This is the last lecture in a six-week series of lectures which will look at the history and development of garden technology from Medieval times right up to the present day. The ‘technology’ of gardening has developed enormously over the past centuries due to mechanization, automation, advances in science – and we can now grow plants without soil, we have automated watering systems for our greenhouses and we can watch while the robot mower, controlled from our smartphones, trims our lawns to perfection. But although we may approach them differently, the tasks and challenges that face gardeners today are much the same as they were back in Tudor times and earlier: preparing the soil, planting, protecting, composting, propagating and so on and so on. The rise in the organic movement over the past few decades has reminded us that the gardeners of old knew at least as much about gardening and working in harmony with nature as we do now, so how have new technologies developed and progressed our gardening knowledge, practice, and techniques?
The Gardens Trust has engaged a series of expert speakers to examine this question, including the renowned garden writer and designer, Noel Kingsbury, National Trust curator James Rothwell, expert on lawnmowers through the ages Keith Wootton, as well as regular Gardens Trust lecturers Jill Francis and our very own David Marsh; who will take a different technology in turn – tools, fertilizers, pest control, glasshouses, lawnmowers and plant breeding – and explore their history and development in relation to gardening. Tickets £24 or £5 each. Register through Eventbrite HERE. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk (If you do not receive this link please contact them). A link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 1 week.
On March 28, David Marsh will expound on A History of Poo. David Marsh is one of my favorite presenters, and the talk is sure to be a delight. As he writes:
“If you asked me to think of a title that would turn most people off buying a ticket for a lecture I’d guess the History of Fertilizer would be near the top of the list… but be prepared to be surprised. It isn’t as boring as it sounds, and in fact there’s are laughs and gasps a-plenty as we explore the smelly, messy and often unpleasant story of what made your garden grow- from dinosaurs to Victorian plutocrats, from cholera to fossil fir-cones and from Thames barges to the collapse of the Spanish Empire, via with words of wisdom from Samuel Pepys, Shirley Hibberd and Humphry Davy. In fact, so sure am I that you won’t find hearing about recycled excrement and superphosphates dull that you can have your money back if I can’t convince you that it isn’t!”
David Marsh is a garden historian, lecturer and writer. He obtained a PhD in Garden History from Birkbeck College in 2005. Since 2011 he has been co-convener of the History of Gardens and Designed Landscapes seminar at the Institute of Historical Research, London University. He leads the Gardens Trust’s team who organize online courses and lectures, and also writes the Gardens Trust’s weekly blog.
