EPSODE 514 THE KITCHEN GARDEN, FRUIT GARDEN, FLOWER GARDEN circa 1900

NOTE: GARDENING TIME IS HERE ….DREAM TIME IN JANUARY … ATTACHED IS A DESCRIPTION
OF THE 3 KINDS OF PLANTINGS FOUND WITHIN WALLED GARDENS. circa 1900.    SORRY, I CANNOT FIND
MY SOURCE.




EPISODE 514   THE KITCHEN GARDEN, FRUIT GARDEN, FLOWER GARDEN,  CIRCA 1900 (Great World exhibition of 1851, Eywood Courtgarden circa 1900)


alan skeoch
january 16, 2025



AD Classics: The Crystal Palace / Joseph Paxton | ArchDaily

Gardening BEcame enormously popular in the 19th century.  All kinds of 
gardening from the grand sweep of landscaping to the presence of
walled gardens.  In 1851, Queen Victoria gave gardening a major boost
with a world’s fair that featured an enormous glassed greenhouse. Large and
small copies of this glass house started to appear in country house
“kitchen” gardens.

I have already shown you the ruins of the main glass house at Eywood Court
and also the still functioning fruit garden attributed to our grandfather Edward
Freeman, head gardener.

In the course of research I found an excellent article on Kitchen gardens 
which is quoted below  Unfortunately I lost the source.    I have Repeated some
photos of the Eywood Court walled garden which still exists.




Edward Freeman’s gardeners circa 1900 using a pin hole camera.  This includes
the ‘gardeners boy’ just entering the 15 yr apprenticeship.  Head Gardener, Edward
Freeman is the man with the watch fob.


The surviving glass house at the Eywood Estate circa 1965.  Grandson of Edward Freeman, Eric Skeoch,
is admiring the work of his grandfather.

Ruin of the flower garden glass house, circa 1960.

Botanical science and gardening came together in the 18th century.  English scientists and other plant collectors
scoured the world for new plants and brought them to England.  Some say they numbered 5,000 different plants.
Head gardeners in the Country Estates were pressed to provide new plants by their owners.  Head gardeners did
not need that  push as they were naturally interested in plantings that were different…novel.  To do so they needed
the micro-climate that could be created by high brick walls that would conserve heat.  Then came glass houses…greenhouses.

Many of these new plants were edible.  Peaches, nectarines, oranges, lemons, pineapples needed heat to
flourish so glass greenhouses were constructed.   Features   1) the search for new plants  2) walled gardens  

These high brick walls also discouraged plant thefts.  Have you ever stollen apples from an orchard?

HEAD GARDENERS

The growth of gardening in the 19th century encouraged the development of a special class of
gardeners….called head gardeners who became an integral part of self-sufficiency and love
of the exotic plants on the great estates.  Head gardeners were not well paid according to most
sources but research done by the Downton Abbey film said that head gardeners earned around what would amount
to $1,000 per month.

Our grandfather was head gardener at Eywood Court for several years around 1900.
Perhaps 6 to 7 years.  Not long but enough time to leave his marks on plant tags in the Wood Court 
glass houses.  spelling is correct…Eywoood not Haywood.

King's New Kitchen Garden, Hampton Court : Todd Longstaffe-Gowan


HAMPTON COURT KITCHEN GARDEN

Within the walled gardens were three kinds of gardens.  


1)  the Kitchen Garden would  provide vegetables for the estate cook.

      2)  The Fruit Garden would provide exotic varieties of fruit normally impossible in the English climate

      3))  The Flower Garden grew plans that would enhance the beauty of the estate.

Gardening

 
Gardening (Brit. /ˈɡɑːdnɪŋ/, /ˈɡɑːdn̩ɪŋ/; U.S. /ˈɡɑrd(ə)nɪŋ/), as stated in the Oxford English Dictionary, is the action or practice of cultivating or laying out a garden (horticulture). Although gardening had been practiced before, it rejoiced in a rising popularity in eighteenth-century Europe with a special interest in it arising in Britain.


In his publication The Husbandman and Tradesman’s Gardening Calendar from 1791 author John Fallowfield gives a plethora of instructions on how to find the best location for a garden, which soil to pick and how to trench it in order to gain the most profit from it (cf. 7f.). Furthermore, he includes precise measurements regarding the walls of the ideal garden or the walks around it (cf. The Husbandman 8). 

The change from gardening being seen as a kind of art to being viewed as a science is also mentioned by George William Johnson in his article On the progress of gardening in England during the 18th century. He states that by adopting the classificatory system of Carl Linnaeus into his book The Gardener’s Dictionary author Philip Miller crossed the boundary between the practice of gardening and the science of botany (cf. 151). Thus, combining the two, gardening was enriched by the scientific systems and discoveries of botany and became a science itself (cf. ibid).

 “during this [c]entury above 5,000 new [exotic species] were introduced” 

. The books on gardening also mention different techniques used in gardening as for example cultivating on hot-beds, in hot-houses or in green-houses.

 

 

Types of Gardening


Kitchen gardening


Kitchen gardening represented a great part of the practice of gardening itself. As already mentioned, there was a great variety of vegetables and herbs which were discovered and cultivated throughout the eighteenth century. In The Husbandman and Tradesman’s Gardening Calendar Fallowfield mentions for instance peas, beans or lettuce, of which the seeds should be sown in February (cf. 12). Moreover, he includes cauliflower (cf. ibid 12), carrots and chives (cf. ibid 14) amongst many others. John Abercrombie even gives advice on how to grow melons (cf. Every Man 1ff.) which shows that the British gardeners did also engage in cultivating more exotic plants in their kitchen garden.
As well as of a general garden, the formation of a kitchen garden was not perceived as something that could be performed coincidentally. According to John Fallowfield “the width of beds in kitchen [g]ardens, ought to be four feet; the vacancy, or alley between them, one foot” (The Husbandman 9). It becomes apparent that an important condition for successful kitchen gardening was detected in leaving enough space for the plants to grow (cf. ibid) and being very careful and aware of all the necessary details as for example the weather, temperatures and seasons. In addition Fallowfield considered the most important practices of kitchen gardening “good digging, and manuring the foil” (The Husbandman 9).

 

 

Fruit Gardening

 

The arrangement of a fruit garden and the activity of maintaining it can be perceived as being symptomatic for the situation in eighteenth-century England. As John Fallowfield mentions in his book, “all our [the English people’s] fruit-trees are principally natives of a warmer climate” (The Husbandman 8) which draws a connection to the culture of travelling that developed and increased throughout the century. It can be assumed that travellers did not only bring material commodities for instance in form of clothing or jewellery but also foreign fruits or seeds from their journeys. In this regard, the fruits can be considered as having been of a special and exotic character which might have had the effect that the possession of a fruit garden was also a sign of a certain wealth, depending on the kind of fruits inhabiting it.
An important part of the domain of fruit gardening was the plantation of trees which were mostly advised to be planted against walls, espaliers or orchards (cf. The Husbandman 8f.). It was perceived as very influential where the trees were located, as the fruit of different kinds of trees would grow better on different sides of the tree (cf. ibid 9). Some of the most mentioned fruits cropped from trees were apples, pears and apricots as well as cherries and plums (cf. ibid 11,13). Furthermore, winegrowing (cf. Everyman 21) and the cultivation of strawberries (cf. The Husbandman 16) can be perceived as having been favoured in the eighteenth century. Pineapples (cf. The Complete Kitchen Gardener 407), oranges and lemons (cf. The Lady’s Recreation 111) serve as examples for the English gardener’s interest in more exotic fruits as well as their ambition to conquer new realms.

 

Figure 3 A botanical drawing of a pineapple from the 18th
century. It was one of the favoured exotic fruits in England.

 

 

 

Flower Gardening

 

the flower garden represented a realm of pleasure rather than a place for growing plants that were useful for a household. However, it becomes apparent in the number of advisory books that flower-beds and shrubbery still required intense, consistent and attentive care in order to achieve good results. The Husbandman and Tradesman’s Gardening Calendar offers several paragraphs focusing exclusively on the cultivation of exotic plants and flowers which shows that These, as well as the already mentioned fruits, were commodities brought into the country by the numerous travellers of the century. Some of the plants which can be assumed to have been typically cultivated, as they are mentioned frequently, are hyacinths and tulips (cf. The Husbandman 27) as well as auriculas (cf. ibid 17). Furthermore, much of the flower gardening was practiced by using hot-beds and greenhouses. For instance, Philip Miller suggests planting annual flowers as well as tuberoses on hot-beds (cf. Gardener’s Calendar 33) while coffee trees, jasmine and gladioli should be kept in a greenhouse or stove (cf. ibid. 17f.).

 



EPISODE 515 WINTER STORM JANUARY 17,2022

EPISODE 515   WINTER STORM JANUARY 17, 2022


alan skeoch
Jan. 17,2022

We woke up this morning to find 50 to 60 cm of snow blocking front and back doors.
Disaster on highways…closure  of Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway.  Trucks,
busses, cars in pile ups.  Health care workers…grocery store clerks…all bravely trying
to get to work.  Admirable people.  For some it was tough.

Two persons loved it though…Marjorie and Woody (woody is a person)

I am sure everyone in the Toronto area had similar experiences some of which must have
been unpleasant.   But I bet none of you had butterflies!!

alan

EPISODE 513 DID LANDSCAPE ARTISTS OF 17TH CENTURY PUT IDEAS INTO CAPABILITY BROWN’S HEAD?

EPISODE 513    DID LANDSCAPE ARTISTS OF 17TH CENTURY PUT IDEAS INTO CAPABILITY BROWN’S HEAD?


alan skeoch
Jan. 2022

Where did Capability Brown get his landscaping ideas from?   Many places I suppose.
One source may be the landscape paintings of 17th century artists like Poussin.
In other words some of his ides may have not come directly from nature but rather from landscape paintings that hung in the great country houses
Capability visited.  Just a thought.  Poussin is mentioned as influencing head gardeners in the
 ph.d. thesis of Ms. Greener, University of  Exeter, England.  

The painting below was done by the 17th century  artist Poussin.  When this painting is put side by  side
with an artists impression of Chatsworth landscape as changed by Capability Brown, I was struck by the similarities. 



File:Poussin, Nicolas - Landscape with Diogenes - c. 1647.jpg - Wikimedia  Commons


LANDSCAPE WITH DIOGENES, 1647  by Poussin
(Diogenes was a Greek philosopher known for his brutal honesty)


Lancelot Brown

CHATSWORTH LANDSCAPE, 17 TH CENTURY (Artistic impression)



What do you think of that idea, Capability?
“I would say, Alan, that it has ‘capabilities?

ALAN


EPISODE 511 GHOST SHIP AND WINTER ICE (RIDGETOWN)

EPISODE 511   THE RIDGETOWN AND WINTER ICE


alan skeoch
jan. 2022


Fire and Ice 

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

“Remember that poem Marjorie?”
“Yes, today seems like the world will end in ice”
“Metaphor for hate…lots of that around below our border”

“Good day for ghost ships on Lake Ontario.”
“Fog snd dark sky”
“Everything in black snd grey.”
“And white and slippery”





“I will give you five bucks if you play hop scotch out to the end of those slabs.”
“Madness surfacing in a twisted mind.”



“Look, a ghost ship coming out of the fog.”



“I am going to slip and slide my way out on the slabs to get a good picture.”
“You Fathead.”
“Need s story for today’s episode.”
“What dimwit..no one reads your stories.”
“They must.”
“Why?”
“Nothing else to do.”


“Holy smoke….the ghost ship is getting close.



“It’s turning.”
“Heading for you Alan…get off those rocks and lets get out of here.”


“I slipped…ghost ship is getting closer.”
“Get up, Alan…!!”
“Can’t my foot is caught…doomed”


“Ghost ship is turning.”
“I can read the name.”
“It’s the Ridgetown.”
“Couldn’t be the Ridgetown.”
“Why not?”
“The Ridgetown was scrapped 7o  or 80 years ago…
filled with cement and boulders…rest on the bottom of
Lake Ontario now.”

“That’s right but today it has come back to life.”






EPISODE 507 CAPABILITY BROWN (1715 – 1783)


note:  This was a difficult Episode…an important episode…so why did I use

first person dialogue?  Because it seemed the most efficient way to cover

a difficult subject.  If, at the end, you are intrigued by Capability Brown then
I have succeeded.



EPISODE 507   CAPABLITY BROWN


alan skeoch
Jan. 7 2022

PRELUDE TO EPISODE 519: A MYSTERIOUS GRAPH … LOOKS LIKE INCIDENCE OF PLAGUE OR PANDEMIC

PRELUDE TO  EPISODE  510:   CAPABILITY BROWN…triggers a new disease called G———G

JUST in case you need some relief from all the frightening media mentions

of the pandemic…” growing and growing”…scaring the pants of people…

Just in case you need relief, I came across this graph which
should provide relief for shattered nerves.

What is it?

Someone did  a search for the word GARDENING as mentioned in 18th century textbooks.
In 1700 the word is hardly mentioned.  By 1800 the word is heading into the stratosphere.
Was Capability Brown responsible for the new disease called GARDENING?


     Figure 1 Appearance of the term gardening in British texts during the 18th Century

 

Fwd: EPISODE 500 THE PERIL OF SELF-IDOLATRY


NOTE:  I just had to respond to Marjorie’s news clippings sent to the Castlefield Institute in Toronto

image.png

image.pngimage.png


EPISODE  500:  THE PERIL OF SELF-IDOLATRY


SMASH A WINE BOTTLE — GOOD SPEAKERS PROP

(A comment re: newspaper articles sent by Marjorie)

Well,  I will now be disliked…too many articles and pics about me.  Quite a

shock to see them today..  Marjorie is hard to control. 

Two years ago….Feb. 29,2020, I was about to make  speech on the
terrible condition of the Great Lakes at the Stonehooker Brewery
in Port Credit.  A fancy affair.  $100 a plate fund raiser.  Marjorie wanted
to introduce me.   She became the speaker…took 21 minutes
in the introduction, the feature of which was when she dropped an empty 
wine bottle from lectern to cement floor.  It exploded with shards of
glass going all over.  She did not even pause.  Kept on speaking while
Shaymus was gathering up glass fragments at her feet.

Of course she became the feature of the evening.  I shortened my
speech from 40 minutes to 10 minutes much to the relief of
all since I did not have an empty wine bottle to smash for attention.

The wine bottle had a label quoting Albert Einstein saying “an open
mind means a person is capable of listening to new ideas.” (My words, Einstein’s idea)

Actual Einstein words “The mind that is open to new ideas will never return
to the same size”

I had the good sense to shut up.  

alan

ps.  Please do not think I sent those newspaper articles as an
act of self-idolatry.

pps. Start reading wine bottle labels.  


EPISODE 509 IRELAND — FACES OF PEOPLE I MET IN 1960 AND 1965 — WARM THE SOUL

EPISODE 509    IRELAND — FACES OF PEOPLE THAT WARM THE SOUL  1960 AND 1965

Kevin Behan and his daughters…They made a stronger like me welcome…and directed me to go see THE QUIET MAN which was
playing continuously at a Dublin Movie house.   Could Ireland be such a happy place?  For me in 1960 when I was 21 years old that
is what Ireland became.  A happy place.   Named one of our sons after Kevin.



alan skeoch
Jan. 9, 2022

So here we are in Ireland once again.  A random collection of pictures I took in 1960 snd 1965.   Professor Aidan Coffey
has shown so much interest in my Irish experience that I put together this random collection for him.  Then when I looked
at them I concluded that the readers of my blog might be warned up by these pictures of the past.

For those who have never seen my stories of Ireland in 1960 I suggest you search through my blog   alan skeoch.ca

In 1960 I was sent to Bunmahon by a Canadian mining company to see if the ancient copper mines of
county Waterford merit reopening.  Our survey raised the hopes of many local Irish people only to be dashed
when it was included that there was too much faulting and too little prospect of profit.  We did, however, have
a wonderful summer of 1960….not just me, all of us involved including those who met regularly at Kirwin’s
pub and the Kennedy family of Bunmahon who did not attend the pub but made our life enjoyable.

I spent a big slice of my earnings on 35mm film.  Glad I did so.   Now converted by a lab into digital form

pictures I found…






.



This is our son Andrew on one of our many tours of Ireland…picture taken inland from Cliffs of Moher.   When we were robbed in Canada
we decided to put the insurance money, around $6,000 into a tour with both boys…Kevin and Andrew.  Where?  Ireland of course.
Once we landed we looked for a pub with Guiness on draft.  Marjorie said “well I hope this is not going to be a habit on our trip”
I still remember how the boys looked at me after she spoke.





Picture taken on our last visit to ireland around 2005 when daughter in law and granddaughters took us there…
all other pics are from 1960 or 1965



Have several pics of this fellow…and his horse…not all pictures have been found


This is Kevin Behan with his daughters.  He looked after me in Dublin for 13 days and made such an impact that we named
our first son after him….Kevin Angus Skeoch

Ruin on road between Bunmahon and Tramore…where the panel van rented from Mrs. Kennedy stopped dead…had to cramk and crank
to get it going.  







Marjorie snd curator of the Irish Folk Museum


Bunmahon farmer gathering sea weed for fertilizer or kelp for market if sun a market existed.


Cute little lady that ran this dry goods store…perhaps in Dungarvin but not sure


Alan Skeoch with Turam geophysical console searching for magnetic sources underground.
In distance is man with the other vertical copper coil.  The farmer who owned this wheat field
demanded compensation and rightly so but I am not sure how damages were covered.







These boys were playing the haunting music titled Cliffs of Moher…or so i remember



This crew was clearing Gorse from roadside…a few years later this was done mechanically with a tractor and cutter bar.  Not nearly
as pretty.












Now here is an interestng fellow…reading his thoughts not too difficult






When the Tinker set up camp near Bunhamon many people kept a close eye on their portable possessions.


Pictures from Irish folk museum east of County Waterford.  We are planning to build a cart like this
for movie prop.



Sometimes our job was rather nasty…and dangerous should a boar or sow not like our trespassing their homes.

EPISODE 509 FOUR IRISH CHILDREN AND THEIR DONKEY, CIRCA 1960

EPISODE 509    FOUR IRISH CHILDREN AND THEIR DONKEY, CIRCA 1960


alan skeoch
Jan. 9, 2022


I can’t believe I took this picture but seems I did as there are several supporting pictures.  So very Irish.

So very innocent and charming    Our geophysical work in the County Waterford, Ireland, in 1960 attracted a lot of
attention from locals and even the Waterford newspaper did a big speed on the front page which I have
tried to get but have failed.  This picture is a lot nicer anyway.

alan

EPISODE 508 SAND SHARK CATCHING WITH BARE HANDS VOLUME 2 — JACK catches a sand shark



EPISODE 508   SAND SHARK CATCHING USING BARE HANDS VOLUME 2 — JACK



OUR grandson, Jack, is always interesting and his friendship with a sand shark on a North
Carolina beach a week ago confirms that point.  The real story is that he and his dad happened
upon an American fisherman struggling to land a sand shark.  Jack offered to help.

“Can I give you a hand?”
“Sure.”

Whereupon Jack jumped into the shallow surf and grabbed the shark by the tail startling
both the fishermen and Jack’s dad, Andrew Skeoch , were startled.

“What the hell are you doing?”  (chorus of two)
“Catching him.”
“I did not mean that…”
“”Got him…not slimy,,,skin is like leather…easy to hold.”
“Drag him ashore while I take pictures but be carful…he’s twisting,
trying to get you.”
“Don’t worry Dad.
‘“Let’s get the hook out of his mouth.”

Whereupon the fisherman braced the shark and both he and Jack removed the hook.
That part is shown in the video below.

“Sand sharks are invisible in the water…their skin is the same colour as the sand…a light
gray.  Swimmers may not even know a sand shark is around.”

The shallows of this North Carolina beach had other marine life…lots of partly grown 
turtles…leatherbacks maybe…

There was one group missing.   People.  The outer banks of Cape Hatteras were 
 empty.  Lucky for the family….no danger of Covid catching them triple dosed with
vaccines anyway.

Sand sharks rarely attack humans…usually when they both have caught the same fish.
Their mouths are not big enough …of the 77 recorded attacks, only one was fatal.
That fact was little comfort to Jack’s mother, Julie.

Make sure you PLAY THE VIDEO at the bottom of this Episode.


alan skeoch
Jan. 9, 2022