Reminiscence and observation

Before the advent of news pages, AG had a column devoted to general horticultural topics past and present, written by various contributors. Here are some highlights…

From AG 12 December 1950

Rotation or not?

WE in Britain have a strong belief in changing the ground for successive plantings of one kind of plant or crop. In this respect we differ from dwellers in New Zealand; at any rate this applies to one great horticulturist in New Zealand, who told me, during a visit to his country, that it is firmly believed there that a plant deposits in the soil something which the next generation of the same kind of plant can use to its advantage. My idea has always been that a plant has some power of acceptance or rejection, and that it accepts whatever is beneficial but that whatever it rejects is something not beneficial to it.

This is one of the points about plant culture where it is easy to think we know, but in reality we are building our knowledge on an erroneous belief. It may be accepted as certain that what escapes the roots of some plants will prove to be beneficial to others. That, however, does not do away with the notion that one generation may deposit in the soil something that may be of benefit to another generation of the same plant.

Small garden dilemma

Growers of such things as dahlias may say that they have always found a complete change of soil is necessary for the wellbeing of their plants, but is that a foregone conclusion? How about those successful growers whose gardens are so small that they cannot avoid replanting in the same ground?

From AG 27 September 1884

The growth of London