98 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



to grow, for anyone who has a kitchen garden, even a 

 small one. The Tarragon, however, and the Onions have 

 to be grown in the conservatory in the winter. Many 

 young gardeners do not know that the secret of young 

 Potatoes being good, and not watery, is to take them out 

 of the ground several days before you boil them. A little 

 Mint chopped on to young Potatoes instead of Parsley 

 makes a pleasant change ; but then we EngUsh like Mint, 

 and it is very different here from the Mint grown in dry 

 countries, which is just like Peppermint. The IVench 

 have a way of boiling Asparagus which is especially good 

 for the thin green Asparagus so common in our Bnghsh 

 gardens : — You tie them into a bundle, and put themi 

 stalk downwards, into a fairly deep saucepan. In this 

 way the heads are only cooked by the steam, and do not 

 become soppy. 



May IQth. — I have a friend who to-day writes she is 

 having iron rings driven into an old stone house round 

 the windows so as to hold pots of Carnations and 

 Geraniums, to hang down as they do in Tyrol and 

 Switzerland. This will look pretty, no doubt, if it 

 answers ; but in our cold and windy summers I am sure 

 they would do better if one pot were sunk inside another 

 with some moss between, so that the evaporation caused 

 by the wind, whichfreezes the roots, should not be so great. 

 Abroad the pots are frequently glazed either aU the way 

 down or part of the way down ; this stops evaporation. 

 So many greenhouse plants, when they are ' stood out,' as 

 the gardeners say, get injured by the cold winds on the 

 pots, which does far more harm than the wind on the 

 leaves. One of the best and simplest remedies is to 

 dig moderately deep trenches with a raised border round 

 them of turf or boards, and stand the pots in these, 

 instead of on the open ground. Sheets of corrugated iron 

 cut to convenient sizes make excellent movable shelters 



