Or how a post about sowing peas led to a life-lesson learned. Writing this post has made me realise that one of the things I regret most about my last allotment was not taking photos of the friends I made on it. I have pictures of my own plot, but nothing that reminds me of…
Category: Vintage Gardening
Jolly Good Biscuits!
The other day I picked up an old gardening magazine, My Garden, from 1947. It’s a curious little beast, about A4 size in today’s measurements and, given that Britain was still heavily rationed, an austere read in comparison to the glossies we read now. Mainly text, there are a few illustrations, some black and white photographs…
How to Make a Garden Grow
William Heath Robinson and KRG Browne. Bodleian Library KRG Browne, William Heath Robinson’s long-time co-conspirator, is the first to admit that while he can “easily distinguish the scent of violets from that of a glue factory,” he and Mr Heath Robinson have not hitherto been known as “really first class gardeners”. Freed from the responsibility…
Les Hortillonages
Sebastian Faulks’s trench warfare epic “Birdsong” begins gently enough. Sketching a world soon to be lost in the carnage of war, Faulks chooses an extraordinary subculture within a sleepy Picardie town-centre as a cipher for French petite-ville normality. Amiens’ Hortillonnages – or floating gardens, are, even at the time Birdsong is set, wonders to be…
Backs to the Land, Girls!
1939. The world is on the brink. Mr Hitler hasn’t actually invaded anything yet, but it’s not looking good in Poland. The men in grey suits are worried. How will old Blighty survive if the lads have to fight? They look at each other warily. There is one option. It’s not ideal; the chaps…
The Event Gardener 