The traditionalkitchen garden,vegetable garden, also known as apotager (from the Frenchjardin potager) or in Scotland akailyaird,[1] is a space separate from the rest of the residentialgarden – theornamental plants andlawn areas. It is used for growingedible plants and often somemedicinal plants, especially historically. The plants are grown for domestic use; though some seasonal surpluses are given away or sold, a commercial operation growing a variety of vegetables is more commonly termed amarket garden (or afarm). The kitchen garden is different not only in itshistory, but also its functionaldesign. It differs from anallotment in that a kitchen garden is on private land attached or very close to the dwelling. It is regarded as essential that the kitchen garden could be quickly accessed by the cook.
Historically, most small country gardens were probably mainly or entirely used as kitchen gardens, but in large country houses the kitchen garden was a segregated area, normally rectangular andenclosed by a wall or hedge, walls being useful for trainingfruit trees as well as offering shelter from wind.[2] Such large examples very often includedgreenhouses and furnace-heated hothouses for more tender delicacies, and also flowers for display in the house; anorangery was the ultimate type. In large houses, the kitchen garden was typically placed diagonally to the rear and side of the house, not impeding the views from the front and rear facades, but still quick to access. In some cases, hardy flowers for cutting were grown outside there, rather than in theflower garden. A large country house hardly expected to buy any vegetables, herbs or fruit, and the surplus was often distributed as presents; the walled example atCroome Court in England covers seven acres,[3] and the gardens have a large "Temple Greenhouse", an orangery in the form of aRoman Temple.
A symbol of American self-sufficiency and the colonialhomestead, practical kitchen gardens were the center of home life in early America. In Europe, especially Britain, the difficulties in food supply duringWorld War II resulted in a huge, if temporary, upsurge in growing vegetables in small gardens, with much encouragement from the governmentMinistry of Food. In modern gardening, there has been interest in integrating the growing of food plants within a mainly ornamental garden; fruit trees and cooking herbs are the simplest and most popular expression of this.[4]
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In large country house gardens, the walls also served to hide the kitchen garden, as "a place of base labour ... from the more polite areas", which included the often very extensive fruit gardens and orchards.[5] The gardeners were often, depending on the season, the number of guests, and the whim of the owner, expected to keep out of the main "best garden" during the fairly predictable parts of the day when the family and guests were likely to be walking in the garden, and the kitchen garden provided somewhere for them to occupy themselves at these times. Mostly, visitors were probably not expected to venture inside without leave. But some owners, fromLouis XIV downwards, liked to show guests the kitchen garden, especially if they knew they had an interest. In thegardens of Versailles, the enormouspotager area, not contiguous with the main gardens, had a wall that was thick enough for visitors to accompany the king in walking along the top for a better view, as on castle battlements.[6]
The French doctor and printer,Charles Estienne, wrote in detail about the 16th century kitchen garden inMaison Rustique; his book was largely compiled from classical authors. This practical garden was to be separated from the pleasure gardens, enclosed by a thick hedge or wall. Estienne viewed hedges as more resilient, cost effective and were easier to repair and maintain, but at least in later periods, walls seem to have been more usual; some werehot walls, with a central cavity gently heated by furnaces. Certainly walls leave more traces behind for the garden archaeologist. The hedge, Estienne says, can be planted with red and whitegooseberry bushes,medlar andolive trees,woodbine, whitethorn, wild apples, brambles, andeglantiness. Lattices were woven fromwillow branches and every year renewed, unless made withjuniper poles that had been reinforced with charredoak.
In theMiddle Ages, the kitchen garden was often a separate enclosure some way away from the main house. TheCovent Garden area of London got its name as the kitchen garden forWestminster Abbey, though some distance from the abbey itself. In Renaissance times, the kitchen garden was rather close to the house, but by the mid-17th-century many were being moved further away, with a service road leading to the main house.[7] At Versailles a public road needs to be crossed to reach it.
In the UK, by the 19th century, as the breeding of vegetable cultivars greatly increased, a plethora of magazines, societies and competitions in local or county fairs, supported what had become (and remains) a popular form of specialist gardening. Some gardeners concentrated on mere size, leading to monstrous (and largely tasteless) strains of vegetables such asleeks. The newallotments, small pieces of a plot of land made available by local councils or charities, often specified that only edible plants were to be grown.[8]
In the early 20th century, thecity government ofPoznań purchased several small plots of land that it then distributed to families with children. The families cultivated the land with seeds and fertilizer. Crops included carrots, spinach, andbeans. The city government found that the plots complemented the diets of the families and looked to expand the program. Some families also grew enough to sell.[9]
According to Estienne, of the planted crops,turnips required the most room, and planted next to these werecoleworts, and a path leading to plots ofsorrel,arugula,parsley,spinach,beets, andorach, then separated from the greens another path to the root vegetables,leeks,onions,garlic,carrots, andscallions, and so on for edible flowers and winter potherbs likethyme,sage,lavender,rosemary,hyssop,southern wormwood,savoury,lemon balm,basil,costmary,spikenard,chamomile, andpennyroyal.
Marigolds could growperennially in untilled fields, and their juice and flowers were reputed to have many benefits from soothing eye irritation to relieving tooth pain.Strawberry juice and wine were rumored to have similar benefits for the eyes, and, according to Estienne, the berries themselves had "no neede of greate toile or tilling". Modern researchers continue to study whether reducedtillage improves weed control and yield for strawberry plants.[10]
Other plants found in the kitchen garden:asparagus,artichoke,sow thistle,endive,chicory,watercress,scallions,chives,parsnips,purslane,smallage,tarragon,borage,bugloss,radishes,rapeseed,skirret,poppy,mustard,cucumbers andgourds.
Citrus andmelons could be part of the kitchen garden also, if the conditions of soil and climate were such as to support their growth.
In some modern gardens, edible plants and especially herbs are planted alongside ornamental plants. Fruit trees are one of the most common ways of doing this.[4] The goal is to make the function of providing food aesthetically pleasing.
Plants are chosen as much for their functionality as for their color and form.[11] Many are trained to grow upward. A well-designed potager can provide food as well as cut flowers and herbs for the home with very little maintenance.[4] Potagers can disguise their function of providing for a home in a wide array of forms—from thecottage garden to the formality of aknot garden.
The owner of one of theLoire chateaux in France, theChâteau de Villandry decided many decades ago, to recreate aFrench formal garden with an elaborate geometrical scheme of beds surrounded by low hedges, but planted with kitchen garden plants (more recently the garden has been extended, the new areas mostly not planted with vegetables). This striking scheme has been highly effective in turning the gardens into a tourist attraction, but is in no way historically authentic.
Avegetable garden (also known as avegetable patch orvegetable plot) is a garden that exists to grow vegetables and other plants useful for human consumption,[12][13] in contrast to aflower garden that exists foraesthetic purposes. It is a small-scale form ofvegetable growing. A vegetable garden typically includes acompost heap, and several plots or divided areas of land, intended to grow one or two types of plant in each plot. Plots may also be divided into rows with an assortment of vegetables grown in the different rows. It is usually located to the rear of a property in theback garden or back yard.[12] About a third of adults in the UK and America grow food in private or community kitchen or vegetable gardens.[14][15] InWorld War II, many people had a "victory garden" which provided food and thus freed resources for the war effort.[16]
With worsening economic conditions and increased interest in organic and sustainable living, many people are turning to vegetable gardening as a supplement to their family'sdiet. Food grown in the back yard consumes little if any fuel for shipping or maintenance, and the grower can be sure of what exactly was used to grow it.[citation needed]
The beneficial effects on the sustainability of food as well as in reducinggreenhouse gas emissions related toagriculture by growing one’s own food (for example, growing food locally reducesfood miles, the distance food travels, and therefore reduces the greenhouse gas emissions associated with that travel[17]) can be increased throughsocial contagion, the process through which behaviour, emotions, or conditions spread spontaneously through a group ornetwork. A 2019 study found evidence that the spread of vegetable gardens in urban space displays was the result of neighbors seeing vegetable gardens near them and deciding to grow their own.[18] Once enough people in a network have been influenced to grow their own vegetables, the community can reach atipping point, in which a majority of people transition to a new habit; a 2018 study published in Nature claims that with only 25 per cent of a population adopting a behavioral change, a minority perspective was able to overturn the majority.[19]
Organic horticulture, or organic gardening, has become increasingly popular for the modern home gardener.[20]
Theherb garden is often a separate space in the garden, devoted to growing a specific group of plants known as herbs. These gardens may be informal patches of plants, or they may be carefully designed, even to the point of arranging and clipping the plants to form specific patterns, as in aknot garden.
Herb gardens may be purely functional or they may include a blend of functional and ornamental plants. The herbs are usually used to flavour food in cooking, though they may also be used in other ways, such as discouraging pests, providing pleasant scents, or serving medicinal purposes (such as aphysic garden), among others.
A kitchen garden can be created by planting different herbs in pots or containers, with the added benefit of mobility. Although not all herbs thrive in pots or containers, some herbs do better than others. Mint, a fragrant yet invasive herb, is an example of an herb that is advisable to keep in a container or it will take over the whole garden.[21][22][23]
These are open to the public.[24]
