I wish I could invite Sheila Pim for tea. Her slender book, “Bringing The Garden Indoors” was published in England in 1949. She was a garden columnist and her writing illustrated her expertise.
Her country home must not have been a “Downton Abby”. However, this quote gives an inkling of her household; “I threw out the dead flowers, Ma’am, says a housemaid, alluding to a work of art that has taken up half one’s morning.”
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| Thanks to Heritage, The British Review |
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| Thanks to Heritage-The British Review |
Between our sips of tea I would ask her about rooting begonia slips, how she keeps geraniums over and is she sad when the dahlias are finished?
She wouldn’t know about black walnuts. She had English walnuts. Last week I picked up black walnuts in the hull and spread them on the gravel where the tractors would run over them. It has been years since our children gathered them, the tannin staining their hands and gloves. (Wear rubber gloves when picking them up still in the hulls).
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| Black walnuts and hickory nuts cuing |
Hickory nuts are as close as my side yard. I picked up some of them, but shelling them is horrific. Sheila would know how to do that. I wonder, do they have hickory trees in England?
But she knew how to store apples and pears.
She wrote,”We have tomatoes in the airing cupboard, walnuts drying in the cool oven, bulbs in the cellar, apples spread out on trestles in the garage and woodshed and pears in drawers, on window sills, on bookshelves--because you have to keep an eye on pears.”
From her I learned that apples need to be spread out for a week or two because at first picking they give off ethylene gas and should have air space around them. Later they can be piled in boxes or shelves. She said ripening fruit should not be kept airtight. Also, tomatoes keep quite well by pulling up the plants and hanging them by the stalks.
Can you imagine what her sheds and house must have been like?
I wish I had some apples to pick and spread out.
Have you ever wished you could have a conversation with someone from a different time and place? I wish Sheila Pim, a garden columnist000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000.……………………………................
Have you ever wanted to have a conversation with someone you have never met?
I wish I could invite Sheila Pim for tea. Her slender book, “Bringing The Garden Indoors” was published in England in 1949. She was a garden columnist and her writing illustrated her expertise.
Her country home must not have been a “Downton Abby”. However, this quote gives an inkling of her household; “I threw out the dead flowers, Ma’am, says a housemaid, alluding to a work of art that has taken up half one’s morning.”
One wonders how many men helped in her garden and orchard.
But Sheila was no slacker, she could make jelly from currants, gooseberries, apples or what-have you.
Between our sips of tea I would ask her about rooting begonia slips, how she keeps geraniums over and is she sad when the dahlias are finished?
She wouldn’t know about black walnuts. She had English walnuts. Last week I picked up black walnuts in the hull and spread them on the gravel where the tractors would run over them. It has been years since our children gathered them, the tannin staining their hands and gloves. (Wear rubber gloves when picking them up still in the hulls).
Camden, Ohio used to have a black walnut festival where you could buy fresh kernels. I think you can buy the kernels in the stores later in the season.
Hickory nuts are as close as my side yard. I picked up some of them, but shelling them is horrific. Sheila would know how to do that. I wonder, do they have hickory trees in England?
But she knew how to store apples and pears.
She wrote,”We have tomatoes in the airing cupboard, walnuts drying in the cool oven, bulbs in the cellar, apples spread out on trestles in the garage and woodshed and pears in drawers, on window sills, on bookshelves--because you have to keep an eye on pears.”
From her I learned that apples need to be spread out for a week or two because at first picking they give off ethylene gas and should have air space around them. Later they can be piled in boxes or shelves. She said ripening fruit should not be kept airtight. Also, tomatoes keep quite well by pulling up the plants and hanging them by the stalks.
Can you imagine what her sheds and house must have been like?
I wish I had some apples to pick and spread out.
Have you ever wished you could have a conversation with someone from a different time and place? I wish Sheila Pim, a garden columnist000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000.……………………………................
Have you ever wanted to have a conversation with someone you have never met?
I wish I could invite Sheila Pim for tea. Her slender book, “Bringing The Garden Indoors” was published in England in 1949. She was a garden columnist and her writing illustrated her expertise.
Her country home must not have been a “Downton Abby”. However, this quote gives an inkling of her household; “I threw out the dead flowers, Ma’am, says a housemaid, alluding to a work of art that has taken up half one’s morning.”
One wonders how many men helped in her garden and orchard.
But Sheila was no slacker, she could make jelly from currants, gooseberries, apples or what-have you.
Between our sips of tea I would ask her about rooting begonia slips, how she keeps geraniums over and is she sad when the dahlias are finished?
She wouldn’t know about black walnuts. She had English walnuts. Last week I picked up black walnuts in the hull and spread them on the gravel where the tractors would run over them. It has been years since our children gathered them, the tannin staining their hands and gloves. (Wear rubber gloves when picking them up still in the hulls).
Camden, Ohio used to have a black walnut festival where you could buy fresh kernels. I think you can buy the kernels in the stores later in the season.
Hickory nuts are as close as my side yard. I picked up some of them, but shelling them is horrific. Sheila would know how to do that. I wonder, do they have hickory trees in England?
But she knew how to store apples and pears.
She wrote,”We have tomatoes in the airing cupboard, walnuts drying in the cool oven, bulbs in the cellar, apples spread out on trestles in the garage and woodshed and pears in drawers, on window sills, on bookshelves--because you have to keep an eye on pears.”
From her I learned that apples need to be spread out for a week or two because at first picking they give off ethylene gas and should have air space around them. Later they can be piled in boxes or shelves. She said ripening fruit should not be kept airtight. Also, tomatoes keep quite well by pulling up the plants and hanging them by the stalks.
Can you imagine what her sheds and house must have been like?
I wish I had some apples to pick and spread out.
Have you ever wished you could have a conversation with someone from a different time and place? I wish Sheila Pim, a garden columnist000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000.……………………………................
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