Complete English Gardener

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The Complete English Gardener is a practical guide to gardening first published in 1670 by English author Leonard Meager. The original title is The English Gardener, or, A Sure Guide to Young Planters and Gardeners: in Three Parts.

An illustration of a knot garden layout from the book

The Complete English Gardener was among many gardening books released after John Parkinson's Paradisi in Sole in 1629.[1] It was very popular and went through many editions,[2] and was republished as The Compleat English Gardener in 1704 with a supplement, The New Art of Gardening; with the Gardener's Almanack.[3][4]

It contains a variety of gardening advice, including how to grow grapes.[5] The book's influence extended to the American colony of Massachusetts. The book was described by author Ann Leighton as "the epitome of all the handy books on gardening which were becoming plentiful in a time when books of instruction from those purporting to be experts were greatly in vogue."[6]

References

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  1. ^ Bushnell, Rebecca W. Green Desire: Imagining Early Modern English Gardens. Cornell University Press. p. 74. ISBN 0801441439.
  2. ^ Fussell, G. E. The Old English Farming Books From Fitzherbert To Tull 1523 To 1730. Read Books Ltd. p. 72. ISBN 9781473383715. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  3. ^ Hewins, William Albert Samuel (1885–1900). "Meager, Leonard" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  4. ^ Wyman, Donald (1988). Wyman's Gardening encyclopedia. Simon and Schuster. p. 523. ISBN 978-0-02-632070-2.
  5. ^ Castle, Steven (5 November 1887). "Jottings on old garden literature". The Horticultural Times: 300.
  6. ^ Leighton, Ann (1970). Early American Gardens: For Meate Or Medicine. Univ of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 0870235303. Retrieved 18 September 2016.