Plant potatoes on Good Friday, grow beans in a horse-hair mattress and scatter elephant dung to keep out roe deer. Jeremy Hobson searches for the truth in our gardening folklore
IT was always sunny and warm during the summers of my 1960s childhood— at least in my memories. Butterflies fluttered, bees buzzed and midges and mosquitoes bit with incessant regularity.
Something of a pest myself, I recall one time ‘helping’ my aged maternal grandfather as he scythed the orchard grass to make winter hay for his goats and complaining about getting bitten. Somewhat irritable himself, he pointed to the cap he was wearing, told me to stop whining and to go and pick myself some mint.
Up until that point, I’d failed to notice the sprig of mint jauntily tucked into the neb of his cap and, in the time-honoured way small children have of asking non-stop questions, I quizzed him, discovering that he’d always been of the thinking that mint kept the midges away. How and why, he couldn’t explain.
Countrymen have long believed in traditional customs, remedies and sayings without knowing the reasoning behind them. Occasionally erroneous, there is, nevertheless, often a factual element attached to such thinking.
In the world of vegetable growing, there are edicts and maxims aplenty. There is, for example, a long-held supposition that the first potatoes must be planted on Good Friday. Why? Everyone accepts this as important gardening lore because, germinating at that time of the year, they stand less chance of being killed off by frost. In reality, the date can’t be important, as Good Friday varies from year to year.
The real reason the tradition started is because Good Friday was the first time country workers had had a break since the New Year and it was, therefore, their first real opportunity to get out into the garden.
Denne historien er fra September 12, 2018-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra September 12, 2018-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery
