Gardening for women

I assume that a candidate for a position as head gardener has been through a two years’ course of study at one of the Horticultural Colleges or at a school, and has been under-gardener for a year or more in a private garden. No doubt she has learnt how to grow flowers, vegetables, and fruit, but it is possible that she does not know much about the routine work which she will now have to superintend. As principal of the Glynde School for Lady Gardeners, I have had to study this subject, and the following notes, some of which are compiled with the help of a former superintendent, Miss J. S. Turner, are offered for use.

A lady gardener is still somewhat of an experiment to owners of gardens, and, therefore, each one who takes up the work is, in a sense, the pioneer of a new profession for women; it rests with her to make or mar the success of future lady gardeners. If she is a failure, or does not give satisfaction, it may prevent other employers from engaging lady gardeners. This should not, however, be allowed to discourage or intimidate an applicant for such a post. There is no doubt that a lady, with superior education, tact and taste, should succeed where many men have failed. It must be borne in mind that the employer’s pleasure has to be studied, and that the men will have to be managed with firmness and strict fairness. Where these points are carried out intelligently, the success of an intensely interesting career is fairly secured.

If possible, it is advisable that the duties should commence at Michaelmas, which is the beginning of the agricultural and horticultural year. If a start is made in the spring, most of the praise or blame that ensues during the remainder of the horticultural year belongs by right to the previous gardener.

Autumn and winter are the seasons for laying a good foundation, for forming plans, and cleaning up. “Well begun is half done,” but it is more than “half done” in gardening. Unless the winter foundation is correctly laid, the summer superstructure will be wrong, or there is a chance of there being no structure at all.

The first thing for a lady “head” to do is to have a good look round. She must see what crops are still on the ground, what preparation has been made for winter and spring crops, and the state the houses and frames are in. Everything under her care must be clean and in good order.

Her aim is to fulfil all requirements of the family which she serves, and, in order to succeed, she must ascertain their wants. These vary with each family, and it is not possible to lay down any fixed rules. Many questions that will need answering should be noted down, and an interview should be requested of the lady of the house, or whoever is most interested in the garden.

I will only draw attention to a few points which need consideration, and these can either be decided by the gardener herself, should she be given a free hand, or settled by the employer.

(1) The hours of work and holidays for the garden staff. Arrangements should be made also for power to dismiss any subordinate who is lazy or misbehaves; and this should be acted upon without hesitation upon the first proof of neglect.

(2) The payment of men, and the number of extra ones allowed for additional work. In large gardens, this matter comes under the estate department, but in small gardens the head gardener deals with it.

(3) The days and hours that will be most convenient for the despatch of routine work, such as mowing, tidying, etc. Some ladies have weekend parties, and require the place to look especially neat on Sundays. There may be small but necessary rules about sweeping and tidying the carriage drive, cleaning and washing garden steps or benches, the position of seats, tents, croquet hoops, marking tennis courts, etc. The employer’s wishes should be ascertained, orders given accordingly, and it should be seen that these are carried out.

(4) The days and hours for picking flowers for the house. If it is the gardener’s duty to arrange the cut flowers, this must be gone into carefully, as it is probably one of the most important matters in the eyes of the lady of the house. Should the family be in London, there will be fixed days for sending flowers, vegetables, and fruit to them; all these matters have to be carefully noted. The amount of green foliage required for mixing with cut flowers also varies with different people’s taste. It must be ascertained whether many pot plants are required in the sitting-rooms, or if cut flowers are chiefly used; and if so, which are the favourite kinds and colours. It will then be easy to decide which plot of ground should be used as a reserve garden for cut flowers, and what proportion of mignonette, violets, lilies of the valley, etc., will be needed for decoration.

(5) Another matter, which only the lady of the house can decide, will be the arrangements for bedding out, or the grouping and colouring required for herbaceous borders. If she has taste, and is artistic, it is necessary only to carry out her plans. Possibly she may leave the matter to the gardener; in which case visits should be made to a few neighbouring gardens to ascertain what plants and climbers are best suited to the climate and soil. Having put the plans on paper, an estimate can be formed of the quantity of bulbs, plants, shrubs, or climbers required for the whole garden. The autumn is the best time to order these. There remains then a further point upon which advice should be asked.

(6) The ordering of seeds, plants, tools, and garden requisites may be in the gardener’s department, or it may be managed by the estate. In any case, it will be a good plan to touch upon these matters to the employer. Unimportant as they may appear, it is wise for him to deal with local tradesmen, and, therefore, a stranger to the neighbourhood will have to learn their names, and what things they each excel in. The carting of purchases from the station to the garden is a matter for careful consideration. Should this be done by the estate, it must be borne in mind that, when the yearly accounts are sent in, the estate will wish to appear economical as regards its own requirements, and if the gardener is not on good terms with the agent or bailiff, it is possible that the total at the bottom of the garden expense column may be surprisingly large. My advice, therefore, is to make friends with the estate department. When pea boughs, and timber for rails are needed, when locks are to be repaired, or hinges fixed, it is good to have a friend at court.

(7) Occasionally matters are put under a gardener’s direction which can hardly be called garden work. The washing down of drains, cleaning away leaves from the roof gutters, brushing snow off the roof, emptying receptacles of refuse, burning waste paper from the house, may fall to a lady gardener’s lot. In any case, when specific duties are ascertained, no responsibility connected with them should be handed over to subordinates. Washing a drain down is not, perhaps, an especially elevating task, and it may be urged that any fool can do it. It will only be done, however, and well done, if the men know that a look-out is being kept for their neglect or carelessness. If they are sometimes unexpectedly watched it will be found that the work is well done, and instead of their thinking less of their “head,” they will respect her all the more.

If a holiday is asked for them sometimes, or a kind act is performed for their wives or children, they will work with a good will which should be encouraging to their chief.

It is not very probable that anyone, after only two or three years’ training, will soar at once to the height of being head gardener on an estate, or of having the direction of many labouring men. I have noted most of the points of importance for a start in the garden profession; they must be added to from experience as the ladder is mounted towards success.

I have not, so far, touched upon the main point for consideration, whether the garden be large or small. This is the vegetable garden. It will be necessary, without loss of time, to interview the cook, and ask what vegetables are most required.

“Different people, different opinions; some like apples, some like onions.” Do not grow what is not wanted. It is well to try and make friends with the cook, for if not, any failure in the vegetable course at dinner will be laid to the gardener’s door. They will be too young or too old, too tender or too tough, or it will be said that the cook has expressed an opinion that “no one couldn’t cook them vegetables which that there lady gardener sends in.” Therefore, spare no pains to be friends with the head of the kitchen, for success or failure may depend much upon her opinion. A few compliments upon her skill in cooking will be a good preliminary to any explanations that may have to be made in introducing a new vegetable to her notice. I have heard of a sad instance of the Mont d’Or butter beans that were given to the pigs “because they were yellow.” In this case, had the cook been interviewed beforehand, those lovely golden beans would not have been cast “like pearls before swine.” The requirements of houses as regards flowers and vegetables vary very much, and it will only be by asking advice of the lady and the cook that a gardener can guess at all what she is expected to send into the house. The first year will naturally be somewhat of an experiment in this respect, and it will be well to point out these difficulties to the employer, for fear he considers that there is either undue extravagance or too economical a saving of produce.

Having interviewed the cook, the next thing is to arrange the crops.

For an ordinary kitchen garden of one acre, the following should generally be ordered.

Cheap plants can be bought of these latter, and also marrows and cucumbers. If the garden is a small one, it will be more economical to do this than to raise them from seed. The above are ordinary vegetables; for special ones, such as cardoons, chicory, etc., a small packet of seed will be sufficient.

There are three vegetables not usually grown, but which are most useful. They are:—

Phœnix Kale.—Will stand the most severe winter, and the more it is cut in the late winter or spring, the more it will shoot.

Seakale Beet (not Spinach Beet).—Can be cut all the autumn. It will stand an ordinary winter, and will furnish another cut in spring when vegetables are scarce. It has a broader midrib than spinach beet, is perfectly white, and is cooked like seakale. The green blade can be used as spinach.

Couve Tronchuda.—Is used much in the same way as seakale beet. Cut the lower leaves first, and use the thick fleshy leaf-stalks; when the lower leaves are done, there still remains very good cabbage on the top. Sutton calls it “rather tender,” but it is not always necessary to protect it in winter.

It will be found useful to obtain a large chart of the vegetables usually grown, and the time of sowing, planting, and cutting. This can be obtained from the Stores (Book department).

If a rough plan of the garden can be obtained, it will be of help; if not, a copy book should be bought, and on one page a rough sketch made of each plot, with the length and breadth marked upon it. This need not necessarily be drawn to scale. Upon the opposite page should be put the crop which is on the ground. Probably someone can supply information as to what crop was previously there, and when the ground was last trenched and manured. Any notes that can be made in this respect will be useful. It is a good plan to divide the garden under cultivation roughly into four quarters, disregarding, for the moment, that part which is under permanent crops, such as asparagus, rhubarb, etc. By trenching and manuring one plot every year, it can be arranged for each quarter to have a good dressing at least once every four years.

Bastard trenching is generally better than trenching; and the more constantly the ground is stirred the better.

As farmyard manure is often scarce, and labour for thorough trenching is expensive or difficult to obtain, it will be found that doing a quarter of the ground each year is a sure way of getting it all under cultivation. This, and digging in the refuse, will supply the necessary humus. Between times dig as deep as possible and use artificial manure.

The reason for ascertaining the crops that have been grown before is to enable some sort of rotation to be practised. It is impossible, in gardening, to do this as perfectly as in agriculture, but there are a few things which it is well to bear in mind. The three fundamental rules are as follows:—

(1) Plants of the same natural order should not follow each other.

(2) Crops which have occupied the same ground for several years should be succeeded by others of short duration. This gives an opportunity for constantly stirring and cleaning the ground.

(3) Plants grown for their roots, or bulbs, should not be followed by others grown for the same purpose. Plants grown for their seeds should also not succeed each other.

In a small garden, it is best to grow only early potatoes. Others can be bought as cheaply as they can be grown, and the space they would occupy is valuable. A piece of ground may be under early potatoes these should be cleared by the middle of June, when a sowing of peas can be made, selecting one of the early varieties for a late crop. When they come off, they can be followed by turnips, which are drawn off during the winter. In January the ground can be bastard trenched, but not manured. Let it lie fallow awhile; then put in carrots, parsnips, or beet. The order can be varied indefinitely, so long as the rules are followed, and the plot of ground kept well trenched, and manured every fourth year.

The next things to consider are the crops still on the ground, and those coming on. In a fairly well-managed garden late peas, runner beans, cauliflowers, and marrows all “in cut,” should still be found in the autumn. The runner beans and the marrows should bear until they are cut down by frost. Their bearing capacity can be prolonged by careful picking, by a mulch of well-rotted manure, or with a drenching of liquid manure, according to whether the season is wet or dry.

If there is likely to be a shortage of winter stuff, fully ripe marrows can be hung up in an airy place, and runner beans put down with salt. A breadth of celery should be found coming into use, and parsnips that will stand until they are required. The main crop of carrots and beet will still be there to store, and there should be a break of sprouts, kale, and other things to come in later. If the supply is likely to run short, it will not be too late to plant cabbage and colewort.

First then, clear off all crops that are over, such as peas, early cauliflower, and potatoes. Burn all this refuse, as well as the weeds, and return it to the ground. Keep on hoeing. If there is no winter spinach in, make a sowing at once, and also make a sowing of turnips.

October is the great storing month. Take up all beet, carrots, and parsnips; but artichokes and salsify are best left where they are.

Corn salad can be sown, to come up in early spring. Cauliflowers should be pricked out into a cold frame where they can be protected from frost.

All leaves should be swept up and stored in a heap, to make leaf mould. In the process they will generate steady heat, and if a frame can be spared it should be put over them. Tender plants can be stored in it, or winter salad grown in it.

By now the work will have got into swing, and the routine of it has consequently been acquired. Any mistakes or omissions that have occurred will have been rectified.

As the crops come off, settle what it is intended to put in next, and prepare the ground accordingly. Some things require little or no manure; others need much. All ground is better for being stirred, therefore keep on digging. War must be waged against all weeds between the rows of greens, decayed leaves should be removed. All crops that are likely to be injured by frost must be protected.

Now is a good moment to see about obtaining a supply of pea and bean sticks, flower stakes and canes. Two important matters can be done in bad weather, when the land cannot be worked. Stakes may be sorted out in sizes, pointed and tied into bundles, and put away in a shed. Any painting of stakes, tubs, or labels can also be done, and it will be found a good plan to go over the stock of tools.

There is much more work that I could suggest, but if the hints already given are carried out, a good start will have been made. By taking in a practical garden paper, such as “The Gardener” (1d. per week), “The Journal of Horticulture” (2d. per week), or the “Gardener’s Chronicle” (3d. per week), a reminder of the regular rotation of work will be secured. By reading these it will be seen exactly when to harvest fruit, prune shrubs and roses, clean over borders, layer carnations, etc. All details connected with these different operations will have been learned at college, so I need not add another to the many gardening books that will already have been read.

I want to draw attention to one quality that a lady head-gardener may find herself in need of. It is humility. I do not know a profession in which this is more necessary than in gardening. Because all difficulties of the soil in a chalky southern county have been learned, the requirements of that poor land mastered, and preparations made to guard against the violent attacks of the south-west wind, do not suppose that these same torments exist necessarily in other counties. Enemies and insect pests will be found, but they may not always be the same kind. The good advice and hints, therefore, that may be obtained from smock-frocked residents in the neighbourhood should not be despised. They have, perhaps, never been further than the nearest town close by; reading and writing are difficulties which they cannot overcome, but they have fully taken in how to grow vegetables and flowers on their own bit of land. Watch the time of year they undertake different simple operations, and learn to do likewise. Disappointment may be saved if they are humbly watched. Bitter experience has taught these men, and, by taking their advice, one may learn quickly what a lifetime has shown them.

TOOLS

The lady-gardener can turn her attention to the question of tools when she has carefully looked round her new garden and when she knows how many men are to be employed. A list should then be made of those that are wanted, and they should all be ordered together, as by that means they will be cheaper. Those of an inferior quality should not be obtained just for the sake of saving a few shillings. They are dear at any price, so the best should be had and treated well. I have known instances of spades that “came to pieces in my 'and,” as the housemaid says. If they broke off at the first trial of a lady gardener, they certainly would do so when used by a man. Therefore all spades and forks should be obtained from a trustworthy manufacturer.

In some cases, a tool for each person employed will be required. In other instances, one or two of each kind will be enough, according to the size of the garden. Of these “sets” had better be ordered.

Spades.—A spade must be chosen to fit the user, and Nos. 2 and 3 are the most generally serviceable. One with a solid socket is strongest, and if the bend of the handle is right, it will not be appreciably heavier than others.

Forks.—A digging fork or grape with four prongs may be either flat or round. For general use, the round pronged ones are best, as they can be used for stirring the ground, digging potatoes, or forking manure. When digging, a flat pronged fork is strongest.

Rakes.—These can be obtained with iron or steel teeth, three to a set, in sizes of 16 in., 12 in., and 8 in. The end teeth and head should be in one piece, the other teeth rivetted, and very slightly curved. The socket should be long, and have at least three holes for rivets.

Draw hoes should be two to a set, 9 in. and 4 in.; the blades of steel welded to an iron neck which is slightly curved or swan-necked, as it is easier then to keep free of weeds.

Dutch hoes should be two to a set, 9 in. and 6 in.

Trowels.—A trowel should be chosen not too concave in the blade. A small mason’s trowel is useful.

A strong pruning knife will be required for each person. Besides these tools, there will be required, according to the size of the garden, one or two shovels, several manure forks, some wooden rakes, and two or three dibbers.

A garden roller.

A pick with one end sharpened to a point, and the other wedge shaped.

A crowbar, pitch bar, or punch.

A couple of hammers and a wooden mallet.

An edging iron.

A pair of shears for cutting grass verges.

A pair of straight hedge shears.

A pair of lopping shears.

One or two pairs of secateurs.

A large axe and a couple of hatchets. The American are best, or if these cannot be had, those with American handles should be obtained.

Several scythes.

A couple of saws, one an ordinary carpenter’s saw, the other a pruning saw. A cross-cut, to be used by two men, is very useful.

One or two garden lines and reels.

A measuring rod, 10 ft. long, and marked in feet and quarters.

A diamond for cutting panes of glass.

Several wheelbarrows.

A hand barrow.

Several baskets or trugs.

Watering cans.

Mowing machine. This will depend upon the amount of grass; but in a garden of any considerable size two will be required, one large one for the lawns, and a small one, 10 in. or 12 in. wide, for borders and edges. For the first, the American make is light, cheap, and simple in construction, but as they have no back roller, they will not work on narrow borders. The “Pennsylvania,” to be worked by a man and a boy, and a small “Green,” will probably be the most suitable.

It must be seen that the tools are kept in first rate order. A grindstone, one worked with a treadle, will be necessary. If good tools are bought and kept clean, well oiled, and sharp, they will last a long time; and those that have been used are the easiest to work with. They are broken in, as it were.

It will be advisable, upon the first opportunity, to clear out every hole and corner, and get rid of the rubbish. Old tools, however, should never be thrown away, as wooden handles will turn into dibbers and measuring pegs. Short handles will do for trowels, etc. Old spades can be cut down, re-sharpened, and used for digging amongst shrubs and in herbaceous borders. When they are past work, they can be put into the ground, blade upwards, as foot scrapers. Old forks can have their prongs shortened and turned down at right angles, or nearly so, to the helve. They are then useful as drag hoes for loosening soil among young crops.

It is a good plan, in a garden where extra labour is employed, and when neat and tidy habits cannot always be expected from the labouring men, to have receptacles for different kinds of refuse. There should be one for crocks, another for glass, a third for paper, and one for bits of wood. It should be seen each night that tools are carefully put away clean.

No pains should be spared to master thoroughly the mechanism of mowing machines. The lady-gardener must also know how to stoke a greenhouse furnace, and repair broken glass in frames. If these matters have been learned in student days there will be no difficulty for her in directing men. Should she be unable herself to put a piece of glass into a frame, she must not be angry with her workman if he fixes it insecurely. As thorough master of her trade, she will make herself respected.

Care, too, should be taken from the first to look ahead, as regards what has to be purchased, such as pots, soil, manure, peat, nails, raffia. It is provoking in finishing a job to be delayed because, at the right moment, some necessary article was not ordered.

“Thinking ahead” in this way is a habit, and can be acquired.

It is well never to be without a pocket-book and pencil, to jot down at once any things that may be required or jobs which need attention.