248 JOTTINGS OF A GENTLEMAN GARDENER 



necessary, though such a deluge may mean that he cannot 

 get on to his garden for a week or so to dig it up. 



" Let him make himself comfortable in an easy chair, 

 with his wife in another, before the fire. Let him avoid 

 saying : " Hark at the rain and wind. Is it not 

 shocking ? " Nor abuse the Clerk of the Weather for 

 sending such days and nights. He may get restless at the 

 thought of the work awaiting him out of doors, the altera- 

 tions in his garden, or the trenching and manuring which 

 should be done before Christmas. But he may make his 

 mind easy that to attempt alterations in inclement weather 

 is no good, and that the garden operations, few or many, 

 will wait without much harm for a week or two. ' What 

 can't be cured must be endured.' 



" The thing to do is not to dwell on the weather, but to 

 think about the garden as it has been last summer. 

 Perhaps many of my readers will have kept a garden diary 

 or notebook, and jotted down points about the plants they 

 grew. There is no better time than the winter months to 

 go through this notebook, to summarise at the end what 

 plants did well, what combinations of plants looked well 

 together, and what did not. In this way the gardener will 

 learn what to do and what to avoid. And the winter is 

 the time for planning next year's garden. There may be 

 other ways of employing the dull winter months, but I 

 think the planning of future gardening the best. Look 

 on the bright side of these dull winter months, for they will 

 soon pass." 



