CHAPTER VI 

 MAKING THE GARDEN 



LET us presume you have your garden measured 

 and staked off. When the frost is out of the ground 

 and enough moisture has disappeared it is time to 

 begin. My Southern friends do not have to con- 

 sider the frost question, but if you live on a clay 

 soil you must wait until it is dry enough not to make 

 bricks when you step upon it, and pack it down so 

 tightly you have difficulty in forking it fine enough 

 to sow seeds ; the same is true if you live on a "shale 

 soil," but those who live on a sandy loam will be 

 able to start gardening almost as soon as the frost 

 is out of the ground. Do not wait for the soil to get 

 bone dry (if it ever does get bone dry in spring 

 time), because you would then have powder to 

 work with. 



Let us suppose you have a garden like the one 

 I described in Garden Plans. It is just as long, but 

 only 8 feet wide, with a path through the middle 

 and one on each edge. We will also suppose you 

 have this all staked off; your beds are three feet 



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