8o 
CHILDREN'S GARDENS 
hi 
at once, so as to have a succession of bloom. 
Especially with sweet-peas this is desirable, and 
some can even be sown in the autumn, so as to 
have them early in summer. Do not forget 
they will require sticks to climb up, and do 
not let them get too tall before you give them 
some support. 
You will find it takes all your time to keep 
the garden neat and tidy, and to do all the 
planting and sowing and watering necessary 
all through the spring months. Luckily the 
hardest work in spring and autumn comes when 
the weather is cool, and the laziest time is just 
when everything is out in summer, and it is 
too hot to work until the cool evening, when 
watering has to be done. In spring you will 
find the birds a great amusement when you are 
busy. They are busy too, and will carry off 
the worms you turn up to satisfy the open 
mouths in the nest. They get very tame, and 
your quiet work does not frighten them at all. 
One day I was working away planting some 
seedling Portulacas on a sloping bed in the 
hottest corner of my wild garden, when the 
gardener, coming by, called out to me, “A 
ground oven is sitting on your back, Miss.” 
Now to this day I do not know what kind of 
bird a “ground oven” is. I can only describe 
it, as the Cape Dutch do almost every bird they 
