Gardening 1910 style

As I write this at the end of 2014 it’s hard to predict what the weather in January 2015 will be like. It may be dry and sunny or perhaps cold, wet and very wintery. The chances are that for most people the garden will not be top of the list of priorities even if the weather is favourable.  Bear a thought then for gardeners just over a century ago. In a copy of ‘The Gardener’ magazine dated January 1^st 1910 there’s an almost excessive list of jobs to be done in the first week of the year. Amateur gardening at this time was gathering pace and looking for perfection, this can easily be seen by the multitude of gardening adverts tempting gardeners to invest in every conceivable gadget, sprayer and chemical to keep the bugs at bay and achieve spectacular results in the flower and vegetable gardens at the risk of poisoning themselves into the deal. Remember also that mechanical tools were not available yet and lawnmowers were push-along affairs and hard work! The garden for those lucky enough to have one was hard graft, no popping down to the local garden centre on a weekend like we take for granted nowadays. Magazines from the early 1900s were trying to get aspiring gardeners to try everything that there was and detailed every task possible. So what could our 1910 gardener look forward to in early January? Outdoor work begins with trenching, digging and manuring vacant ground as a warm-up exercise for Saturday 1^st. Other tasks are to scrape moss and lichen from fruit trees, roll lawns and repair walks and drives, plant new hedges, trim wall climbers and prepare beds for roses. Monday 3^rd January allows for a spot of easy gardening in the cool greenhouse where tidying Pelargoniums (geraniums) and Primulas is a must, propagate Chrysanthemums, vaporise Cinerarias, and select and order by post flower seeds from the numerous seed catalogues available. Tuesday lets the gardener relocate to the hot greenhouse to repot Dipladenias, Gloxinias and Achimenes – plants which were incredibly fashionable at the time but have since faded into the background. Exhausting as it is, the list of daily chores goes on and on throughout the year. Recommendations as to what to grow, what’s in vogue and some new-fangled technique to try – whatever the weather there was something that must or simply could be done in the garden now and the gardening magazines of the day knew what was best for both the reader and their garden and kept them on a very strict line. On the whole we have probably become fair-weather gardeners. Long gone are the days of trying to keep absolutely everything in check, low maintenance has to a degree become the norm as has the almost pick & mix approach at the garden centres. No more fiddly propagation in the greenhouse when a perfectly finished plant can be bought instantly at the nursery and planted the same day. However, I’m sure the gardeners of 1910 would no doubt be mightly impressed by how domestic gardens (and garden centres) have evolved in just a century. More time to enjoy the garden, barbeques for entertaining on the patio, powered tools and mowers, not to mention a vast selection of vegetables and exotic fruit at your fingertips in the shops all year round. Who would have thought it – certainly not a gardener from 1910 in a cold garden in January.