I 
THE GARDEN 
3i 
garden is in a part with soil already prepared. 
It is a good plan, if there is any sort of rough 
grass, to remove it first, and lay it aside, then, 
as the trenches are dug out, chop up well the 
squares of turf and put them at the bottom of 
the trench. These will decay in time and 
improve the quality of the soil. My wild 
garden was mostly such poor, sandy soil that 
not only had I to dig hard, but I was given a 
wheelbarrow, and I used to carry away loads of 
stone and sand and get leaf-mould, from the 
gardeners’ leaf-heap, to mix with the sand that 
was left. It was hard work taking away the 
sand, so I made some of it into a sort of mound, 
and planted sea-thrift all over it, and a yellow 
horned poppy, as I knew neither of these 
minded having only sand to grow in, and the 
result was very charming, especially when the 
sea-thrift was a mass of bright pink flowers. 
Weeds are always a sore trial, but more 
especially in a wild garden. I well remember 
my fights with thistles and nettles ; and what 
was even more unkind, the leaf-mould I 
brought with such care and trouble used to 
have in it the roots of ground elder, a most 
tiresome weed, which would grow apace in 
spite of all my efforts to check it; but these 
struggles are now many years ago, and when 
I come back and look at my old garden, I am 
