HARDY GARDENING AND THE PREPARATION OF THE SOIL
It has not been all success. I have had to learn the soil and the
location best suited to each plant; to know when each bloomed and which
lived best together. Mine is a garden of bulbs, annuals, biennials and
hardy perennials; in addition to which there are Cannas, Dahlias and
Gladioli, whose roots can be stored, through the winter, in a cellar.
All the rest of the garden goes gently to sleep in the autumn, is well
covered up about Thanksgiving time, and slumbers quietly through the
winter; until, with the first spring rains and sunny days, the plants
seem fairly to bound into life again, and the never-ceasing miracle of
nature is repeated before our wondering eyes.
I have no glass on my place, not even a cold-frame or hot-bed.
Everything is raised in the open ground, except the few bedding plants
mentioned whose roots are stored through the winter. Therefore, mine
can truly be called a hardy garden, and is the only one I know at all
approaching it in size and quantity of flowers raised, where similar
conditions exist.
[Illustration: A shady garden walk
May thirty-first]
I have observed that, with few exceptions, the least success with
hardy perennials is found in the gardens of those of my friends whose
gardeners are supposed to be the best, because paid the most. These men
will grow wonderful Roses, Orchids, Carnations, Grapes, etc., under
glass, and will often have fine displays of Rhododendrons. But to most
of them the perennial or biennial plant, the old friend blossoming in
the same place year after year, is an object unworthy of cultivation.
Their souls rejoice in the bedding-out plant, which must be yearly
renewed, and which is beautiful for so short a time, dying with the
early frost, I was astounded last summer on visiting several fine
places, where the gardeners were considered masters of their art, to
see the poor planting of perennials and annuals. I recall particularly
two Italian gardens, perfectly laid out by landscape gardeners, but
which amounted to nothing because the planting was insufficient,--here
a Phlox, there a Lily, then a Rose, with perhaps a Larkspur or a
Marigold, all rigidly set out in single plants far apart, with nothing
in masses, and no colour effects.
To attain success in growth, as well as in effect, plants must be so
closely set that when they are developed no ground is to be seen. If so
placed, their foliage shades the earth, and moisture is retained. In a
border planted in this way, individual plants are far finer than those
which, when grown, are six inches or a foot apart.
First of all in gardening, comes the preparation of the soil. Give
the plants the food they need and plenty of water, and the blessed
sunlight will do the rest. It is wonderful what can be done with
a small space, and how from April to November there can always be
a mass of bloom. I knew of one woman's garden, in a small country
town,--house and ground only covering a lot hardly fifty by one hundred
feet,--where, with the help of a man to work for her one day in the
week and perhaps for a week each spring and fall, she raises immense
quantities of flowers, both perennials and annuals. For six months of
the year she has always a dozen vases full in the house, and plenty to
give away. More than half the time her little garden supplies flowers
for the church, while others in the same village owning large places
and employing several men "have really no flowers."
I remember returning once from a two weeks' trip, to find that my
entire crop of Asters had been destroyed by a beetle. It was a
horrid black creature about an inch long, which appeared in swarms,
devoured all the plants and then disappeared, touching nothing else.
Such a thing had never before happened in my garden. One of the men
had sprayed them with both slug-shot and kerosene emulsion to no
effect,--and so no Asters. My friend with the little garden heard me
bemoaning my loss, and the next day sent me, over the five intervening
miles, a hamper--almost a small clothes-basket--full of the beautiful
things. It quite took my breath away. I wondered how she could do it,
and thought she must have given me every one she had. Yet, upon driving
over in hot haste to pour out thanks and regrets, lo! there were Asters
all a-blow in such quantities in her garden that it seemed as if none
had been gathered.
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 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. I have but one rule: stake out the bed, and then dig out the
entire space two feet in depth. Often stones will be found requiring
the strength and labor of several men, with crowbars and levers, to
remove them; often there will be rocks that require blasting. Stones
and earth being all removed, put a foot of well-rotted manure in the
bottom; then fill up with alternate layers, about four inches each, of
the top soil, taken out of the first foot dug up, and of manure. Fill
the bed or border very full, as it will sink with the disintegration of
the manure. Finish off the top with three inches of soil. Then it is
ready for planting. If the natural soil is stiff or clayey, put it in
a heap and mix with one-fourth sand, to lighten it, before returning
to the bed. Thus prepared, it will retain moisture, and not pack and
become hard.
[Illustration: Asters blooming in a border
September fifteenth]
LAYING OUT A GARDEN AND BORDERS AROUND THE HOUSE
[Illustration: A clump of Valerian
June sixth]