Among the garden books I inherited from the wonderful Scott Siekman, the previous owner of our farm, is a slim paperback titled “Old Wives’ Lore for Gardeners”. It’s an odd little book, full of very unscientific advice, unsubstantiated rumor, and sometimes shocking innuendo. Slyly written by Maureen and Bridget Boland, it opens with this caveat: “We are not Old Wives ourselves, being in fact old spinsters; nor are we professional gardeners in any sense. We collected the tips in this book because we needed them.”