The Kalendarium Hortense was published by John Evelyn in 1683. It contains instructions for what a gardener should do throughout the year. The excerpt below is the list of what is to be done in the "Orchard and Olitory1 Garden" for the month of November.
Carry Compost out of your Melon ground, or turn and mingle it with the Earth, and lay it in Ridges ready for the Spring: Also trench and fit ground for Artichoaks, &c.
Continue your Setting and Transplanting of Trees; lose no time, hard Frosts come on apace: Yet you may lay bare old Roots.
Plant young Trees, Standards, or Mural2.
Furnish your Nursery with Stocks to graff on the following year.
Sow and set early Beans and Pease till Shrove-tide; and now lay up in your Cellars for spending, and for seed, to be transplanted at Spring, Carrots, Parsneps, Turneps, Cabbafes, Caulkly-flowers, &c.
Cut off the tops of Asparagus, and cover it with long dung, or make Beds to plant in Spring, &c.
Now, in a dry day, gather your last Orchard fruits.
Take up your Potatoes for Winter spending, there will enough remain for Stock, though never so exactly gathered.
1 - Olitory: of or pertaining to, or produced in, a kitchen garden.
2 - Mural trees: trees trained against a wall.
3 - Shrovetide: the Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.
1 comment:
I love these excerpts. Even though they come from a time long past so much is still relevant today. Thanks for putting these up :-)
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