“There are a number of ways of laying out a garden. The best is by taking on a gardener.” So opens a delightful book on gardens by the Czech writer Karel Čapek. Published in Prague in 1929 with illustrations by his brother Josef, it was first translated into English in 1931.
Normally gardening books from that era are, let’s be honest, worthy but dull, good for a bit of period feel, quaint photos or funny adverts but otherwise not much use and cratinly not widely read any more. The Gardener’s Year is different. It is both timely and timeless and worth reading every word, and smiling at every drawing.
I’ve written about many weird and wonderful inventions on here but I think this apparently madcap contraption might take some beating! It all started when I stumbled across an unusual engraving in the Wellcome Collection. There was no background information, no context, and very little referencing other than the date of publication, 1755.
The Garden History Blog 
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