In which Owen recollects gardening with his mother and their neighbour Mrs Hubby...
Hello Ole Partners,
My gardening tips for November…
Gather up and bin the fallen leaves of roses affected by blackspot, so they don't carry the disease over to next year
Now is the time to plant bare-root hedging, roses, trees and shrubs, before the weather turns really cold
Lift dahlia tubers after the first frost, clean them off and store in dry compost in a cool, frost-proof place
Make sure your bird feeders are cleaned regularly and always full
Send off for seed catalogues and start planning what to grow next year
I’m not so mobile these days so recently Annette arranged for me to see, here in my flat at Robert Kett Court, a wonderful video documentary of her garden her friend Niki made. I did enjoy that; Annette has transplanted lots of plants from our old home in Bunwell which gave us lots to reminisce about. The video was the next best thing to visiting her house – and saved me the expense of the wheelchair taxi!
In the video Annette is using a pair of garden shears that belonged to my mother. Seeing them brought back so many memories and made me think of the story I will soon tell you. My mother Florence bought the shears with a small legacy she received, after her mother died in 1935, so that she could regularly clip the grass around the family graves. My father Elijah cycled to Diss and bought them for her. They are fine Wilkinson Sword blades with wooden handles. Eventually they came to me and I gave them to Annette some time ago. She’s recently had them restored and sharpened by her friend Sarah, with some help from The Shed in Wymondham. She tells me she continues to use my old potato lifting fork as well. It is wonderful to think these old implements are still going strong after so many years – a bit like me!
I well remember as a child going with mum to Bunwell churchyard to tend the graves. Florence also used the shears in our own garden and in that of her near neighbour Mrs Hubby Howlett (always known as Mrs Hubby). After Mrs Hubby’s husband died mum and I visited weekly, usually on a Sunday afternoon or evening, to help her tend her very large garden and have a mardle in the kitchen over a cup of tea.
Mrs Hubby worked as a charlady at Bob Smith's farmhouse on the corner of Brick Kiln Lane and Bunwell Hill road. She was well known for the very large and healthy vegetables she grew. She used to take any spare veg along for the Smith family. The tradition was that Mrs Smith would cook a meal and Mrs Hubby would stay to eat with the family after finishing the cleaning. I can remember as clear as day Bob Smith telling the story of the time she arrived at the farm with an absolutely enormous cabbage. Mrs Smith cooked it for lunch which, as usual, Mrs Hubby joined the family to eat.
"I don't know how you manage to grow such tasty giant vegetables, I truly don’t. Which farmer do you go to for your manure?" asked Bob.
"Which farmer?" Mrs Hubby replied. "I don't go to no farmer for manure, I make my own."
There were no takers for second helpings.
Until next time moined ‘ow yer go.
Owen
First published in Wymondham Magazine, November 2021
The video of Annette's garden documentary by Niki Senior of Living Naturally, Loving Life can be found here:
Wonderful tales ,I thoroughly enjoyed reading all of them. Takes you back to a simpler time.I now live in the USA but was born and raised on a farm in Norfolk so brought back memories.