Gardening On Chalk And Lime Soil

Robert Jackson

Description

This book contains a classic guide to growing plants and shrubs on chalk- and lime-rich soil, as commonly found in England and Ireland. It describes the differences and problems these soil types pose for the gardener, as well as offering advice on what plants should be used and the different techniques required for their cultivation. This volume will be of considerable utility to gardeners working with these tricky soil conditions and it would make for a handy addition to collections of gardening literature. Contents include: “Calcareous Soils and Their Situation and Types”, “The Improvement and Maintenance of Calcareous Soils”, “The Flower Garden”, “Ferns”, “Perennials and Annual Plants Recommended for a Calcareous Soil”, “Plants not Recommended”, “Bulbous Plants”, “Bulbous and Tuberous Plants that will Grow Well on Lime”, etc. Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially-commissioned new introduction on the history of gardening.

Sujets

• Garden design
• Shrub

Informations

• Publié par: Read Books Ltd.
• Date de parution: 14 juillet 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781528762632
• Langue: English

Extrait

Gardening on Chalk and Lime Soil
by
Robert Jackson
Illustrated by
Graham Stuart Thomas
Copyright 2013 Read Books Ltd.
This book is copyright and may not be reproduced or copied in any way without the express permission of the publisher in writing
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
A Short History of Gardening
Gardening is the practice of growing and cultivating plants as part of horticulture more broadly. In most domestic gardens, there are two main sets of plants; ornamental plants , grown for their flowers, foliage or overall appearance - and useful plants such as root vegetables, leaf vegetables, fruits and herbs, grown for consumption or other uses. For many people, gardening is an incredibly relaxing and rewarding pastime, ranging from caring for large fruit orchards to residential yards including lawns, foundation plantings or flora in simple containers. Gardening is separated from farming or forestry more broadly in that it tends to be much more labour-intensive; involving active participation in the growing of plants.
Home-gardening has an incredibly long history, rooted in the forest gardening practices of prehistoric times. In the gradual process of families improving their immediate environment, useful tree and vine species were identified, protected and improved whilst undesirable species were eliminated. Eventually foreign species were also selected and incorporated into the gardens. It was only after the emergence of the first civilisations that wealthy individuals began to create gardens for aesthetic purposes. Egyptian tomb paintings from around 1500 BC provide some of the earliest physical evidence of ornamental horticulture and landscape design; depicting lotus ponds surrounded by symmetrical rows of acacias and palms. A notable example of an ancient ornamental garden was the Hanging Gardens of Babylon - one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Ancient Rome had dozens of great gardens, and Roman estates tended to be laid out with hedges and vines and contained a wide variety of flowers - acanthus, cornflowers, crocus, cyclamen, hyacinth, iris, ivy, lavender, lilies, myrtle, narcissus, poppy, rosemary and violets as well as statues and sculptures. Flower beds were also popular in the courtyards of rich Romans. The Middle Ages represented a period of decline for gardens with aesthetic purposes however. After the fall of Rome gardening was done with the purpose of growing medicinal herbs and/or decorating church altars. It was mostly monasteries that carried on the tradition of garden design and horticultural techniques during the medieval period in Europe. By the late thirteenth century, rich Europeans began to grow gardens for leisure as well as for medicinal herbs and vegetables. They generally surrounded them with walls - hence, the walled garden.
These gardens advanced by the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries into symmetrical, proportioned and balanced designs with a more classical appearance. Gardens in the renaissance were adorned with sculptures (in a nod to Roman heritage), topiary and fountains. These fountains often contained water jokes - hidden cascades which suddenly soaked visitors. The most famous fountains of this kind were found in the Villa d Este (1550-1572) at Tivoli near Rome. By the late seventeenth century, European gardeners had started planting new flowers such as tulips, marigolds and sunflowers.
These highly complex designs, largely created by the aristocracy slowly gave way to the individual gardener however - and this is where this book comes in! Cottage Gardens first emerged during the Elizabethan times, originally created by poorer workers to provide themselves with food and herbs, with flowers planted amongst them for decoration. Farm workers were generally provided with cottages set in a small garden-about an acre-where they could grow food, keep pigs, chickens and often bees; the latter necessitating the planting of decorative pollen flora. By Elizabethan times there was more prosperity, and thus more room to grow flowers. Most of the early cottage garden flowers would have had practical uses though-violets were spread on the floor (for their pleasant scent and keeping out vermin); calendulas and primroses were both attractive and used in cooking. Others, such as sweet william and hollyhocks were grown entirely for their beauty.
Here lies the roots of today s home-gardener; further influenced by the new style in eighteenth century England which replaced the more formal, symmetrical Garden la fran aise . Such gardens, close to works of art, were often inspired by paintings in the classical style of landscapes by Claude Lorraine and Nicolas Poussin. The work of Lancelot Capability Brown, described as England s greatest gardener was particularly influential. We hope that the reader is inspired by this book, and the long and varied history of gardening itself, to experiment with some home-gardening of their own. Enjoy.
AUTHOR S PREFACE
A LTHOUGH many thousands of gardening books have been published in this country and abroad, not one, so far as I am aware, has ever dealt in detail with gardening on calcareous soil. Therefore this volume, while it does not claim to be ambitious, is at least unique.
Many of the gardens of England and Ireland are on either chalk or lime formation, and some of them rank amongst the finest in the country. It is not, however, the expert gardeners on calcareous soil that I have been concerned to try and help, but rather people of limited gardening experience with gardens of modest dimensions.
Chalk and lime soil presents a number of difficulties, not insurmountable it is true, but with which the gardener on other types of soil does not have to contend. Ordinary cultivation problems are different. Of far greater moment, however, is the fact that there are certain plants, trees and shrubs that cannot be grown at all on chalky and limy soil, so fiercely do they resent the presence of lime. Why it should be so is one of the mysteries we have not yet been permitted to solve. It is obviously of vital importance to the gardener on chalk and lime to know these calcifuges, as lime-hating plants are called, so that he can avoid planting them, and one of the main purposes of this book is to indicate these, together with plants that grow well on calcareous soil. Chapters on fruit and vegetables have been included, and it is believed that the information gathered together here and used in conjunction with a gardening encyclopaedia will enable the gardener on calcareous formation to solve many of his problems.
Wherever I have sought information from my friends in the horticultural world, it has been readily forthcoming. My especial thanks for giving generously of their expert knowledge are due to Messrs. Waterer, Sons Crisp, the nurserymen of Twyford; Mr. W. E. Th. Ingwersen, the Alpine specialist of East Grinstead; Messrs. William T. Stearn, Charles H. Rigg, R. E. S. Spender, G. C. Johnson and William Logan, and to all those people with gardens on chalk or lime soils who have kindly sent at my request notes on their gardens and lists of plants that both succeed and fail.
ROBERT JACKSON
CONTENTS
Preface
Chapter
I. C ALCAREOUS S OILS AND THEIR S ITUATION AND T YPES
II. T HE I MPROVEMENT AND M AINTENANCE OF C ALCAREOUS S OILS
III. T HE F LOWER G ARDEN
Ferns
Perennial and Annual Plants recommended for a calcareous soil
Plants not recommended
IV. B ULBOUS P LANTS
Bulbous and Tuberous Plants ( a ) that will grow well on lime, ( b ) intolerant of lime
V. T HE L AWN
VI. R OSES
VII. T REES AND S HRUBS
Conifers
Trees and Shrubs to plant in soil of an extreme calcareous type
Trees and Shrubs that will grow happily in calcareous soil
Trees and Shrubs that refuse to grow or grow poorly on calcareous soil
Shrubs for shady calcareous places
Conifers that flourish on calcareous soil
VIII. T HE R OCK G ARDEN
Alpine plants that do not succeed on calcareous soil
IX. T HE F RUIT G ARDEN
X. T HE V EGETABLE G ARDEN
XI. G ROWING C ALCIFUGES IN A C ALCAREOUS G ARDEN
XII. I N C ALCAREOUS G ARDENS
Lists of plants recommended by:
Captain B. H. MacLaren, Park Superintendent, Brighton, Sussex
Mr. G. C. Johnson (County Horticultural Instructor, East Sussex), Lewes
Mr. A. Mason, Head Gardener, Stanmer Gardens, Stanmer, Sussex
Mr. W. J. Wootton, Wannock Gardens, Polegate, Sussex
Mr. H. Cowdrey, formerly Head Gardener, Oakley Hall, Basingstoke, Hants.
The Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, Wilton House, Salisbury, Wilts.
Mr. Frederick Wakerley (Agricultural Organizer to the Kesteven Agricultural Committee), Lincolnshire
Mr. R. E. S. Spender, Dorsetshire
Mr. Albert Denny, Head Gardener to Colonel Palmer, Fairford Park, Glos.
Miss Barbara Nash, Nash Hill Nurseries, Whiteleaf, Princes Risborough, Bucks.
Lord Desborough, Taplow Court, Taplow, Bucks.
Mr. F. Ironside, Head Gardener, Scampston Hall, Malton, Yorks.
Lady Grey, Howick, Northumberland
ILLUSTRATIONS
E RYNGIUM A METHYSTINUM
C YCLAMEN N EAPOLITANUM
G ENISTA A ETNENSIS
A BELIA GRANDIFLORA
A RBUTUS U NEDO
E SCALLONIA E DINENSIS
GARDENING ON CHALK
AND LIME SOIL
CHAPTER I
CALCAREOUS SOILS THEIR SITUATION AND TYPES
W HEN a man talks to me about the exhibition quality of the Roses he can grow, of the superb colour of his herbaceous border, or if he is that most prejudiced of all persons, the specialist, about the extraordinary success he has had in growing, let us say, Armer