William Nicholson 1920 © Tate 2004

GARDEN FOOTWEAR

In 1920 William Nicholson was commissioned to paint a portrait of the gardener Gertrude Jekyll. She didn’t relish the prospect, and only agreed after a good show of resistance as 'I think ugly people had better not be painted’. While he waited for Jekyll, Nicholson occupied himself making this study of her gardening boots. He perhaps had in mind Van Gogh’s paintings of boots and other personal objects which stand in for a person. In many ways it sums up her character better than the final portrait. Jekyll’s boots are now in Godalming Museum, along with other Jekyll memorabilia.

What kind of footwear do you wear when gardening? I must confess I am an old trainers kind of person!

Please place your vote in this month's poll on the sidebar.

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GARDENING GLOVES

Do you always wear gardening gloves when working in the garden? That was the question I asked in the April poll. It turns out ten of you do, and thirty-five of you don't.

There is no doubt that gloves are a necessary piece of gardening apparel, but most of the time I don't wear them for general gardening, which shows on my hands, dirty fingernails and rough skin, and have to buy handcream by the gallon! The gloves above were bought for me, they fit me perfectly, and I will wear them, sometime?

Subject to the contrary if the soil is very wet, I do wear the very handy latex gloves you can buy in boxes. If the soil is dry I'd much rather get my bare hands in. Of course when handling shrubs and trees with thorny prickly branches it is necessary to wear the thick leather kind of gardening gloves, otherwise hands and arms are torn to shreds, and I do keep a pair in the car for when I pay the refuse tip a visit, they come in handy when emptying out the bags.

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HAND TOOLS

This lovely, very feminine Spear & Jackson hand tool set was given to me from two friends at work, along with lots of other gardening goodies, as a leaving present. I am not kidding the bag they gave me was just like a lucky dip, I kept putting my hand in and pulling out more!

Helene and Jackie, you are too kind!

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FLOWERPOTS

I spent most of the weekend out in the garden. Whilst going round having a general winter tidy, I was noticing how many flowerpots have cracked and broken, most unusual as I don't usually lose any? Quite a few of my lovely old antique pots have succumbed this year, and these are practically irreplacable, as quite scarce and usually expensive.

I have been lucky in the past, acquiring some from carboots and a bargain job lot for a fiver at Ardingly antiques fair, but these are only small ones, and the ones I have lost are larger, and these are the pots I use for my auriculas, and auriculas do look so much nicer planted in antique pots, don't you think?

Judith from Everything In The Garden's Rosy, I am in agreement with you, I was thinking the very same.

Michele from Cowboys & Custard made a good point about using the breakages for crocks. Yes, at least this is another use for them!