Tag Archives: gardening

364O: Mr. & Mrs. Bumper books?

In the early/mid 80s I read a series of books I referred to as the Mr. Bumper books. No clue what the plot was, just that the main characters were an adorable plump elderly couple with round glasses who gardened. I probably have the name of the character wrong but it was something like Bumper or Bumpus. Pretty sure they were illustrated hardcover books with large chunks of text. Early readers. Any ideas?

294I: The French intensive method

A large size paperback, 1970s comprehensive instruction manual for growing a kitchen garden and orchard by the small-space, French-intensive method. It had realistic line drawing illustrations (looking as if the source of the drawings was photographs. ) Also appeared to be UK English in origin as illustrations showed brick walls around the garden as if it were on an estate. Instructions for annual and perennial vegetables, as well as fruit shrubs and trees were included. Specialty techniques such as espalier were shown.