Request: Watson's Sussex Garden

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I had such success with my request for polar expedition resources, I thought I'd ask again about this. I am trying to find a reference/resource that would tell me what Retirement Watson might be doing in his Sussex garden for a given month of the year.

In the US, we have a farmer's almanac which gives this kind of information based on geographic region. If something like this exists/existed for the UK, that would be perfect. It needn't be detailed, just something to give the person who knows nothing about gardens or plants or related seasonal activities (me), a general idea of what Watson would be doing in June versus September versus February.

Comments

[mightymads]

Maybe Victorian/Edwardian Farm series will give you some inspiration? Both are available on YouTube.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Ok! I will check them out!

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I like Edwardian Farm! It is very interesting!

[mightymads]

It is! And they reference some books there as well.

[orchid314]

This is a wonderful blog by an herbalist who lives and works in East Sussex. It's not a gardening blog per se, but she does break things down by seasons. I like to think that climate change hasn't yet changed the seasonal flowerings so drastically that they would be unrecognizable to Watson.

Another potential resource is the recent book Wilding by Isabella Tree, an account of how she and her husband allowed their farm to return to nature. The farm is located in West Sussex, so I'm not sure what differences of flora and fauna exist between this county and its counterpart to the east. It's due to be published in the US in September, but I ordered a used copy of the British edition online.

Hope this is helpful.

ETA: I forgot to add Great Dixter Gardens. It's supposed to be one of the most interesting historic gardens in England and the website has beautiful images of plantings that might serve as inspiration.

[smallhobbit]

In Watson's day West Sussex and East Sussex were simply Sussex and there wasn't a significant difference.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Hee, hee. Not like here where the distance from East Texas to West Texas is 800 miles!!

[smallhobbit]

Yes. The distance from Chichester (west West Sussex) to Bexhill (east East Sussex) is just over 60 miles.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I had another look at the map. Lord, I forget where everything is. I keep forgetting London isn't at the very bottom and nothing between it and France but Dover. I am quite certain Brighton and Portsmouth aren't where I thought they were.

[orchid314]

I didn't know that. It's good information to have!

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

That blog does have some very nice photos (close-up photos too in case I want to describe the flower/plant itself in more detail) and it is well tagged by season. And it made me think that Watson just might have dabbled more in herbal medicine in his later years.

I don't know that I'll be able to get a copy of that but I love the detail mentioned in the review that Sussex dialect has 30 descriptors for mud! That is definitely a fic-worthy detail!!

Yes, the Great Dixter Gardens is right where I think they'd be, no? And the founder is the author of one of the gardening books I found on archive.org and there are maps and photos so I can kind of visualize better that in the world I am talking about. Yea!! Thanks so much.

[orchid314]

Yes, I wonder if Holmes and Watson would have known the occupants of Great Dixter in early 1900s?

Although the parlor was a private family room, I can somehow see SH or JW sitting there...

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

A very Holmesian fireside scene indeed!

[ancientreader]

Oh, if you're at all interested in localisms (though I don't know how much help they'd be specifically with H/W in Sussex), I wonder whether you'd like Robert Macfarlane's book Landmarks. Here, this'll give you a flavor: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/27/robert-macfarlane-word-hoard-rewilding-landscape

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Miracle of miracles, they had it at the library and I have a copy now! Yea! Thank you!

[ancientreader]

Oh wow, I hope you enjoy it. I confess I am browsing it a little at a time and in a year I have got through less than a hundred pages but it's so rich which is why.

[smallhobbit]

After a bit of a search, I found this: https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/parks-gardens-and-ecology/which-plants-should-i-be-planting-and-when which might be what you want.

If you can, check out Gertrude Jekyll who was very famous for her gardens, and Watson would certainly have heard about her.

If you look at area specific websites, make sure you use something for the south-east of England - we get a lot more rain than they do, and the ground is different.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Yes, that's the kind of thing. Just a sort of summary of what one should be thinking of or doing or considering each month. I have bookmarked it and (depending on how much depth I give the details of the garden) I will try to go further. I mean some of it may be the same for gardeners everywhere in the northern hemisphere but I wouldn't know what's the same and what's not. I will remember rain and soil! I do not want to do the equivalent of putting a porcupine in my Sussex garden (unless of course they decide to invite Inky!).

Yes, I do remember Gertrude Jekyll and I will probably check out that book about Virginia Woolf's garden again; the library also has a book about Vita Sackville-West's garden but it may be a bit too prose heavy for me. The Woolf book has nice big colour photos and sketches.

And I reminded myself much too late that perhaps 'cottage garden' is the phrase that I want to be searching on, too. That kind of search sort of weeds out the American-centric results at least.

But thank you very much for the link!!

[debriswoman]

I have emailed you something to play with:-)

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you very much!