In the quiet, post-holiday weeks of winter, nothing livens up a gardener with cabin fever like a fresh-off-the-presses, colorful and enticing seed catalog.
This time-honored resource has its roots in antiquity. The British Agricultural Historical Society (BHS) archives describe a burgeoning seed trade in the late 1200s. By the 1590s, market gardeners were a growing contingent of seed suppliers.
One of them was Richard Gardiner, a linen draper who raised vegetables for sale as produce and seed. This was a devastating period of plague, crop failure, and famine, and he responded by planting his fields with 700 closed cabbages (headed) to sustain the starving.
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In 1599, Gardiner published a pamphlet titled “Instructions for manuring, sowing, and planting of Kitchin Gardens.”
It is described in the annals of the BHS, as well as in a fascinating book, “The Making of the English Gardener: Plants, Books and Inspiration, 1560-1660,” by Margaret Willes, available on Amazon.
The Making of the English Gardener
A mere 30 pages, his guide is packed with cooking tips and recipes for nutritious broths and salads. And, it lists produce and seed available for purchase, making it one of our earliest seed catalogs.
Gardiner was a forerunner in the movement to achieve food security one garden at a time. Today’s catalogs continue the tradition, offering quantities and varieties suited for the home gardener.
The term “home gardener” encompasses a wide array of folks from those with 40 acres (and the proverbial mule?) to a few pots on the patio.
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If you’re a little more serious about gardening and love it you probably have a decent collection of hand tools for gardening. And you’ve probably got them all categorized from hand trowels and spades to gloves and hats to metal rakes and push hoes. On the other hand, there are a group of tools that tend to somewhat collect dust (or dirt), in lieu of the aforementioned basic gardening equipment. With that, here’s a rundown of the most essential garden power tools to have in your garden shed.
Choose a bottle with raised bottom and create a channel through it, wide enough to let the wasp fly in. Complete instructions are available at Garden Therapy.
A garden with a restrained planting palette can be so exciting and atmospheric. Nowhere is this more true than in the case of the white garden. The limitations of choosing plants of a single colour means you can focus your attention; in fact there are so many plants out there that if you don’t have some sort of guiding principles when you set about designing your garden, you will soon be lost and overwhelmed with options.
In the well-to-do town of Bedford, New York, there are a few givens: there are apple orchards and quaint bed and breakfasts, cute bakeries and amazing antiques shops and, of course, many grand estates complete with rolling green lawns and well-hedged gardens. Perhaps most impressive of the latter belongs to the doyenne of the domestic, Martha Stewart.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means that I may receive a commission if you make a purchase using these links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. When planning your vegetable garden, it is so easy
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