11 October 2009

Deb and I spent a few days last week relaxing in Guildford, north-east of Perth. Deb had planned the getaway to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary and after hiving out the kids to friends and family we indulged ourselves with a single agenda - relaxing. No computers, no squabbling children, no phones - just peace and quiet and a well-earned rest.

One of the reasons we love returning to Guildford is for its heritage buildings and being able to fossick through their second-hand and antique stores. In one such shop I came across a collection of gardening books that were all ridiculously priced low.

For instance, I picked up W.E Shewell-Cooper's The A. B. C. of Gardening for $1 - in hardcover and in excellent condition. The man was a brilliant organic horticulturalist who was the pioneer of the no-dig garden. His ABC series covered everything from fruit, flowers, vegetables and even cloche gardening.

While many of the English climactic nuances have little relevance here there is still a depth of knowledge that suggests many aspects of gardening are transferable no matter where in the world you live. A few days away only permitted me enough time to read the first few chapters but I'm keen to get into this little book even more.

The second book, costing a mere $3, was Jane Taylor's Climbing Plants, one of the Kew Gardening Guides series. It's an illustrated hardcover published in 1992 with a wealth of information on anything to do with creepers and climbing plants. Many of the climbers that she discusses are available here in Australia and while the growing conditions are vastly different there is a ton of information that can be derived from this gem. The impetus for buying this one is the struggle that I've had growing a few climbers in locations where they keep dying. Hopefully this book will have some remedy for their survival.

The final book was Lance Hattatt's, The Gardening Year. It's a beautiful illustrated hardcover that was published in 1997. This was the most expensive of the three - a humble $4 - but certainly aims to be one that I look forward to reading through soon. Of course, the English "Gardening Year" is the opposite of ours but I figured that if I transposed January for July I should be able to source some helpful tips and ideas.

It was quite a revelation to me to buy older books instead of the current, faddy garden books that line bookstore windows. In fact, I put one back on the shelf at Dymocks that was retailing for $45 knowing that I would be able to pick it up for $8 when it came through the book club at work - I know, I'm a scrooge. But the real interest for choosing some of these older books was to learn about their authors, gardeners who I had never heard of but had obviously trodden the garden path once or twice before me.

All in all, I left that store with eight dollars less in my pocket but a wealth of information in my hands.