Out Of Doors.
The Garden Room.

Most New Zealand town dwellers are lucky enough to live in a detached house with a garden. We are so used to space, grass, trees, that we don't appreciate them as would someone brought up in a large city. I am reminded of a cartoon, from Punch I think, showing an elderly lady perched on a chair on a table in her London backyard, being carefully wrapped round with a rug by her butler. Her head alone is in sunshine. In the other little boxes of backyards people are carpentering, or white-washing, or hanging out washing. At the windows of the four-storey row of houses opposite people are busy—hanging out a canary, or the washing on a ridiculous little pulley arrangement, watering a window box, or training a creeper growing from a small pot on the window ledge. It is the sort of cartoon that is too real for overmuch laughter.

That's why we in New Zealand are among the lucky ones, and why we should pay a great deal of attention to town-planning.

But what I really mean to talk about is the family garden. We have a garden and the summer is here. Let's make use of both.

If you have small boys, they are probably already worrying you for a tent, “just a small one we can crawl into.” or if they have a tent, they're pleading to be allowed to sleep in it. Children have a natural craving for the open air. My contention is that mothers need the garden just as much as the children do. Look critically at your garden. Is there a patch of lawn in the most sheltered corner? If not, re-plan your garden in time for next summer. Shade is pleasant, but not so essential in these days of awnings and umbrellas. If your lawn refuses to be sheltered, deal with it by stretching a breakwind of canvas. You may also wish to spread canvas as a protection for the lawn when you transfer the family sitting-room out of doors. Or footboards, raised slightly by a strip of wood at each end, may be placed in front of each chair to protect the grass from heel-prints.

A solid all-weather garden table is an excellent idea. An old occasional table or a bridge table is a good make-shift. Garden chairs are not necessarily deck chairs. Solid wooden chairs can be most comfortable, or you may choose from several types of canvas chairs mostly with arm rests. The ones with steel frames can have the canvas removed for the night while the frames stay out. With most chairs an adjustable canopy can be bought. A sun lounge on wheels seats three or four, and can follow the sun round all day. A lounge bed is so comfortable that it will do for the unexpected guest; there is an adjustable back and head rest, and, of course, a canopy.

The new garden furniture is certainly attractive, but don't let the lack of it prevent your spending all your spare time out of doors. Certain jobs, such as preparing vegetables or mending, are as well done out of doors as in.

The chair I would like for all mothers has a padded back and seat; the sliding seat adjusts to the right position. The garden is the place for baby's play pen. Place a waterproof sheet, a rug and then the pen. A good type of pen is that which can be increased in size by adding new sections, bought separately.

Good luck with your garden room!

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