Through the bean rows

The man who produces good nourishing food from the earth is accomplishing something of far-reaching importance...In days of stress, strain, and economic pressure, as well as in periods of prosperity and ease, every grower of food crops, even on a small scale, is an asset to the nation.

My father, who did not come from a background close to the soil, taught himself to grow vegetables in wartime Wales, assisted by the comments of occasional passing farmers who leant over the wall to give advice, and by horticultural tips exchanged in the local pub. One of his mentors, a retired miner, actually bequeathed him the book from which I have taken the above words (The Vegetable Grower's Treasury by A.J. Macself, undated but probably 1930s).

As a child I was my father's frequent assistant - sometimes unwilling , especially when it came to squashing caterpillars on the cabbages, but for the most part happy to help him supply the family table with greens and roots and pods throughout the year: nothing frozen or unseasonal appeared on our plates. The apprenticeship I served stood me in good stead when I had my own vegetable garden. Now my elder son has developed an interest in growing and I find myself repeating my father's acquired knowledge - passing the baton on to the next generation.

(I always wondered why Yeats hankered for nine bean rows - that's a hell of a lot of beans.)