GARDENING EOR SHORT TENANCIES 205 



Poppy-seed so thinly as to be to my liking. In any 

 case there must be a deal of thinning, for the large 

 Poppies should stand not less than a foot apart, and 

 in the case of autumn-sown Nemophila and Platy- 

 stemon a single plant will easily cover a yard of 

 space. One often sees annual seedlings coming up 

 like a thick turf, when it is almost impossible to 

 thin them : it is wrong twice over, for seed is wasted 

 and plants are spoiled. But if the sowing is so thin 

 that the little plants come up about two inches 

 apart, the easy thinning of the weaker will leave 

 the stronger undisturbed, the ground is not robbed, 

 and the youngsters grow on thrivingly. 



Unless the garden is unusually well stocked and 

 planted, it is best to clear off all " soft stuff" (annuals 

 and tender bedding plants) by the middle of 

 September this first year, so as to have, as it were, 

 the decks cleared for action in good time. 



If there are any evergreen hedges of Yew or 

 Cypress that want clipping, or any such trees that 

 need careful pruning or shaping, it should be done 

 in the end of August or beginning of September. 



A few hard-wooded shrubs are of fairly fast 

 growth, such as the beautiful Mexican Orange- 

 flower {Choisya ternata) and the large-flowered 

 Ceanothus, Gloire de Versailles — both liking a 

 warm soil and a warm place ; and even for a three 

 years' tenancy it would be worth while to plant 

 some Cistuses — grand plants for Aldershot, as they 



