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Research - Medieval Cooking - Gardening

This next topic will look at the various gardens that were in play in the middle ages.

Medieval gardens were almost always enclosed, ranging from monastic stone walls to poor laborer dirt embankments. For those who have wooden fences know a rabbit or other rodent will just burrow underneath and squeeze through, so using walls or hedges to keep out pests probably wasn't effective.

A good reference for the actual structure of medieval and later period gardens can be found in this website: Medieval Gardens. They also mention that grapes, roses and rosemary were grown over topiaries. Potted plants, both inside and out, were in use as well as starting seedlings in pots to extend growing seasons. Basil, rosemary, marjoram, gillflowers and others were often potted. Vegetables grown include cabbage, turnips, beans, peas, bulb onion, etc. A nice reference listing many different vegetables can be found near the end of the site.

Another excellent reference includes
Garden History Info which lists several good articles on gardening, including a medieval kitchen garden, mentioning turnips, beets, beans, peas, cabbage, leeks, cauliflower, and some information on tea.

A reproduction of a wattle fenced garden can be found on Penn State's Center for Medieval Studies - Kitchen Garden

And one last side trip to this nice site that talks about all kinds of gardens with lots of beautiful photographs:
Essentially England










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