[Homestead] Life in the 1500's

Strata R Chalup strata at virtual.net
Sun Aug 26 00:45:21 EDT 2007


> kitchen gardens in the middle ages, ... no information whatever.  
> All we have are those anachronistic paintings ... a glimpse 
> of a kitchen cabbage garden or such.  But nothing conclusive.

I have a lovely book, The Victorian Kitchen Garden (Jennifer Davies), which details the restoration of a classic Victorian estate's kitchen garden-- a full walled garden, with hothouses.  With the aid of a very elderly gentleman, Mr Henry Dodson, who had been the Head Gardener, and had started at the mansion as a boy in the potting sheds, Ms Davies and a crew from the BBC spent a year bringing the garden back to life.  From espaliered fruit trees to vines in glass-covered tiles, bell cloches to cardoon blanching wraps, it's truly astonishing what folks used to get up to with enough time on their hands, a full-time staff, and all the horse manure you could ever want.  A mini-series was produced about the restoration, but it's only available from the UK and in their video format, wups.  

Pineapple in England in winter?  Sure, dig a 20 foot pit under a miniature glasshouse, fill it with layers of sawdust and fresh horse manure, and plant in the top bring a 2-year old pineapple from the main greenhouses.  They describe the techniques that were used to coax a grapevine to root in a pot while still attached to the parent vine.  The resulting stalk, with live grapes, was detached from the parent and allowed to mature.  With beautiful flowers and ferns added, it could be brought in for the head table for a special occasion.  Wow.

While researching whether the book is still out there (it's not, it's out of print, but copies may be available through used bookstores), I discovered that there is a "Victorian Kitchen Garden Companion", co-authored by Mr Dodson.  I'm really hoping to find a copy of that sometime!!  It also turns out that there is a volume "The Victorian Flower Garden", which sounds marvelous too.

best,
Strata
*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*
* Artist, Gardener, Engineer, Slacker, Bodhisattva  *
* 650-279-1136  |  KF6NBZ   |  strata at virtual.net *
*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*





More information about the Homestead mailing list