Water

This morning's rain having passed my garden by, i've turned on the water.  The Goodman of Paris instructed his young wife to water in the evening, never when the sun is hot.  And Thomas Hill in his Gardener's Labyrinth recommends watering "after a drought, or when many hot dayes have chanced together"  which certainly applies this week.  He also says that "the water best commended for watering of the plants, is the same drawn or gotten out of the river..."   Well I just happen to have a river coming through my property, so i've hauled water from there in buckets.  it's a great lot of work.  He also says that if you need to use water drawn up out of a well or pit that you should let it stand for two or three days, for the newly drawn water may enfeeble the plants becasue it is raw and cold.

Some progress has been made upon the fence as well, some drainage work around the new chickenhouse has left some extra dirt, which will go into raised beds that will be along the fence. 

it's hard to remember the blog when the weather is nice and the days are long, but some pictures are overdue.  But i've got to keep my act together as I am teaching a class on medieval gardening at the Pennsic War, which is an event put on by the Society for Creative Anachronism.  I have no idea how large my audience will be, or how critical, so i've got to be on my game, so i've re-read the books i've got here.

A Medieval Home Companion, translated and edited by Tania Bayard, is from the goodman of paris book, from ~1393, of which there are three copies made in the 15th c. 

The Gardener's Labyrinth, by Thomas Hill, first published in 1577 said to be the first gardening book in English, the edition i have is edited by Richard Mabey

Well it's time to put the chickens to bed, and by then the water will have been on for about an hour, which ought to be enough.