38 FLOWER GARDENING 



courages growth, but weeds then will not get ahead 

 of you. Use a hoe wherever possible; it saves a 

 lot of time and is more effective. Cultivation may 

 begin as soon as the soil is dry enough to be 

 easily worked. 



Wherever the bed or border is next to a grass 

 plot, straighten the edge of the turf. Use a sharp 

 spade and a line if a turf cutter is not available. 

 After shaking off some of the soil, throw the clods 

 of turf into a wheelbarrow and make a new com- 

 post heap or extend the old one. 



A simple way to start a compost heap is to lay 

 out a square or rectangle in a place remote from 

 the house and yet not inconvenient of access, by 

 placing on the ground clods of turf, with the grass 

 side down, something after the manner of a founda- 

 tion. If there is enough turf for walls a foot or 

 more high and a flooring as well, so much the bet- 

 ter. Throw into this kitchen refuse, lawn clip- 

 pings and any easily rotted garden waste that does 

 not contain weed or grass seeds ; burn these. Cover 

 lightly with earth any decaying matter that at- 

 tracts flies. By the following spring the pile will 

 be valuable fertilizer. 



Before April is past much of the transplanting is 

 out of the way if time be taken by the forelock. 

 Hybrid perpetuals, old-fashioned bush roses, climb- 

 ing roses and flowering shrubs are best moved when 

 the leaf buds have not begun to expand and the 

 transplanting should therefore be done early in 

 April; even late in March if the ground is ready. 



