Gardener Ruth recounts her life with plants

REPORT: Friends of Rhiwbina Library author talk - Ruth Binney on 'Life with Plants'

This week (Tuesday 10 February), the Friends of Rhiwbina Library welcomed author and gardener Ruth Binney to give a talk about her life and the books she has written about plants, gardening, and the gardening communities she has been a part of.

She brought us back in time to just after the war, discussing her childhood growing up in Tiverton, Devon with her father as a housemaster at a boys' school. This was when she first began to fall in love with plants and gardening, speaking about the garden her father helped keep and her fond memories of the space. She described watching bees go into snapdragon plants, and how moments like this began a spark of curiosity.

After studying at Cambridge, reading botany, natural sciences, and genetics (even being taught by Francis Crick!) she embarked on a career in illustrated non-fiction publishing, notably working for the Readers Digest as a development editor, also helping with recipe timings, and even being made up like a patient from Casualty for one of the covers!

After retiring to Dorset with her family, she began to write, having an 'I could do that!' moment in a meeting about nostalgia and phrases. Her first book was Love, Luck, and Lessons for Life and was built around the wise words and phrases her father would say, in particular about gardening.

As she reminisced and interrogated them, she found some were true; ‘It takes 90 days to grow a lettuce’ (apparently if you grow it outside with no protections start to finish 90 days is about right!) and ‘Never use tap water for azaleas’ (also true, as they prefer slightly more acidic soil, and tap water is a bit alkaline – best to use rainwater instead!).

However, some were completely false - ‘always plant potatoes on Good Friday’ (as it can fall at either end of the month it isn’t much of a guide – the first frost is far more important), and ‘gravel deters slugs’ (it does not).

Ruth then described her love of gardening, and how she continued to write about her time gardening and working in allotments. She interviewed allotment communities, and built another book around practical advice and unusual things her fellow gardeners have said.

As someone who has been in so many amazing allotment communities with some really interesting and exciting characters, she had some wonderful stories to tell, with far more described in the book! Recently, this book has been remade and reproduced to become Grow It!

She ended by talking about weeds, and her book Weeds On Trial. In it she examines weeds – what they are, and why we think of them as unwanted and nuisances. In many ways, they are extraordinary plants as they are so very resilient and intelligent.

They make seeds by the million, and do not need the cold or frost to germinate as so many other plants do. Furthermore, many are edible; dandelions and nettles are local examples and the shoots of Japanese knotweed can be eaten like asparagus!

Ruth’s website has more information about her life, career, and links to all her publications, many of which are also available from Amazon.

This talk was organised by the Friends of Rhiwbina Library, as part of their ongoing series. Online tickets are available from the Friends of Rhiwbina Library ticketing page and further information about upcoming Rhiwbina events can be found on our events calendar.

Report and photos by Liz Scott