Old Wives' Lore for Gardeners

by Maureen and Bridget Boland

I am fortunate enough to work in the library of a Cornish agricultural college. Not only is it set in the most beautiful rural surroundings behind the stunning North Coast, but it also has the advantage of having shelf upon shelf of the most fascinating and informative books that any aspiring greenie could ever hope to come across.

One of my forays into these shelves produced possibly the most intriguing, amusing, informative and quite delightful little book I have ever had the privilege to read.

The Boland sisters have many years' experience in both urban and rural gardens and this book interweaves their amusing anecdotes with some weird and wonderful old wives' tales, as well as the science behind them. I never fail to marvel how these ‘old wives' tales' have their roots firmly embedded in fact, using wisdom that has been handed down through generations. Proof, if we should ever need it, that ancient wisdom has much more going for it than many of our modern scientific ‘advances'.

Throughout the book, these two charming ladies delight us with their wit and knowledge, as well as their comical and amusingly dry observations. I was reminded of the wonderful Two Fat Ladies cookery programme, where their love of the subject as well as their sparkling and eccentric personalities shone through. Maureen and Bridget Boland skilfully manage to convey this same engaging and unconventional flavour without the medium of television.

As well as painting a fascinating portrait of their lives and gardens (which I would love to visit) the Old Wives' Lores are intriguing and provide the keen amateur gardener like myself with some invaluable hints on composting, planting, pest control, weed control, amongst many other things.

For example, did you know that placing hair (human, pet or horse) in a bean trough catches pests and provides trace elements not normally available to the beans? Or that hollyhocks thrive on leftover beer or that camomile and foxgloves act as ‘doctors' to neighbouring plants? Did you know that a stick of rhubarb in the soil when planting cabbages prevents clubroot or that camellias like tea-leaves? No, nor did I!

I confess to being so enchanted by this book that I bought myself a secondhand copy, as well as the follow-on book, Gardener's Magic and Other Old Wives' Lore (sadly just written by Bridget, but dedicated to her late sister). A little browsing on Amazon revealed it to be a much-loved book, especially for those who, as the Boland sisters say, ‘are not afraid of finding a certain amount of superstition mingled with good sense'.

I cannot recommend this charming book and its companion volume strongly enough. Read them and you will be in for a real treat!

Jo

Secondhand copies are available.