Plough Monday: When Gardens Awaken from Their Yuletide Slumber
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast:
January 11, 2021
On this day, dear garden enthusiasts, we bid adieu to the festive season and welcome the return of honest toil.
For today, you see, is Plough Monday – that most agricultural of celebrations marking the end of yuletide revelry and the commencement of the farming year.
Imagine, if you will, the scene in villages across the land not so very long ago.
The last remnants of Christmas pudding have been consumed, the final drops of wassail drained from their bowls. Now, with a mixture of reluctance and resolve, the menfolk of the parish prepare to return to their labors.
Plough Monday, always falling on the first Monday after the twelfth night of Christmas, serves as a stark reminder that Mother Nature waits for no one. The earth, having lain dormant through the frosty embrace of winter, now calls for attention.
Can you hear it, dear readers?
The siren song of fallow fields, yearning for the caress of the plough?
One can almost picture the farmers of yesteryear, their rough hands clasped around wooden plough handles, making their way to the village church.
What a sight it must have been!
These implements of agriculture, usually more at home in muddy fields, now brought before the altar to receive a divine blessing.
Oh, how times have changed!
Yet, even in our modern age of tractors and combine harvesters, does not the spirit of Plough Monday still resonate?
For us gardeners, it serves as a gentle nudge, a reminder that soon our own little plots will require our attention.
So, my fellow tillers of the soil, let us embrace the spirit of Plough Monday.
Perhaps we might polish our spades, oil our secateurs, or simply cast an optimistic eye over our dormant beds.
For though Jack Frost may still nip at our heels, the promise of spring whispers on the horizon.
And who knows?
You may find yourself inspired to start a new tradition.
While blessing your trowel in church might raise a few eyebrows, there's nothing to stop you from holding a little ceremony of your own.
A toast to the coming growing season, perhaps?
Whatever you choose, let Plough Monday serve as a delightful kickstart to your gardening year!