'^ HOW TO START A GARDEN 59 



gling, crooked rows do not look well, besides 

 being harder to cultivate. 



A wheelbarrow, a sickle, a lawn mower, an 

 asparagus knife, are likely to be wanted, and so 

 is a pair of rubber boots to wear when watering 

 or when the dew is heavy on the grass. Have a 

 rubber coat, too, and a rubber hat, if you wish 

 the best results in transplanting, which should 

 always be done while it rains, unless it rains so 

 hard as to turn dirt into mud. 



In choosing a site for your garden, if the 

 water stands on it all day after a rain, have 

 tiles put in for drainage, or select another plot 

 slightly inclined. A slight slope toward the 

 southeast is the ideal garden spot; vegetables 

 ripen a week sooner in such a sunny exposure 

 and are less likely to be killed or damaged by 

 late spring or early autumn frosts. See Chapter 

 Vn for further details on this point. 



Almost any soil can be adapted to the growing 

 of flowers or vegetables, provided there is suffi- 

 cient plant food, or humus. This is a matter of 

 tremendous importance to which I shall devote 

 several pages in Chapter VI. Read them two 

 or three times, ponder and obey, and you can- 

 not fail to have a successful garden. With 

 humus — and brains — miracles can be achieved. 



So far, all's well. You have the seeds you 

 want and the tools you need. You have se- 

 lected the spot and enriched it with humus if it 

 needed any. Now, how about sowing the seeds 



