What's New : Colonial Williamsburg Official Site » Gardens

From the Garden, May 22

Colonial Williamsburg — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:53:37 +0000

Trenching Celery

Blanched Celery

The first of the spring celery has been transplanted to trenches for blanching. The ancient celery was of such a stringy and bitter nature that it would be virtually unpalatable if not for this process which much reduces the strings and sweetens the stems. The modern, or “self-blanching,” celery may be eaten green though it, too, is improved if blanched.

For the culture of celery we take instruction from the late Royal Attorney General, John Randolph, who has recently boarded ship for England where his true sympathies lie. As Mr. Randolph has observed, “The sun is a great enemy to Celery, when it is very hot, wherefore I would recommend the covering of your plants with brush, at all seasons of their growth, whilst the weather is hot, from 9 in the morning till 6 o’clock in the evening.”

When the plants have reached a sufficient size for blanching, “dig a trench by a line about ten inches wide and 8 or 9 deep, loosening the earth at the bottom and leveling.” The plants are then tied and transplanted to the trench with an adequate root ball. Then, in a dry season, the trenches are filled to the top of the stems being cautious that soil is not allowed fall within the crown of the plant. In ten days or a fortnight, the stems will be well blanched and they may be removed and cleaned.
As the heat of summer progresses celery becomes more difficult to manage so we then allow a few plants to stand for seed as advised by The gardener’s pocket-calendar (1776): “Plenty of Celery-seed is a very great conveniency to have; for either at sea, or in the Summer, when there are no Celery-roots, it is ready to put into soups, after it is a little bruised, and you will find a very strong flavour of the Celery.”

For a further examination of the culture of celery you are invited to inspect Vegetable Gardening the Colonial Williamsburg way, 18th century methods for today’s organic gardeners (Rodale Press)

From the Garden, May 15

Colonial Williamsburg — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:48:14 +0000

Transplanted melons under paper frame

“Zatta” cantaloupe

This week we have moved the melons out of the hotbed frame and planted them in the garden under frames covered with oiled paper so that they may not be annoyed by the sun and wind before they have established themselves sufficiently to withstand the rigors of full exposure to the elements. It is of the utmost importance that young transplants are not allowed to wilt for they will never recover to their full vigor if once allowed to wither.

The sweet melon, prized by gardeners and gourmands, appears to have its origin in the area surrounding the Black Sea and was first imported to Italy in the fifteenth century. Philip Miller described its introduction in The Gardeners Dictionary (1754) “This Sort was brought from Armenia, on the Confines near Persia, where the best Melons in the World grow…[it] has been long cultivated at Cantaleupe, a little District about ten Leagues form Rome.” Cantaleupe, or “house of wolf’ now provides us with the common name for this noblest of kitchen garden fruits.

True cantaloupes are seldom seen at market today as they have largely been replaced by the musk, or netted melon, and by the winter melon, such as the honey dew. Also known as rock melons, for their thick rinds and warted skins, they were the orange fleshed melons our ancestors knew. The oldest varieties of musk melons generally had green flesh. About the time the true cantaloupe disappeared, the orange fleshed musk melon appeared, so we have simply borrowed the name.

For a complete examination of the melons and their kinds you are invited to peruse Vegetable Gardening the Colonial Williamsburg way, 18th century methods for today’s organic gardeners (Rodale Press)

From the Garden, May 8

Colonial Williamsburg — Wed, 08 May 2013 12:56:07 +0000

separating slips from the potato

setting out slips on ridges

The sweet potato was known in Virginia long before the white potato arrived. Robert Beverly listed the sweet potato as one of the plants “our Natives had originally amongst them” in The History and Present State of Virginia (1705). It is likely that the sweet potato was first brought to Virginia by Spanish explorers or possibly through trade between native tribes. In English garden works, the white and sweet potatoes were hopelessly confused. The white potato originally went by the misleading name of Virginia Potato while the sweet potato was known as the Spanish potato. By the 18th century the white potato picked up its modern name of Irish potato, an equally erroneous appellation as it is a native of South America. Beverley was very familiar with the sweet potato but had never seen the white potato in Virginia which is evident in his description of the sweet potato: “Their [the Natives] Potatoes are either red or white, about as long as a Boy’s Leg, and sometimes as long and big as both the Leg and Thigh of a young Child, and very much resembling it in Shape. I take these Kinds to be the same with those, which are represented in the Herbals, to be Spanish Potatoes. I am sure, those call’d English or Irish Potatoes are nothing like these, either in Shape, Colour, or Taste.”

We start sweet potato slips in late March by burying a potato about two inches deep in fine compost on a gentle hotbed. The frame is kept well watered and when the foliage is about six inches tall the slips are harvested by gently pulling them from the potato. These are then planted on ridges in well composted soil and then thoroughly watered in to settle the soil around the roots. Ridges are particularly important if your soil is stiff as the best shaped potatoes are formed in a light, well-drained soil.

For a complete description of the culture of sweet potatoes we invite you to investigate Vegetable Gardening the Colonial Williamsburg way, 18th century methods for today’s organic gardeners (Rodale Press)

From the Garden, May 1

Colonial Williamsburg — Wed, 01 May 2013 12:37:42 +0000

straw bells over transplants

cucumber tendrils

This week we have transplanted the cucumber plants from the hotbed frame to the garden. As cucumber plants do not accommodate transplantation particularly well, the gardener must insure that they are not allowed to wilt when first placed in the garden. To prevent this we cover them with a straw bell for the first week or ten days until they strike root. If the weather turns rainy, the bells are removed.

The cucumber is, by nature, a climbing plant and nature has equipped them with tendrils for just this purpose. Providing them with a suitable trellis not only allows them to be grown in a fraction of the space required for plants that are allowed to ramble on the ground but the fruit are more uniformly formed and much easier to find.

It is only recently that cucumbers have been admitted to the English salad. In 1616 The Countrey Farme averred: “The use of Cucumbers is altogether hurtfull.” An entry in Samuel Pepys’ diary on Aug. 22, 1663 reads: “Mr. Newburne is dead of eating cowcumbers, of which, the other day, I heard another, I think Sir Nicholas Crisp’s son.” By the end of the century opinions were changing as attested by John Evelyn in 1699: “The Cucumber it self, now so universally eaten, being accounted little better than Poyson, even within our Memory.” Despite Evelyn’s optimism Landon Carter recorded in Virginia on July 24, 1766 his concern for his teenage daughter Judy; “She does bear ungovernable the whole summer through, eating extravagantly and late at night of cucumbers and all sorts of bilious trash.”

For a further explanation of the nature of cucumbers you are invited to examine Vegetable Gardening the Colonial Williamsburg way, 18th century methods for today’s organic gardeners (Rodale Press)

From the Garden, April 24

Colonial Williamsburg — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 12:06:54 +0000

Roman Broccoli

Cauliflower Broccoli

We have been harvesting the Roman broccoli, known to the modern gardener as purple sprouting broccoli, for several weeks now. This is the most ancient form of broccoli; the modern large headed green broccoli is a new comer and only reached the general market in the 1930’s. Unlike the modern broccoli, purple broccoli is a biennial, meaning it must go through a winter season to form its florets. Planted in the spring it produces only leaves. This was explained by John Laurence in 1727: “The Brocauli is an Italian Plant, brought lately from Rome by the present Earl of Burlington, who has given it a Reputation among those who love Novelties. Although it is of the Cauli Kind; yet it requires a particular Management, and therefore particular Directions. Many ignorant of the Plant, will be sowing it in the Spring; but it should not be sown till about Midsummer, and not much after…that it may attain Strength to get over the Winter.”

The heads are smaller but more prolific, the stems eat as well as the florets and in my opinion is a much sweeter and tenderer broccoli than is the modern variety. It is also preferred by the organic gardener as the caterpillar of the cabbage white butterfly is much easier to clean from the florets should you be bothered by this pernicious pest.

More delicate and rarer than the Roman broccoli is what gardeners call the Naples, Neapolitan or cauliflower broccoli. James Justice, author of British Gardener’s New Director (1771) declared: “I prefer the White Brocoli, or what is called the Neopolitan Brocoli…it is a crop [that] will hold [remain good] for a considerable time, and many persons esteem them more than they do the best Collyflowers.” Although it is remarkably similar in appearance to the cauliflower, the taste is distinctly broccoli-like. Like the Roman broccoli, it too, must be planted in the fall for a spring harvest.

For a complete explanation of broccoli and its kinds you are invited to examine: Vegetable Gardening the Colonial Williamsburg way, 18th century methods for today’s organic gardeners (Rodale Press)

From the Garden, April 17

Colonial Williamsburg — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:11:20 +0000

Cabbage White Butterfly

Cabbage rows under cheese cloth

All the young cabbage and cauliflower plants are now well established in the garden and growing rapidly. Unfortunately, it is also the time of year that we see the first butterflies of the Imported Cabbageworm. Often known by gardeners as the Cabbage White, this ubiquitous pest is responsible for the green caterpillars that infest nearly all members of the Brassica genus. As is true with many of the common garden pest that the modern gardener must contend with, gardeners in eighteenth-century Williamsburg would not have been bothered by this pest as it did not arrive in this country until the middle of the nineteenth century.

It was well known in 18th century England however and its potential ravages were calculated by Richard Bradley in 1720: “Those Caterpillars which feed upon the Cabbage, and change into the common White Butter flies, breed twice every year, each of them laying near 400 Eggs at one time; so that from the second Brood of one single Caterpillar we may reasonable expect 160,000.” Anyone who has attempted the culture of Brassicas can well believe these extraordinary numbers.

There have been a number of chemical remedies recommended for this pest over the years but all of the organic recipes require a diligence and constant application that discourage many gardeners from attempting their culture. The easiest, and surest, remedy is to simply prevent the butterfly from landing for if it cannot land, it cannot lay its egg. In Williamsburg we use a lightly woven cheese cloth to cover our plants. When the plants are young, we protect individual rows and as they mature, we cover the entire planting with the cheese cloth laid over a table like structure fashioned from sticks. The modern gardener has the benefit of more durable row covers in a variety of sizes than can be used in a like manner.

For a complete consideration of the Brassica tribe we recommend: Vegetable Gardening the Colonial Williamsburg way, 18th century methods for today’s organic gardeners (Rodale Press)

From the Garden, April 10

Colonial Williamsburg — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 11:31:08 +0000

Setting leek transplants in the garden

Trimming the young leek tops

The cabbage, cauliflower, turnip cabbage (or what the Germans term, kohlrabi), artichokes and lettuce have all been transplanted from the hot bed frame. The last denizens of the frame to be moved to the garden are the leeks. Leeks have long been of special significance to the residents of Wales and, indeed, are now part of their national identity. Legend has it that in the year 640 CE, King Cadwaladr of Gwynedd, last of the Briton kings to rule the British Isles, met the invading Saxon army on a battlefield in ancient Wales. As neither army wore uniforms, chaos reigned. Then Cadwaladr ordered his troops to stick leeks in their bonnets to distinguish themselves from the Saxon foe. Order was restored and the Saxons defeated. It was, alas, a temporary victory and the Saxons eventually over ran the island. The wizard Merlin prophesized that one day Cadwaladr would return to drive the Saxons from the land but before Cadwaladr was able to muster a reincarnation, the Normans arrived in 1066 and performed the service themselves.

To set the leeks into the garden we follow the advice given by John Abercrombie in 1790: “prune the long weak tops of the leaves, and the root fibres, and plant them by dibble, in rows a foot apart, by six inches in the row, inserting them down to the leaves, with the neck part mostly into the ground to be long and white.” As leeks require a rich, moist soil and a long season to perfect their stems it is important that the soil be well dunged where you intend to raise them. We also find that in areas such as Tidewater, Virginia, where summers are long and hot, planting them in a location that receives some shade in the afternoon would not be amiss.

For a fuller explanation of the culture of leeks and other Alliums you are invited to examine Vegetable Gardening the Colonial Williamsburg way, 18th century methods for today’s organic gardeners (Rodale Press)

From the Garden, April 2

Colonial Williamsburg — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 18:58:13 +0000

Removing transplants from hot bed

Cabbage transplants under bell glass

The cabbage plants, sown on a hot bed in early February, are now ready to move to the garden. You may judge the plants suitable for transplanting when they have five or six leaves. In anticipation a place in the garden that has been well dunged and lying full to the sun must be prepared. Plants grown in the hotbed or nursery, without the benefit of pots, must be handled with considerable care. Begin by separating the plants from the surrounding soil by plunging your trowel to its full depth into the soil and slightly slanted under the plant at about two inches from the stem. Repeat this on all four sides of the plant, rocking your trowel gently towards the plant to firm up the root ball. It is then ready to be lifted from the nursery bed using your trowel as a lever and your hand to guide the transplant out of the soil and onto the trowel.

It is very important that the young transplants are not allowed to wilt when first set out. For this reason they are best moved on a cool, overcast day, “taking all possible opportunities of showering weather, when it happens,” as explained in The garden vade mecum by Mr. Abercrombie, “and plant them two feet and half distance.” If your seedling plants have become leggy, bury the stem up to the first set of leaves.

After the cabbages are planted they should be well watered to settle the soil around the roots and then placed under bell glass until they strike root. If the weather should turn hot lift one side of the bell with a shard of pottery or any other device to prop them open and give vent to the hot air within the glass. If bell glasses are not available a clay pot, bucket or wooden crate will serve just as well. Take every opportunity to remove the coverings in mild, overcast weather and within ten days or a fortnight the glasses or other coverings can be removed for good.

From the Garden, March 27

Colonial Williamsburg — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 13:16:48 +0000

Radish seed, carrot seed and sand

Radish and carrot seedlings

This week we are making our second sowing of radish, mixed with the first sowing of carrot seed. All root vegetables must be thinned so that they may achieve their full perfection without competition from their neighbors which would surely stunt their growth and mar their form. Carrots are particularly tedious to thin but we have learned a method to ameliorate the task. It is described by Mr. Hill in 1773: “Let the Surface of this Piece of Ground be leveled: then mix with the Seeds a good Quantity of Sand; and chusing a calm Day, scatter them as equally as possible over the Ground. This Care will prevent their rising in the usual irregular Manner in Clusters in some Places, with great Vacancies between.”

Mr. Hill continued: “When all the Seed is sown, tread over the Ground, and then rake it in. Observe when they come up; for the Weeds will rise with them. As soon as they have a little Strength, let them be thin’d and clear’d from the Weeds that are among them…the Plants should be left at about five Inches Distance.”

This method can be further improved by incorporating the advice found in Adam’s Luxury and Eve’s cookery that, with a little practice, will greatly lessen the need for thinning: “You may sow at the same time a few Radishes, which will be drawn off presently and not hurt the Carrots.” By mixing the radish and carrot seed together with a little sand the seeds will be far more evenly distributed and the carrots are thinned by the act of harvesting the radishes. I, myself, have spent hours thinning vegetable plants when a little restraint and better management at planting time would lessen this most onerous of chores. We would do well, when sowing our seed, to remember Mr. Shakespeare’s words when he wrote in Henry IV, part I: “More than a little is by much too much.”

You may learn more on the science of root crops within the pages of Vegetable Gardening the Colonial Williamsburg way, 18th century methods for today’s organic gardeners (Rodale Press)

From the Garden, March 20

Colonial Williamsburg — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 12:00:04 +0000

Black Spanish and German Beir Radishes

We have harvested the last of the winter radishes and the spring radishes are spreading their first true leave from seeds sown the middle of February. The Roman author Lucius Columella named the radish “radicula,” from the Latin radix, or root, and from this we get the English “radish.” It has long been one of the most popular root vegetables at the English table. In 1577 Thomas Hill wrote in The Gardener’s Labyrinth, “The Garden Radish with us, is better knowne, then I with pen can utter.” The ancient radish was a long, thick, generally white root. A black form, known as the Black Spanish, was introduced in the 16th century and these large radishes provided the winter crop.

Long Scarlet Radish

The trend towards a smaller, redder radish began to take root in the latter part of the 17th century. William Salmon recorded in 1710 of the common garden radish, “Its Root is long, white within, and of a reddish purple color on the out side toward the top or it.” These roots were still primarily white with a purplish hue near the top where the root jutted above the soil line. By 1767 John Rutter recorded that the, “Short topped purple radish is [the] original radish, long scarlet just coming into fashion.”

The long scarlet was generally of a good red color throughout the length of the root and became the preferred spring radish until it was replaced by the smaller, rounder radish that is common today.

For a complete description of the radish and its culture you are invited to examine Vegetable Gardening the Colonial Williamsburg Way, 18th Century Methods for Today’s Organic Gardeners. (Rodale Press)

From the Garden, March 13

Colonial Williamsburg — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 12:00:27 +0000

The onion seed bed in winter.

We are now separating and transplanting the onions that were sown in the fall. This indispensable esculent has one of the longest histories of any garden vegetable. The ancient Egyptians were famous for their fondness of onions, leeks, and garlic to the point of deifying them. King Ramses IV, who died in 1160 BCE, was entombed with onions covering his eye sockets. To the Egyptians, the concentric rings of the onion bulb signified eternal life. The onion has been considered a staple by all civilizations since that time and indeed, the Scottish politician Sir John Sinclair observed, “It is a well known fact, that a Highlander with a few raw onions in his pocket, and a crust of bread or bit of cake, can work or travel to an almost incredible extent for two or three days together.”

Many modern gardeners grow their onions from sets obtained in the spring. If you are using sets it is important to remember that the larger the set, the more liable it is to go to flower prematurely to the ruination of the bulb. With sets, smaller is better.

Onion transplants.

We have found that onions grown from seed are not as liable to run to flower as those planted from sets. We sow our seeds near the end of September, which produces plants that are large enough to withstand the trials of winter but not so large as to run to flower in the spring. By the middle of March the onions are ready to transplant to a bed where they will form their bulbs. We set our transplants on furrows spaced six inches one from the other. This provides a loose soil for the bulbs to form in that is never waterlogged. There are always extra transplants that are not needed for planting and these will provide the first scallions of the year. In the northern colonies, where onions will not stand the winter, sow your seeds outdoors after the danger of frost is past.

For a fuller discussion of the Allium family you are encouraged to examine Vegetable Gardening the Colonial Williamsburg Way, 18th Century Methods for Today’s Organic Gardeners. (Rodale Press)

From the Garden, March 6

Colonial Williamsburg — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:00:48 +0000

Twig trellis

The pea seeds were planted two weeks ago and we anticipate their emergence any day, so it is not too soon to gather the sticks needed for the trellising of them. There are several ways to support the peas depending on the variety and how vigorous their growth. For the smaller, earlier varieties such as the Prince Albert and the Sickle pea we use a method recommended by John Rutter in Modern Eden published in England in 1767. Plant the seeds in two rows, approximately one foot apart, setting the peas with a dibble at two inches one from the other. “When they are half a foot high,” Mr. Rutter advised, “some boughs with all the twigs upon them should be stuck into the ground between the rows for them to climb upon.” In this manner, two rows of peas are trellised by a single row of twigs. Once the pea season is over, the entire row of sticks and pea vines can be rolled up and easily disposed.

Teepee trellis

For the larger, later varieties such as the Marrowfat and Blue Prussian peas we use a somewhat more substantial system. As these types of peas will often grow six to eight feet tall we find they are better grown in an elongated teepee-like structure. To construct this trellis, begin by placing paired rows of six- to eight-foot sticks in the ground, one on either side of the row of peas. Tie the paired sticks together over the center of the row and then add long horizontal sticks across the top and at intervals along the sides to bind them together. This trellis provides a form for the peas to climb upon as well as a structure around which to wrap cheesecloth that will effectively exclude the rabbits, which can be a particularly pernicious pest in the early spring garden. If well constructed, this trellis can be re-used to grow pole beans on after the peas have been harvested.

Once the peas begin to flower, they are greatly annoyed by any disturbance to their roots, so any weeding should be done with great care and with as little disruption to the pea roots as possible. It will serve the gardener well to conduct a thorough weeding while the peas are young and the weeds are small.

For a fuller discussion of the culture of peas you are invited to examine Vegetable Gardening the Colonial Williamsburg Way, 18th Century Methods for Today’s Organic Gardeners (Rodale Press)