CHAPTER II. 

 STARTING A GARDEN. 



I WILL suppose my reader has taken over a piece of land 

 which he wishes to make into a garden. It is at present 

 a rough field covered with grass, and there are plenty of 

 wild plants and weeds growing in it. 



How is he going to begin work on this unpromising piece 

 of ground ? It looks hopeless, but it is not so bad after all. 



The first thing to do is to skin off the turf, and this should 

 be done in the winter or early spring. If the main part 

 of the turf does not contain any twitch-grass, or weeds 

 like thistles, coltsfoot, docks, and dandelions, a heap should 

 be made of it in a corner of the garden. If, however, these 

 weeds are numerous, a fire should be made with sticks, 

 and when as much soil as possible has been shaken out of 

 the turf it should be burnt. 



Now dig two or three holes in different parts of the 

 ground. If there is good or fairly good soil down to the 

 bottom of the holes, you are in clover. But probably 

 you may find you cannot go down more than 1-2 ft. 

 before coming upon rock or shale, sand or clay. Sand 

 and clay, of which there are many kinds, are the easiest 

 to manage. If you come upon rock it is really serious 

 work to get it out and fill in with soil. 



However, we will leave the details of soils and their 

 management till a later stage. The best thing to do at 

 this stage is to dig the ground over as deeply as you can, 

 mixing in some rotted stable dung and sand ; and also 

 the ashes from yonr turf fire if the soil is inclined to be 

 clayey, and some cow manure if it is sandy. 



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