What an interesting thread and, although I can add nothing of great significance, here’s my twopenn’rth!
My gt-grandfather, John Bland, moved from Yorkshire to Washway Road, Sale, sometime between 1841 & 1851 and was during years following a market gardener.
According to his daughter: “John had the ambition to become his own master. He cultivated plots of land and had greenhouses erected thereon. He called his venture "Victoria Nursery" and it was situated in Hesketh Road, off Washway Road, Ashton-on-Mersey. He also had a stall at Manchester market; all this was rather a large undertaking.”
Unfortunately, this venture did not always run smoothly and his daughter says that this was largely due to the weather. This resulted in his inability to provide for his first three children for a while and his wife's sister & her husband took those children in. This was not uncommon in Victorian times and is commonly called ‘Kinship care’. I have looked into this and the years at the time (from 1865-1875), contain some of the driest & wettest Springs & Summers on record, which does seem to support his daughter’s report.
So, Tornado, not only do I have an ancestor who was a Market Gardener, he was actually in the area where your ancestors toiled!
And I would be very interested to know from alderjones whether John Bland, or Victoria Nursery feature in the book you mention. I note that it is still available for around £10 including postage and would be tempted to purchase a copy if it has information about conditions faced by Market Gardeners in the Sale, Ashton on Mersey and nearby locations which would help me to understand John’s life in the 2nd half of the 19th century. By the turn of the century, when in his eighties, John describes himself as a Landscape Gardener. Two of his sons became gardeners, the other three worked on the Manchester South Junction & Altrincham Railway.
