Ever wondered if there's any truth behind planting by the moon? Or why wassailing is still a common folk practice in some parts of the world? In Gardener's Folklore, the record of these practices is unveiled, with plenty of tips and tricks to try in your own 21st century garden for blooming bushes and plentiful potatoes.

Today there is increasing interest in responses of plant to plant and plant to gardener which, beginning to be accepted by science, suggest that old beliefs concerning green thumbs and life-indexes may go far beyond the pure superstition that they seem at first glance. Far from being artes perditae, ancient remedies for pests and diseases devised by gardeners using homely handy ingredients centuries before the arrival of gardening by chemicals may be as effective—and are almost invariably safer—than the answers of science. The biodynamic movement has given fresh life to traditional garden receipts and companion plantings, which are emerging again as serious aids to gardeners. Although not of course directly interested in folklore as such, organizations which have reassessed certain old garden practices include, in the United States, the Bio-Dynamic Farming and Gardening Association, Inc, and, in Britain, the Henry Doubleday Research Association and the Bio-Dynamic Agricultural Association, whose work flows from the concepts of Dr Rudolf Steiner, founder of anthroposophy. In his youth Dr Steiner had observed the traditional practices of the peasant farmers of Europe and incorporated his conclusions in an agricultural course given at Koberwitz, Germany, in 1924. The BDAA is concerned with the interplay of invisible forces in a visible world, with links between plants and formative influences in soil and atmosphere, and with extraterrestrial agents such as the sun, moon and stars. What is to be made of this mass of garden beliefs? So apparently contradictory, so fine-drawn the distinctions, so personal the arguments that perhaps our conclusion might be that no conclusions are to be drawn. But superstitions of pedigree have been well tested by time: ‘When they come to the triall, they all vanish away like smoak,’ wrote John Parkinson in a happy Elizabethan phrase. Or they survive triumphantly. In garden folklore today the message is plain. Old-time gardeners depending upon ancient secrets undoubtedly scored remarkable successes. We must ask ‘Could they have done as well, had they ignored superstition? Can we do better if we heed it?’ Greater knowledge will be needed before these lacunae can be filled: still, the answer to the last question might well turn out to be an emphatic ‘yes’. In this book the writer has been collector, not apologist. A vast, almost undocumented subject imposed its own selective approach: an Anglo-American bias is obvious but even so, many omissions are unavoidable, and there is perhaps less exploration of motive than the interest of the beliefs merits. A tradition concerned with making plants grow was generally preferred to one of plant mythology or reputation. For reasons of space only a selection of the hundreds of fascinating beliefs which correspondents described so vividly in their letters could find a place in the book, but every letter threw valuable light on one or more of the varied aspects of garden folklore, and all letters have been preserved carefully for the future. Much of course remains to be collected. Perhaps this survey will encourage others to look out for the gardening beliefs of their own neighbourhoods.