We Made a Garden

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The battle with horsetails will never end, the butterfly bush mostly feeds bugs, the escalonia requires a firm hand to prevent it taking over the world. Good-humoured, unpretentious and a bit eccentric, it's more like having a well-read friend than a subscription to a literary review.

Topics covered are colourful and diverse, ranging from the most suitable hyssop for the terraced garden through composting, hedges, making paths to the best time to lift and replant tulip bulbs. We all have a lot to learn and in every new garden there is a chance of finding inspiration - new flowers, different arrangements or fresh treatment for old subjects. A good gardening book with plenty of handy tips, plant suggestions (some albeit a bit dated) and admissions of mistakes to let you avoid the same pitfalls! First published in Britain in 1956 and never before available in America, We Made a Garden is the classic story of a unique and enduring English country garden. Fresh starts, hidden rooms, difficulties that turn into assets, wicked landlords, fairy godmothers who compost.I have put in a few dozen irises and both the thymes and sages seem to have survived recent planting. If, by an oversight, it is allowed to stay on a piece of a flower bed for more than a minute, in two minutes that flower bed will be a solid mat of stonecrop of a particularly luxuriant quality. The independent-minded quarterly magazine that combines good looks, good writing and a personal approach. My only thought was to get the project under way before Walter took an interest in what I was doing and complicated matters with too much criticism and advice. You can unsubscribe from our list at any point by changing your preferences, or contacting us directly.

It was difficult to master but when we understood its foibles and demanding nature, it became central to our cold, wet and muddy life. This sounds lovely — reminds me of my mother who is an avid gardener and is happiest when pottering. Well, it wasn't much help as a source of practical inspiration, to be honest, but I enjoyed basking in the warmth of her love for all things green, anyway, and that was a kind of inspiration to take more care of the poor neglected patch of muck. There were so many specific references to plants I wasn’t familiar with (especially native English plants and any referred to by their Latin names. I sometimes dream of finding an undiscovered room in my house, or better still, an entire dusty, unused wing, but, to date, this is the only time it happened for real.Fish’s aspiration to cultivate that most precious and slow-growing quality—the fundamental character of a good garden.

The Hogarth Press where I’m working, is in the heart of the literary world, with authors coming in all the time. I am a novice gardener and the vast array of latin names for plants that I don't recognize was not really helpful to my objective.Fish negotiate the terrain of their garden, by turns separately and together, often with humorous collisions. In this beautiful and timeless work, she recounts the trails and tribulations, successes and failures, of her venture with ease and humour. I often wonder why some zealous gardening relation did not slay me with fork and spade in my unenlightened years.

And yet, the author brings up many large scale aspects of garden design I had not considered --ambitious construction of walls and paths, and creative cottage style gardening with trailing plants overlaying paths and use of rocks and placing creeping rock plants and thymes in tiny crevices. In winter, heating of sorts, came from unwilling-to-give-up-their-warmth night-storage heaters, open fires and a marvellous 1950s Rayburn solid fuel range. This book charmed me by the cover and hypnotized me with old-fashioned language, both British and Latin. Her many articles and books inspired garden enthusiasts with her easy read knowledge and observation.I am always weak on watering and Margery's habit of using a syringe to water new wall plants, stuffed into a crevice and then surrounded by moss is impressive and salutary. Seller has stated it will dispatch the item within 1 working day upon receipt of cleared payment - opens in a new window or tab . Wrapped about the northern end of the house, facing the road, I planted a hornbeam hedge inside the garden wall – as hornbeam isn’t too picky and doesn’t mind shade. This is a charming little book by Margery Fish, offering anecdotal history of the choosing and planting of a home garden in England. No missing or damaged pages, no creases or tears, no underlining or highlighting of text, and no writing in the margins.