“Not quite enough into those large pots.  In the small ones the inch of drainage you have in the pots is quite sufficient, but in those pots over six inches in size put an inch and a half of drainage material.  There should be two inches of drainage in that window box.  Katherine, you are taking those new pots out of the water too soon.  Leave them in until the bubbling is all over.  Wait a minute, you mixing girls over there.  You mustn’t put such coarse soil into your mixture.  That could well go into the pots and window box above the drainage material.  But it is far too coarse for a good potting soil.  What soil you need for potting one of you should sift.  If the lumps were not so large it would have been all right.  What is that you are saying, Dee?”

“I wanted to know what you were going to use in place of sphagnum moss.  We have the drainage fixed in the box.  Shall we put on the coarse material next?  Helena said you always used sphagnum moss.”

“So I do when I can get it.  But I can’t always, so I just take some old thin sods and put them on, green side down, next to the drainage.  To be sure, the coarse material could go on next, but it is very apt to settle badly in the pot or box.  You will find that sod just outside.  Pick out the very thinnest pieces; any others will be too thick.”

“Now,” said Elizabeth, “if you will bring your pots over, we’ll fill them up with soil for you.”

“Wait a little, Elizabeth.  What is going to happen with that pot already full of soil when you put the plant in?  Just how are you going to work that?”

“Why, I had intended to make a hole in the soil and put the plant in.”

“That is no way to pot plants.  Come here, girls, and let us talk this point out.  I will pot a plant for you.  I guess this begonia would be a good one.  See, it has quite a ball of earth of its own.  Now look at Elizabeth’s full pot.  Trying to plant in a pot already full of soil is beginning entirely wrong.  Hand over another pot, Josephine.  Thank you.  See, here is a pot with its drainage, and a very little bit of old sod over this.  The soddy matter takes up only about a quarter inch.  Give me a trowel full of the potting soil, or a little coarse soil first.  Now I lower into the pot my plant with its own earth still about it.  See, it is going to be about right.  Now, while I hold the plant in position in the pot with my left hand, I shake the potting soil in all about the plant.  Here is a stick.  I made it and call it my potting stick.  It is about the length of a foot ruler.  See, it is about an inch thick and has a rounded end.  With this end I gently poke the soil into place.  Occasionally, I give the pot a little shake, which settles the soil into crevices and crannies.  But never do this jerkily or violently.  When the soil is within a half inch of the top of the pot, press it down all about the plant stem; that is, firm the plant.  You should be able to take up a potted plant by the plant stalk without uprooting it.  The florist can do this with any of his potted plants.  If the plant is loose in its new home it will not do well.”