Los Angeles herald., 1909-03-05
MAKING A GARDEN
FROM THE GROUND UP

the means e1nployeu ny ohe w
" man to successfully convert the
bowling wilderness of an impossible"
back yard into a source of beauty and
inspiration within a short time. The
story is told in Country Life in America
and describes the plain, unvarnished
backyard" in the following graphic
| terms:
1.-THE FENCES were of rough, unpainted
boards. Thirty yards away was a
white-brown building containing q
woodshed and quarters for the morse.
But, no horse was there. The only
living spots upon the landscape we've
rooster and half a dozen deJected
hens. 1t was not even place for sell
respecting chickens to live IN, Tor Tue
yard was paved with stone"
Don't you know that there is not
| enough earth in this place to make a
mud pie?" asked the skeptical Man OIL
| the House.
II will make EARTH" said the Wife,
1t was nearly winter, when one day
a great load of sod arrived. followed by
| another and another. The sod lay IN
a heap, untouched, and when the cord
weather set in the servant used the
sod pile as sink, upon which all the
refuse from the house, except ashes,
/ was thrown.
Everybody for blocks around soon
knew that flour barrel in good con-
dition was worth ten cents at this back
door, and by the end of March thirty
| barrels were slowed IN the tenantless
stable.
A hotbed was constructed in early
| April, the storm windows from the
house being used for sash, and after
the earth had heated the seeds were
planted and the garden begun. The
hotbed soon contained tiny jungle or
growing plants, and with the aid OF
an "odd job" man the foundation of
the garden was commenced. The fence
was buttressed with great boxes. "a
inches deep and SO inches across, ar
ranged like two facing LIS, the narrow
space between the tails giving a pas
sage to the woodshed, and the house
standing between the upper extremi-
ties. The thirty barrels were con-
verted into sixty half barrels and
arranged about the yard. Meanwhile,
a pile of sand, another of "black
muck" or mold, and third of granite
boulders were dumped in the yard
Neighboring ash heaps were levied
upon and the barrels and boxes filled
within twelve inches of their tops.
Then with a spade and garden fork
|
| The grass roots were quite decayed
and powdered easily The man sifted
| 1t through his fork and threw the
| Jumps away, and then mixed sand and
decayed sod, using equal parts of each,
with which the boxes and barrels were
filled. Then the granite rocks were
erected in the center of the yard into
something resembling an Egyptian
pyramid, and the interstices filed with
| the prepared soil.
Man Is Convinced
BY this time the emulation of the
| man of the house was aroused, and he
employed a carpenter to build a flower
| bed twelve feet long by four in width
and eighteen inches deep. 1t was con-
| structed of two-inch plank and stood
upon stout, short legs, the bottom be-
| ing water lined, while at the sides stood
81 barrel upon scaffold, arranged SO
| that the bottom was three inches above
the surface OF the bed. Tiling was laid
In the bottom of the bed and covered
with small stones and broken crockery.
Then the bed was filled with earth.
Trailing Vines
Toward the first of May the work was
completed, and then from hanging pots
which ornamented every window was
cut slips of the trailing vines called
Creeping Charlie, Wandering Jew and
Kenilworth ivy. Each slip consisted of
a stalk about two inches long with two
leaves at the top and two at the bot
tom, and they were set about four
inches apart along the edges Of the
boxes and barrels, with the lower leaves
under ground.
Here and there along the inner edge
of the boxes were planted scarlet run
ners, with threads arranged for them to
run on.
The last of May the boxes and bar
relS were filed with young plants from
the hotbed, and from the sunny win
dows in the basement were added guam
titles of Madeira vine that had been
growing there in house boxes and
which was set to climb where no scarlet
runners had been planted. The fol-
| lowing week the house plants and
hanging pots were brought out and
placed in advantageous places, and then
the DESERT began to bloom.
! The man of the house filled his bar
rels twice a week with a mixture of
guano and water, and after allowing it
| to become ripe" turned a tap and al
| lowed the water to run down into the
| thing from which it soaked up into the
earth, and after the earth was thor
| oughly soaked another tap connected
with the thing was turned, and the
water run out into a great tub
This was practical irrigation and the
superhuous water for manuring the
plants in the boxes and barrels.
Riotlng Color
| The result was a luxuriance of color
and foliage such as no one in the vicir-
! ity had ever seen. Balsams of the
variety that grow to twelve or eighteen
| inches were four feet high, stocks were
over two inches in diameter and other
| flowers were proportionately large, but
all tended to coarseness.
| In the boxes and barrels when the
guano manure-water was used the Sec
ond time the flowers were beautifully
fine and wonderfully luxuriant. The
fences and a rough trellis that con-
cealed the outbuildings were a mass of
| foliage and blossoms The trailing
plants completely covered the wood
work of the boxes and barrels, and the
earth was concealed by growing plants.
The rock pyramid was not recognize
able, being hidden by mat of flower
| ing verbenas. some single plants OF
which covered an area of three or four
| feet square. Almost every northern
species of annual flower was to be seen
| in full bloom-stately gladioli, white
and scarlet fox red and yellow nastur-
tiums. masses of blue lobelia, petunias,
asters, begonia and every variety or
fuchsia of geranium.
@~&
A NORTHERN NIGHT