We Made a Garden

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I whacked at the hole until we could squeeze through and venture down the steps into a large brick-floored cellar – with, sure enough, a bricked-up window. But, as her health deteriorated, tending a big kitchen garden became too much for her and the plot slipped into neglect. 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.

Fresh starts, hidden rooms, difficulties that turn into assets, wicked landlords, fairy godmothers who compost.The cover may have some limited signs of wear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. This book charmed me by the cover and hypnotized me with old-fashioned language, both British and Latin.

In this beautiful and timeless work, she recounts the trails and tribulations, successes and failures, of her venture with ease and humour. Fish, i often found myself running out to the garden right after reading something smart to put in practice. What struck me is the amount of labor they put into the garden themselves, both because labor was scarce in WWII England, and because they truly wanted to do the work. 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! So much of her has been poured into the garden and into the book that it’s easy to understand why it has stood the test of time and remains a classic.Margery clearly won the bulk of the battles even in the earlier years but it must have been much easier after his death. But then, I’d stumbled into a vast and smiley world of strange expertise and Latin names; of pH and soil types; of grafting and pruning; of annuals and perennials and biennials; of seed sowing and cuttings; and, and… stuff. 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.

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. This sounds lovely — reminds me of my mother who is an avid gardener and is happiest when pottering. A quirky classic, this book details her creation of a landmark cottage garden, as well as her battles with her husband in the process, who preferred the standard suburban approach. A passion for nature and ability to mix plants effectively even in the smallest space and in differing environments, made her ideas relevant to all gardeners of her time and for future generations of gardeners.To become a subscriber to Slightly Foxed: The Real Reader’s Quarterly Magazine, please visit our subscriptions page. Very enjoyable read of an English couple creating a garden in a forsaken plot of land, in 1940s England. My favorite moment is Margery's description of how she ignored Walter's beloved (and garish) dahlias after his death. Finance is provided by PayPal Credit (a trading name of PayPal UK Ltd, Whittaker House, Whittaker Avenue, Richmond-Upon-Thames, Surrey, United Kingdom, TW9 1EH). She’d complained about it, apparently, to no avail but we soon discovered the source and it was easy enough to fix – had the unpleasant London Company bothered to help their elderly, sickly tenant.