PLANNING THE GARDEN 



177 



will occupy the ground. As soon as we know this we can 

 tell where we wish to put them, if we understand the follow- 

 ing. 



Short-season plants should have the "earliest" soil. 



Each plant should be given all the room it needs. 



Plants should be placed so as not to shade each other. 



Short-season plants may be planted close to long-season 

 plants if .they are so spaced that the 

 earlier are out of the way before the 

 later need the room. This is called 

 " companion cropping." 



Short-season plants may be followed 

 in the same ground by short-season 

 plants or by transplantings of long- 

 season plants. This is called " succes- 

 sion cropping." 



As a matter of fact, much of this 

 applies only to vegetables. Flowering 

 plants are often crowded, or " massed," 

 for the sake of the many blossoms. 

 And except bulbs, which stay in the 

 ground until midsummer, there are 

 no flowering plants which, like rad- 

 ishes and lettuce among the vegetables, 

 are dug up early. But with a gardener who knows the habit 

 of plants, even flowers may be made to yield a good show 

 in a small space by a kind of companion and succession 

 cropping, if only he is willing to pull out his plants when they 

 are past their best bloom. Let me now say a few words 

 about the kinds of gardens separately. 



Flower gardens are commonly in two forms, beds and 

 borders. A bed is a space of open ground; it is likely 

 to be much like a vegetable garden that is, stiff and precise. 



FIG. 90. This shows 

 the best method of plan- 

 ning flower beds. They 

 look best as borders. 



