THE first thing to decide is that you really want a garden of your own, and mean to work in it and keep it clean and tidy. The next thing is to learn a little about situation and soil, because you cannot choose which plants to grow until you know what conditions you can give them. You must not think that you can ram any plants into any patch of ground with success. There are a few that are obliging and will live almost anywhere, but even these will generally show you by their size and health whether they like their home or not. Many will just exist, but not do well without the food or place that suits them, while others will die unless they have what they want. If you can possibly avoid it, do not have your garden under trees or large shrubs, or close to an evergreen hedge. The drip from trees is bad for nearly all plants, and the big roots made by trees and shrubs exhaust the soil. Besides, on account of the roots, you cannot dig the ground properly and feed it with manure. However, if your choice is between a shady garden and none, you should certainly take it, and learn what can be done with it. Later on in the book we will tell you which plants will do well in such a spot, and how you should treat them. The best situation for a garden is one that gets the morning sun, and is either right out in the open or sheltered on the north. It is best for the plants and best for you, because in a warm, sunny corner you can often work on days when it would not be safe in the chilly parts of the garden. Do not have a large plot if you mean to look after it without help: twelve feet long by seven feet wide would be enough, and even a smaller piece could be made into a pretty garden. If you have more than you can keep tidy, the grown-ups will be sorry they let you have a garden at all, and some day they will say that the gardener wants your bit of sunny border for his winter lettuces, and that you had better take yourself and your weeds and your mess away to that no-man’s-land in the shrubbery, where nothing much will grow, and where it is always sad and chilly. So we will imagine that your garden is twelve feet long and seven feet wide, and that the sun shines on it whenever it is fine.