The Book of Garden Management

This anonymous work (the name of H. P. D., the author of the preface, is not known) was probably compiled by Samuel Orchart Beeton (1831–77), the publishing entrepreneur who made his wife's Book of Household Management one of the best-selling titles of the century. Published in 1871, it is a complete guide to gardening for the enthusiastic middle-class amateur, with instructions on everything from choosing the site to garden design, plants and cultivation, 'fountains, fish-ponds, and ornamental waters' to the use of colour, interspersed with a detailed calendar of tasks to be carried out each month. It is illustrated with line engravings and twelve plates (which can be viewed in colour online at http:www.cambridge.org/9781108049399), providing both practical information and a fascinating insight into the plants available to the Victorian gardener, the techniques for cultivating flowers, fruit and vegetables, and the then current trends in design and display.

Preface; 1. History and literature of gardening; 2. Formation of natural soils; 3. On the choice of a garden-site; 4. Mechanical preparation of soils; 5. Of gardening styles and plans; 6. On laying-out gardens; 7. Fences, walls, and shelters; 8. Fountains, fish-ponds, and ornamental waters; 9. Roads, walks, and bridges; 10. Principles of vegetation; 11. Pests of the garden; 12. Levelling and laying-out gardens; 13. Furnishing the garden; 14. Monthly calendar for January; 15. On planting, pruning, and training fruit-trees; 16. Monthly calendar for February; 17. Glazed horticultural buildings; 18. Monthly calendar for March; 19. Orchard-houses; 20. Monthly calendar for April; 21. Autumnal flowering-plants; 22. Monthly calendar for May; 23. Old gardens and their renewal; 24. Monthly calendar for June; 25. Monthly calendar for July; 26. Flower and fruit cultivation under glass; 27. On gathering and storing fruit; 28. Monthly calendar for August; 29. On harvesting soils and manures; 30. The florist-flower garden; 31. Monthly calendar for September; 32. The rose garden; 33. Monthly calendar for October; 34. Standard, climbing, and potted roses; 35. Harmonizing colours in furnishing flower-beds; 36. Monthly calendar for November; 37. Monthly calendar for December; Index.

This anonymous work was probably compiled by the publishing entrepreneur Samuel Orchart Beeton (1831-77). Published in 1871, it provides a fascinating insight into the plants available to the Victorian gardener, the techniques for cultivating flowers, fruit and vegetables, and the then current trends in design and display.