessarily at the moment of planting, but at the end of one or two seasons' growth. Unless you are a collector, variety is of little importance. The main thing is that there shall be beauty as a whole, a few marked seasonal effects of color with massed bloom and some green the year round; the garden must never be bare at any time, as nature will show you. Plants clustered here and [Pg 27] single there is a good planting rule. ”

“ First, then, as to situation and soil. If possible, choose a position for the beds sheltered from strong winds, yet not near large trees, or hedges; for the roots will enter the beds and rob them of moisture and nutriment. Buildings and walls are the best shelters.
Make the beds, if possible, in the highest part of the garden, and not the lowest; roses like an open situation, though they need shelter from strong winds, and shade, if possible, from the midday sun. In writing these notes I do not wish to say anything that will discourage any one from trying to grow exhibition roses ”

“ Add to it every bit of available vegetable matter during the year, including the annual flowers pulled up after their season of bloom, the tops of such root-plants as Cannas, Caladiums, Gladioli, etc., and you will soon have a supply quite adequate to the needs of an ordinary garden. Where there are water-works the hose may be turned on frequently to hasten decomposition. If it is impossible to replace all poor soil in the garden with better, by the addition of leaf-mould and manure, much may be accomplished in the way of building up the old and rendering it suitable. ”

“ For a centre to a circular bed nothing can surpass it in the summer and autumn flower-garden, while numerous other charming uses may be made of it. Not the least happy of these would be to plant a tuft of it on the green turf, in a warm spot, near a group of choice shrubs, to help, with many other things named, to fill up the gap that is now nearly everywhere observed between ordinary fleeting flowers and the taller tree and shrub vegetation. It is better to leave the plant in the ground, in a permanent position, than to take it up annually. ”

“ The flower garden also cries for proper raiment, for though the original lines have been preserved and the soil put in a satisfactory shape, in lieu of the hardy plants and old-time favourites that belong to such a place, in emergency we were reduced, last summer, to the quick-growing but monotonous bedding plants for fillers. Can you imagine anything more jarring and inconsistent than cannas, castor-oil beans, coleus, and nasturtiums in a prim setting of box? ”

“ If any place asks for permanent planting, it is the spot of ground immediately near the house; for no one can wish to see large, grave-like masses of soil frequently dug and disturbed near the windows, and few care for the result of all this, even when the ground is well covered during a good season. ”

“ Here it may be objected that the ordinary garden is, after all, only a compromise between the common and the ideal: half may be for the lust of the eye, yet half is for domestic drudgery; half is for beauty, half for use. The garden is contrived "a double debt to pay." Yonder mass of foliage that bounds the garden, with its winding intervals of turf and look of expansiveness, it serves to conceal villadom and the hulking paper-factory beyond; that rock-garden with its developed geological formation, dotted over with choice Alpine plants, that the stranger comes to see. ”

“ The earth encasing the roots sustained the plants during transportation and after setting sufficiently to prevent any loss worth mentioning. This method of the plant-grower can easily be employed on the Home Acre. Pots filled with earth may be sunk along the strawberry rows in the garden, the runners made to root in them, and from them transferred to any part of the garden wherein we propose to make a new bed. It is only a neater and more certain way of removing young plants with a ball of earth from the open bed. ”

“ They should go into new quarters at once. The bed needs soil from the woods, deep and rich and full of leaf mold. The under drainage system should be excellent. Then plants are not to go into water-logged ground. Some people think that all wood plants should have a soil saturated with water. But the woods themselves are not water-logged. It may be that you will need to dig your garden up very deeply and put some stone in the bottom. Over this the top soil should go. And on top, where the top soil once was, put a new layer of the rich soil you brought from the woods. ”

“ It flourishes best in free, substantial, moist soil which contains a large proportion of vegetable mould, and in a half-shady position. During the heats of summer it will require frequent watering. At the approach of winter it should be removed to the conservatory or cool greenhouse, except in the southern and milder districts, where it survives an ordinary winter. In the colder parts of the country it is scarcely worth planting out, it grows so slowly; but where it thrives it is very ornamental in borders, isolated, or near the margin of beds. ”

“ The great difficulty in gardening here is to repress vegetation, it being nearly impossible to curb its rank luxuriance. If left to itself, any garden will in two or three years become a dense impenetrable tangle of trees, vines, flowers, and weeds. ”

“ Few estates show so many beautiful trees; they add greatly to the pictorial effect of the place. Graceful elms with swaying branches are on every side, while on the opposite side of the road pine trees are in evidence, and on either side of the stone wall wild shrubs have been planted. There has been no attempt at formal arrangement of the grounds, not even with the garden which is at the side of the house. There has been built simply a picturesque lattice that separates house from barn and over which have been trained attractive vines. ”