- Hardcover: 160 pages
- Publisher: BBC Books; reprint edition (17 Sep 1987)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0563204427
- ISBN-13: 978-0563204428
- Product Dimensions: 25.4 x 19 x 2.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
105,679 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #55 in Books > Science & Nature > Food & Farming > Horticulture
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Behind high redbrick walls at Chilton Foliat in Berkshire lies an extraordinary example of a traditional Victorian kitchen garden. This book traces its recent restoration from a neglected patch of weed-choked ground into a productive and well-ordered plot, cultivated with the use of Victorian tools and techniques and planted with 19th-century varieties of flowers, fruit and vegetables. The garden reflects the characteristics of the era - the inventiveness and interest in science, the constant quest for improvement and the strict social hierarchy. Retired head gardener Harry Dodson has been able to employ many time-honoured skills learned as a young apprentice on large country estates in the 1930s. Through his work restoring the garden, he has solved many horticultural mysteries, including how Victorian gardeners dealt with troublesome pests, how they grew such exotic fruits as pineapple and melon, and how they obtained fruits and vegetables out of season. Jennifer Davies also wrote "The Victorian Kitchen" and "The Victorian Flower Garden".
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The television series of the same name went out in the 1980s, and this "book of the series" was published soon after. Since then, a lot more books on traditional gardeneing and heritage vegetables have been printed, so why buy this one?
The BBC documentary was, in fact, the beginning of the resurgence of interest in walled gardens, "heritage" varieties and vegetable-growing in general. It was an enjoyable and informative study of the world of the Victorian head-gardener, and in these pages anyone who likes social history will find much to interest them. If this was all, the book would be worth having. However it is also a complete guide to the world of traditional techniques and varieties, often illustrated with the original engravings. If you are lucky enough to have a large area to play with, everything you need to create your own kitchen garden is here; if you have a more normal veg patch or allotment, you'll find plenty of inspiration too.
In recounting the research and sourcing for the programme, Jennifer Davies tells us a huge amount about how to restore an old garden, how to grow unusual and forgotten vegetables and how to properly graft, train and care for fruit trees. When the book was first published, many of the plants, seeds, and tools mentioned were unobtainable. Such has been the interest since that heritage vegetables are in every garden centre, tools manufacturers have restyled their ranges to look "traditional" and catalogues offering things like lantern cloches and rhubarb forcers (albeit at a price) fall out of every weekend broadsheet. This means that anyone wanting to create a traditional garden for themselves is now well catered-for.
If you're interested in this field, seriously consider The Gardener's Assistant voumes 1 to 6; it won't be particularly cheap, but it is the best original period text and still very useful today. If you want to do it Victorian style it will have everything you could ask for; I suspect it was used in the setting up of "The Victorian Kitchen Garden" for television.
The BBC documentary was, in fact, the beginning of the resurgence of interest in walled gardens, "heritage" varieties and vegetable-growing in general. It was an enjoyable and informative study of the world of the Victorian head-gardener, and in these pages anyone who likes social history will find much to interest them. If this was all, the book would be worth having. However it is also a complete guide to the world of traditional techniques and varieties, often illustrated with the original engravings. If you are lucky enough to have a large area to play with, everything you need to create your own kitchen garden is here; if you have a more normal veg patch or allotment, you'll find plenty of inspiration too.
In recounting the research and sourcing for the programme, Jennifer Davies tells us a huge amount about how to restore an old garden, how to grow unusual and forgotten vegetables and how to properly graft, train and care for fruit trees. When the book was first published, many of the plants, seeds, and tools mentioned were unobtainable. Such has been the interest since that heritage vegetables are in every garden centre, tools manufacturers have restyled their ranges to look "traditional" and catalogues offering things like lantern cloches and rhubarb forcers (albeit at a price) fall out of every weekend broadsheet. This means that anyone wanting to create a traditional garden for themselves is now well catered-for.
If you're interested in this field, seriously consider The Gardener's Assistant voumes 1 to 6; it won't be particularly cheap, but it is the best original period text and still very useful today. If you want to do it Victorian style it will have everything you could ask for; I suspect it was used in the setting up of "The Victorian Kitchen Garden" for television.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a truly wonderful book. I first saw the series, then bought this and was hooked. I now am fortunate enough to have a small walled garden and refer to the book for inspiration. You can still get the series on DVD too
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a wonderful book. It brings one into a world just gone but to be still seen in all the deserted kitchen walled gardens scaterred throughout these islands.It deals with gardening practises,social classes and the essential role of the gardener in Victorian society.With the return to vegetable gardening we have much to learn from the gardeners of the Victorian era.
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