WALL GARDENS 127 



Old Walls: How to Use Them 



Gardens surrounded wholly or in part by high old walls need special 

 methods to make them at once as beautiful and useful as they should 

 be ; if the ground area is not very large the walls are sure to give too 

 much shadow, and there will be danger of damp and mildew. 

 Persons are amazed that delicate plants thrive even in a north garden 

 so surrounded ; others lament that south gardens, although so hot, 

 have wet soil and mossy paths. Success or failure all depends upon 

 how the character of the place is studied and ministered to. 



Constant forking of soil is needed in all gardens with high 

 walls ; but there is this difference : if the plot is not very large it must 

 all be so treated, but if there is a vast open space it will be only the 

 neighbourhood of the walls that will require it. The air and influence 

 of the sun must be brought freely to bear upon the soil, whether this 

 be naturally light or heavy. Paths demand attention just as often. 

 Not a weed should be allowed to grow, or it will be drawn up into 

 maturity and seed-bearing very quickly, the result being a fre^h 

 crop of weeds. Unless the rake, the roller, and the weed-killer are 

 employed the best-made walk in the walled-in garden is certain to 

 put on quickly a covering of green. 



Vegetable culture between high walls is a matter of greater 

 difficulty than flower culture : Green Peas, French Beans, and 

 Scarlet Runners succeed best, because if they grow tall they do not 

 materially suffer. All the Cabbage tribes, including Brussels Sprouts, 

 become weak, lanky and unsatisfactory ; Turnips and Carrots go all 

 to green tops ; Lettuces, except of the smallest close Cabbage sort, 

 are impossible. Tomatoes, if pinched back when a sufficient height 

 is reached, will do well, but Vegetable Marrows produce too luxuriant 

 foliage, stems and flowers, and no fruit. 



Medium tall plants of the herbaceous kind become giants, but 

 this does not injure their beauty ; Snapdragons, for example, that are 

 of advertised medium height, prove rampant, but blossom grandly ; 

 Foxgloves and Sunflowers become of prodigious stature, as does 

 also Golden Bod. The Madonna Lily is a flower to avoid, as when 

 drawn up in the neighbourhood of too much wall, it never carries a 

 fine spike. Roses flourish, however. Wall fruit trees too often prove 

 disappointing. Gardeners know that there are magnificent displays of 

 fruit to be witnessed on high walls, so think their harvest a certain one, 

 forgetting that those splendid results are gained where there are large 



