In The Garden

Winter is a chance to step back from everyday tasks and take the long view when it comes to planning your garden’s future

- Jojo Tulloh

Gardening can make you short sighted. Heads down, knees bent and bottoms up, we spend a lot of time crouched low to the ground observing everything close up. Now when the trees are bare straighten your aching back, fix your eyes on the far horizon and see what you can learn from the world around you. As growers we exist in a long line stretching right back to the first forager-farmers clearing a little space in the woods, through the great 16th and 17th-century herbalists and plantsmen, and on to the 19th-century plant hunters and market gardeners. We should all cultivate some awareness of our vegetable-growing past. See what you can find out about the heritage of your own local area and seek out old cultivars or crops that may be new to you but will thrive in your particular climatic conditions.