Ordinary domestic and allotment gardeners in the 1940’s and 50’s grew and attempted grow a surprising variety of produce for their homes and families. Looking through Professor Richard Sudell’s book, ‘Practical gardening and food production in pictures’ it’s actually quite amazing what people were growing; this once again trumps the idea that people in the UK had limited palate and negligible interest in good, decent, fresh food. Without leaping once again onto my hobby-horse, what customers got in cafés and restaurants, and what snobbish modern food writers judge British food of the past by, is very different from what most people had on their plates at home – or in schools, judging by the recipes and menus from my 1950’s school kitchen cookery book…
Professor Sudell has a couple of facing pages in his book, one ‘Varieties of Nuts’, and the other ‘Culture of Figs’.
Hazel or cobnut and filbert. In this country, Kent is the home of the nut; but where the wild hazel grows is a sure guide to the suitability of local soil. If hazels grow near your home you can plant nuts with a good chance of success.
This shows that gardeners weren’t just people who stayed at home in their own little patch, they went out and were interested in the countryside and nature around them. There follows guidance on where to plant, how to look after, how to maintain, and how to look after the crop once it is there in abundance – kept dried and stored in a heap, but this should be turned constantly.
The sweet or Spanish chestnut thrives in a light gravelly loam in full sun. Though produced in large quantities, the nuts in this country are rather small. Plantations of chestnuts are chiefly used for the production of poles; the shoots from the base develop into fine straight stakes, the wood is hard and does not rot quickly.
This book is full of such extra information – who knew there were plantations of chestnuts, less still that they were used industrially for their wood not their fruit! The last nut in this section is the walnut, which Prfessor Sudell describes as a good tree for a large garden. He suggests that at the time of writing, the trees were not very hardy, nor produced good-sized nuts… research was being undertaken he says.
The walnut is a good tree; it has some properties repellent to flies, and anyone sitting under a walnut will not be bothered by midges – a great considerations on summer evenings.
So if you have problems with summer insects – grow a walnut tree… however they are slow-growing so you might have to wait a while to enjoy the nuts!
Culture of figs; figs are sometimes called the lazy man’s fruit. In the southern counties they thrive well, especially if given the protection of a wall.
Having described them as a lazy man’s fruit, it doesn’t actually seem as if Professor Sudell thinks they are; they need an ample quantity of lime, they need plenty of water, the roots need to be pruned – and if you train your figs as a fan they tree itself will need pruning. It’s interesting to find that his variety recommendations are still what is favoured by gardening experts, especially Brown Turkey.
Yes, I know my featured image is of horse chestnuts, I don’t have any images of the sweet variety!
Lois Elsden 