CHILDREN’S GARDEN CIRCLE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 29, 4 February 1939, Page 13

CHILDREN’S GARDEN CIRCLE

A TRUE GARDENER. Dear Members, Many people believe that gardening is just setting a few plants and then waiting until they flower. Perhaps this may be the case for some gardeners but, if so, we cannot call them true gardeners. However, I think there are some of us who think this way, not because we are not keen, but because we have never really found the real joys of gardening. It is because of this that I am going to tell of some things that will help you to find a real interest in your garden and to be a true C.G.C. gardener. Firstly, I want you to raise your own plants from seed. If we care for plants right from the start, nurse them through to the time when they flower, we think so much more of our garden and are prouder, too. This is the key to open the first door into gardening happiness. We learn much by growing from seed and it is the first mark of the true gardener. The next thing we must do is to look after our gardens. It is only what you put into your garden that you will get out of it. The work you do in planting time will be repayed in flower time. Do you remember the poem by Kipling, “The Glory of the Garden”? “When your back stops aching and your hands begin to harden, You will find yourself a partner in the glory of the garden.” Those are very true words for a gardener. I can always tell the garden belonging to the person who loves plants and to the one who just “grows” them. You must weed and water your garden, hoe and stake your plants if you wish to gain the second mark. Lastly, why not save your own seed? If you can do this, after gaining the first two points, and I think you can, you will gain an understanding of your garden that you did not have before and from that time will begin to think differently about it. Next time when your flowers are nearly done, leave the last blooms to go to seed. You will find that you will collect so much that you will be able to share it with other C.G.C. gardeners. I am always pleased when members send in seed that they have collected from their own gardens. It is one of the C.G.C. rules to share our gardens and this is a splendid way of doing so. Sometime later we will have a competition for seed collecting. Another thing I should like to tell you about is keeping a scrapbook. Many notes appear on this page which would be suitable to keep. This week we have one about earnations and as you have noticed one of the senior members is writing special articles about gardening topics which would be interesting to keep. too. Remember, there is a special class in our show for scrapbooks.—Your Gardening Friend, “CARNATIO.”