The first year's garden was a geometrical horror, with obtrusive clothes posts and 

 an ugly board fence that ruined plants near it by shading them 



The outlooK to-day: Flowers in abundance, the clothes posts things of beauty, 

 the open fence letting in air and light 



The Confessions of a Garden Sinner— By H. G. Taylor & 



SOME ATROCITIES I PERPETRATED IN MY SUBURBAN BACK YARD SEVEN YEARS AGO— HOW GEOMET- 

 RICAL HORRORS HAVE GIVEN WAY TO LAWN, SHORT-LIVED ANNUALS TO HARDY FLOWERS, AND 

 CLOTHES POSTS TO PILLARED VINES — HOW I "OWN" THE LANDSCAPE INSTEAD OF LIVING IN A BOX 



Photographs by the author 



OUR back yard is just an ordinary subur- 

 ban yard, about 50 x 75 feet, and this is 

 all that can be said of it. Seven years ago 

 it was graded and our first plan for its im- 

 provement made. Several flower beds were 

 laid out in a weak formal design and edged 

 with sod. They were surrounded by walks 

 covered with macadam top-dressing, giving 

 a clean, dry surface. In front of the rear fence 

 was a trellis for sweet peas. It all looked 

 very pretty, but it was only the beginning of 

 a garden. After the first year this board 

 fence was condemned, the boards knocked 

 down, and wire stretched across the old frame. 

 Vines trained over this gave a beautiful bit 

 of greenery and better still allowed the air to 

 come inside the garden. Other changes 

 were gradually made, and the present-day 

 practical garden is a direct growth from the 

 original terror. 



At first we had mignonette, lettuce, asters, 

 Swiss chard, etc., all together. The seeds 

 were sown in rows and the soil loosely raked 

 over, with the result that many were hope- 

 lessly buried, and most of those that remained 

 near the surface were dried up as soon as 

 they sprouted, for we had ignorantly let the 

 seed bed dry out. The vegetables were 

 about the only things that came up, the 

 flower space being for the most part occupied 

 by labels only. But there was one glorious 

 exception — the sweet peas made a great 

 growth and, although they did not bloom 

 because of having too much shade, we felt 

 encouraged. The next few seasons were also 

 devoted to learning by experience, the idea 

 being to grow all that was possible from the 

 seed as we wanted the garden to be our own. 

 Success was reached by using boxes filled with 

 light, sifted earth, the seeds being covered 

 to about four times their diameter and the 

 surface pressed firm with a block of wood. 



These boxes were placed where the sun did 

 not shine upon them until late afternoon, 

 and the earth was never allowed to dry out. 



A LESSON LN SWEET-PEA CULTURE 



This important lesson was early learned — 

 that water on the surface does not necessarily 



The evolution of a clothes post. Now a part of the 

 pergola and draped with Japanese clematis (in fruit) 



262 



mean water at the roots. In spite of daily 

 waterings the sweet peas seemed to be drying 

 up, and upon digging it was found that the 

 water did not penetrate more than two inches, 

 and was rotting the stalk while the roots were 

 not supplied. A remedy was found in bank- 

 ing the earth so as to make a trough, into 

 which were emptied several pailfuls of water 

 about twice a week during the dry weather. 

 By shearing off the vines about level with the 

 top of the trellis, side shoots were thrown out 

 and the blooming season much prolonged. 



ASTERS GROWN WITH WOOD ASHES 



After losing one year's flowers we grew the 

 late varieties, to beat the aster beetle. These 

 flower when the insect has about run its 

 course. Then, of course the mysterious 

 disease fell on our garden — the plants turned 

 yellow and died — until from somewhere came 

 a hint about wood ashes applied around the 

 collar. It worked like a charm, and if it is 

 done every two or three weeks during the 

 season there will be no trouble. 



THE CLOTHES POSTS BECOME THINGS OF 

 BEAUTY 



Long ago, when we only dreamed of a 

 garden, we had set our hearts upon certain 

 ideals. Our garden was to have an arch, a 

 column and a pergola, and we were able to 

 construct something to call by each of these 

 names, using mostly such material as was at 

 hand. The clothes posts being with us to stay, 

 we tried to utilize them to advantage. 



We had done with rigid formality, and to 

 introduce a break the two posts nearer the 

 house were moved further apart and out of 

 line while the other two were brought nearer 

 to each other. Each was encased in extra 

 heavy chicken wire, and provided at the top 

 with a hook and cleat fastened by bolts going 



