2 FORMATION OF KITCHEN GARDEN 



of having a certain portion of the kitchen garden on 

 sloping ground is to make provision for the cultivation 

 of an early supply of vegetables, as a sloping south 

 border is more easily and quickly warmed by the sun 

 than level ground. It may not, however, be easy for 

 the maker of a kitchen garden to procure a piece of 

 land that has both the advantages mentioned, but 

 rather than not have the greater part of the land level, 

 one should dispense with the sloping portion, for a 

 border facing south can always be raised somewhat to 

 make it warmer and more suitable for the culture of 

 early vegetables. If the land upon which the kitchen 

 garden is to be made is heavy, a slight natural slope 

 would be an advantage, as in a great measure it would 

 prevent the ground remaining wet and cold. On the 

 other hand, light and porous land from which water 

 readily passes off should on no account be even slightly 

 sloping. 



Except in the southern counties the kitchen garden 

 should face south. In these exceptionally favoured 

 districts full exposure to the summer sun would per- 

 haps be a disadvantage, especially in unusually hot and 

 dry seasons. Watering would entail much labour. 

 Rather than face due south, the kitchen garden should 

 in these cases face south-west. 



The kitchen garden should be of oblong shape, 

 and its greatest length from east to west, not from 

 north to south, thus there will be a greater surface 

 of beds exposed to the south than if the garden were 

 longer from north to south. The beds facing south in 



