Ideally, all gardens should be planted at night. However, day or night, make sure that you're working during the proper phase of the moon for your plants. To thrive, root crops such as carrots and radishes should go into the soil between the full and new moons. All others (especially flowers) should be planted between a new moon and the next full moon. When planting's done build a small bonfire near your garden. Burn one of your undergarments in it, and sprinkle the ashes on the ground around the plants.
To keep animals away from the garden, make a small straw doll one about five inches tall. Add to it some things that identify the animals you want to frighten away a bit of rabbit and/or dog hair, a bird feather, etc. Bury the doll on one of the garden's borders.
Above all, you must love your plants and tell them so. How do you talk to plants? The same way you'd like a lover to talk to you. Tell them how beautiful they are; how happy they make you; exclaim over each new leaf and shoot, and so on.
(Plant talk is very good training for witchcraft. If you put your heart into the conversations, the plants do respond. Once you can communicate with your garden, you're well on the way to communicating with all of nature. Do that, and you may one day control nature which is the very essence of witchcraft!)
