PICTURESQUE VEGETABLE GARDENING 251 



alongside of the lawn. This, too, is little use for flowers, 

 for there is no room for a good colour display. Then widen 

 it by taking in a few feet from the lawn and using it for 

 vegetables. If your garden is a small one, and the supply 

 of vegetables is of importance to you, do not hesitate to 

 give up your South border to them. They should do a 

 great deal better in the rich soil of the South border, and 

 it will be far more worth while growing them there than 

 in the small lawn beds. Naturally, matters of this kind 

 depend on individual circumstances, it is for each of us 

 to decide how much he can do to help the nation in food- 

 growing, consistent with his being able to keep himself, 

 his family, and the poor chaps in the hospitals in a cheerful 

 state of mind. For my own part, I am not considering it 

 necessary to give up all the flowers I usually grow. I 

 have taken a plot under the scheme of the Board of Agri- 

 culture for potatoes, and am giving up a big border in my 

 garden for other vegetables. My Sweet Pea trench this 

 year is growing Broad Beans, which I consider both useful 

 and beautiful. 



This brings us to the second problem, if food plants 

 are to be grown in flower borders, namely : Which are the 

 most suitable crops to grow ? This is a problem on which 

 there is room for many opinions. But everyone will 

 agree that picturesque vegetable gardening is not possible 

 if potatoes, cabbages, and like crops are the only vegetables 

 grown. They may, and often do look extremely well in 

 their straight and nourishing rows in the height of summer. 

 But there is nothing picturesque about them, the potato 

 and cabbage do not possess much beauty in their form or 

 foliage. 



On the other hand, some food plants do possess a distinct 

 measure of beauty, and there is no reason why they should 

 not be grown both for their food value and also to please 

 the eye. The first example which occurs to me is that 

 furnished by the Beetroot. In country mansions it is 

 used freely for summer bedding, and no wonder, for the 

 foliage of well-grown specimens is quite a sight. I have 



