Gardener's Nightcap is by Muriel Stuart, a poet and gardening columnist who combined expert knowledge with lightness of touch. On the subject of marrows, which grow apace in August, she suggests that it might be better to train them up upright (and, converseley, let runner beans 'ramble about' on the ground). She also advises, ahead of her time, harvesting them when they are six inches long to get what we now call courgettes. In the beautifully stitched Vegetable Garden (c1933, private collection) by Tirzah Garwood, marrows and beans are being grown the traditional way.