The Gardener's Perpetual Almanack: A Book of Days

Do you know how to rid your garden of moles? Red herrings or garlic were suggested in 1660. The average gardener can't excommunicate caterpillars like the Bishop of Laon in 1120, nor take revenge on flower-stealers in the seventeenth-century manner so that they sneeze "until the tears run down their thighs," but Gilbert White's treacle and beer traps for wasps are well worth a try. Do you know the patron saint of gardeners; the uses of dandelions; that rosemary is supposed to make the heart merry, drive all fantasies from the brain, and encourage conception; that Christmas Eve is the day to drink to the health of fruit trees; that crowbars kept phloxes flourishing during the hot summer of 1911? This little treasure of a book, full of illustrations from the fifteenth to the twentieth century, will console gardeners when weather or sloth interrupts their obsession. It draws on the wit and wisdom of over four centuries of almanacks, herbals, and gardening books to provide advice and inspiration, and is packed with quotations from the poetry and prose of great garden-lovers, from John Donne to Derek Jarman, Thomas Jefferson to John Clare, Jane Austen to Vita Sackville-West. Martin Hoyles digs deep into his knowledge of gardening lore, history, and literature for this almanack--the perfect present for all garden-lovers, to be enjoyed year after year after year. * Almanack format allows for use year after year. * Space is provided to write in gardening notes and data. * The perfect gift for any gardener.