Blog
Something borrowed, something blue
Something borrowed, something blue
What are your early gardening memories? One of my formative horticultural recollections is the fun I had acquiring plants once I finally cajoled mum into letting me cultivate my own pocket handkerchief of ground. I wanted to pack this bare area with flowers. My first course of action was to slice off small sections from other plants in the garden to propagate them. Bit by bit I began to understand my few plants, their likes and dislikes, by trying to grow them. I was successful with the easy ones, including the spreading spotted deadnettle (Lamium maculatum), tough as old boots orange daylilies (Hemerocallis fulva), drought tolerant Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’, and a lilac-blue bearded-iris growing abundantly at the back of our raspberry canes. I added some divisions taken from a mass of lamb’s-ear (Stachys byzantina) that spilled over the brick parapet separating the flower beds from the lawn, and under which our small tortoise (imaginatively named Little Tortoise) slept during the summer months. Little Tortoise had been found trundling along the tube line between Arnos Grove and Bounds Green and was taken by the station staff to my aunt, who was known locally for her love of animals, and the rescued reptile soon came to live with us.
However, finding plants (rather than animals) was my hobby, albeit largely due to a lack of funds. The first pocket money I received was fifty pence a week. In addition to purchasing a packet of seeds or a small plant from Woolworths this also had to cover buying sweets and a copy of the Beano, (which was five pence at the time). So, I scoured skips for thrown-out plants and pots whenever a garden was being developed. And I kept my eyes peeled for seedlings that could be pulled up and pocketed when I was out walking or visiting the gardens of friends and relatives. One useful freebie was soapwort (Saponaria officinalis). I propagated this from bits of root broken-off from plants growing along the local railway path. This clump-forming perennial produces large clusters of light pink flowers in summer, and I think is more evocatively described by its country name, bouncing bet. The land alongside the railway had been given over to allotments as part of the Dig for Victory campaign during the Second World War, and bouncing bet had been grown as a soap substitute as commercial soap was severely rationed. Although the allotments had long vanished under brambles and grass, pretty bouncing bet had endured as a reminder of the past.
Later, I successfully made my own liquid soap using harvested rhizomes (root-like stems) by simmering them in water for fifteen minutes and then straining the liquid into a bottle. The gentle and effective suds occur because soapwort contains saponins, a natural compound that produces a soapy lather. Another practical find was feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium), whose pungent aroma I can still summon up merely by thinking about it. One of my mum’s gardening friends, Mrs Pirie, used to swear by it for preventing headaches. Whenever she felt a migraine coming on, she would make a tisane from the dried flowers and drink it (not something I advise trying without first seeking medical advice). Her cottage-style garden was full of old-fashioned favourites. Another plant I was keen to acquire for my plot was an evergreen creeping perennial she called ‘bugleweed’ (Ajuga reptans). I coveted it because it was great at covering bare ground with its glossy, spoon-like leaves, and I knew that in spring the centre of each leafy rosette would elongate into an inflorescence consisting of a raceme made up of whorls of blue flowers. Of all the plants I foraged for during this early period, it is the only one whose descendants I still possess today. It remained with me by constantly spreading, sending out runners into new locations, including rooting itself into the tops of the pots of other plants, thereby hitching rides to new locations. But the greatest discovery I made during my early gardening education was a passion for plants. As the garden designer and writer Gertrude Jekyll observed, “the love of gardening is a seed once sown that never dies”.
Christmas stocking filler suggestions for budding gardeners.
Children’s Garden Tools:
Ecoiffier – Filled Basket, Garden Tools for Children – From 18 Months – Made in France. £12.99
Kids 3-Piece Garden Tool Set – From 3+ -£5.99
Colourful Kids Garden Watering Can — From 3+ -£11.99
Children’s Gardening Gloves:
Keep those little green-fingers clean as they garden with these children’s gardening gloves.
Kent & Stowe Blue Dinosaur Kids Gardening Gloves – Ages 3-5 – £5.99
Wildlife Options:
The Tom Chambers Multi Insect Bee & Bug House -provides a variety of dry and cosy habitats for bees and bugs. £26.99
Seeds:
Fothergill’s For Little Gardeners seed collection. £1.99 a packet.
Further reading.
Valuable life skills that children can learn from gardening
