Gardening

A Short History of Gardening

Gardening is the practice of growing and cultivating plants as part of horticulture more broadly. In most domestic gardens, there are two main sets of plants; ‘ornamental plants’, grown for their flowers, foliage or overall appearance – and ‘useful plants’ such as root vegetables, leaf vegetables, fruits and herbs, grown for consumption or other uses. For many people, gardening is an incredibly relaxing and rewarding pastime, ranging from caring for large fruit orchards to residential yards including lawns, foundation plantings or flora in simple containers. Gardening is separated from farming or forestry more broadly in that it tends to be much more labour-intensive; involving active participation in the growing of plants.

Home-gardening has an incredibly long history, rooted in the ‘forest gardening’ practices of prehistoric times. In the gradual process of families improving their immediate environment, useful tree and vine species were identified, protected and improved whilst undesirable species were eliminated. Eventually foreign species were also selected and incorporated into the ‘gardens.’ It was only after the emergence of the first civilisations that wealthy individuals began to create gardens for aesthetic purposes. Egyptian tomb paintings from around 1500 BC provide some of the earliest physical evidence of ornamental horticulture and landscape design; depicting lotus ponds surrounded by symmetrical rows of acacias and palms. A notable example of an ancient ornamental garden was the ‘Hanging Gardens of Babylon’ – one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Ancient Rome had dozens of great gardens, and Roman estates tended to be laid out with hedges and vines and contained a wide variety of flowers – acanthus, cornflowers, crocus, cyclamen, hyacinth, iris, ivy, lavender, lilies, myrtle, narcissus, poppy, rosemary and violets as well as statues and sculptures. Flower beds were also popular in the courtyards of rich Romans. The Middle Ages represented a period of decline for gardens with aesthetic purposes however. After the fall of Rome gardening was done with the purpose of growing medicinal herbs and/or decorating church altars. It was mostly monasteries that carried on the tradition of garden design and horticultural techniques during the medieval period in Europe. By the late thirteenth century, rich Europeans began to grow gardens for leisure as well as for medicinal herbs and vegetables. They generally surrounded them with walls – hence, the ‘walled garden.’

These gardens advanced by the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries into symmetrical, proportioned and balanced designs with a more classical appearance. Gardens in the renaissance were adorned with sculptures (in a nod to Roman heritage), topiary and fountains. These fountains often contained ‘water jokes’ – hidden cascades which suddenly soaked visitors. The most famous fountains of this kind were found in the Villa d’Este (1550-1572) at Tivoli near Rome. By the late seventeenth century, European gardeners had started planting new flowers such as tulips, marigolds and sunflowers.

These highly complex designs, largely created by the aristocracy slowly gave way to the individual gardener however – and this is where this book comes in! Cottage Gardens first emerged during the Elizabethan times, originally created by poorer workers to provide themselves with food and herbs, with flowers planted amongst them for decoration. Farm workers were generally provided with cottages set in a small garden—about an acre—where they could grow food, keep pigs, chickens and often bees; the latter necessitating the planting of decorative pollen flora. By Elizabethan times there was more prosperity, and thus more room to grow flowers. Most of the early cottage garden flowers would have had practical uses though—violets were spread on the floor (for their pleasant scent and keeping out vermin); calendulas and primroses were both attractive and used in cooking. Others, such as sweet william and hollyhocks were grown entirely for their beauty.

Here lies the roots of today’s home-gardener; further influenced by the ‘new style’ in eighteenth century England which replaced the more formal, symmetrical ‘Garden à la française’. Such gardens, close to works of art, were often inspired by paintings in the classical style of landscapes by Claude Lorraine and Nicolas Poussin. The work of Lancelot 'Capability' Brown, described as ‘England’s greatest gardener’ was particularly influential. We hope that the reader is inspired by this book, and the long and varied history of gardening itself, to experiment with some home-gardening of their own. Enjoy.

GARDENING.

CHAPTER I.

ON GARDENING IN GENERAL.

On Gardening in General—Situation—Cobbett’s Account of the Kitchen-Garden at Waverley Abbey—Soil—Size of the Garden—Laying Out of the Ground—Lawns—Walks—Gravel Paths—Asphalte—Shell-Sand Paths—Garden Tools and Conveniences.

1. ON GARDENING IN GENERAL.—Almost endless amusement is to be derived from a garden, and perhaps there is nothing more interesting than to watch the fruition of our own handiwork through the different seasons as they succeed one another, almost an equal amount of pleasure being derived from seeing the results arise from well-ordered instructions, given to subordinates, as if they were literally the work of our own hands, though to genuine amateurs who take delight in a garden the pleasure is heightened when the work belonging to it is actually performed by themselves. All, however, cannot do this, nor is it by any means necessary, but what is indispensably essential is that whatever is done should be carried out upon an intelligent and definite principle, so as to ensure complete success.

To private persons, who seek only amusement from their gardens, an ample reward is secured in the fine dishes of fruit that are gathered with all its natural bloom and fragrance upon it, that contributes to the gratification of an innocent appetite; the fresh vegetables that are necessary to minister to our daily health; and the beautiful flowers, of varied form and colour, that carry a charm of refinement with them, and a delightful solace to the senses. Those who have imbibed a thorough taste for gardening find that their occupation never tires them, and this pastime is as interesting in their old age—if not more so—than it was in their early youth

To the English agriculturist, who farms for the sake of a living for himself and family, the cultivation of fruit and vegetables is likely in the future to become a matter of very serious consideration. Amongst the many speeches and recommendations that have been made to cultivators, during a somewhat lengthened period of agricultural depression, was a suggestion by a very eminent statesman that farmers should bestow more attention than they do upon the production of fruit, vegetables, and flowers. This suggestion has been a good deal derided by that sapient class of farmers who persistently go on year after year sowing their land with corn which they are unable to grow profitably; yet, instead of being a foolish one, it is eminently reasonable even in the case of flowers. For many years, in the neighbourhood of Mitcham, near London, a great many acres of land were entirely devoted to the growth of lavender, which found a ready sale in the great metropolis. Many nurserymen find they can make a large sum of money annually by rearing bedding-out plants, which they sell by auction in the bedding-out season, thanks to the love for flowers which is now entertained by many thousands of people, who spend a good deal of money upon them annually—a taste which the late Sir Joseph Paxton had a very considerable share in producing. In the neighbourhood of some of the large northern manufacturing towns, tons of rhubarb are cultivated, mostly of the large variety, which finds a quick sale amongst the working populations. Yet when Joseph Myatt, of Deptford, who was the first to grow rhubarb upon a large scale, sent his two sons to the Borough Market with five bunches, they could only sell three out of the five, and when, subsequently, one of the sons mentioned that it was his father’s intention to plant an acre of it the next year, he was told that his parent was fast taking leave of his senses. Tons of the London-grown rhubarb used to be sent northwards daily, but where they now, as before said, grow it for themselves. Myatt was indebted to Mr. Oldacre, Sir Joseph Banks’s gardener, for his first dozen roots of rhubarb, and his natural shrewdness led him to feel convinced that it would prove an edible of great utility, which the public would readily take to when once they became acquainted with its value, the kind being of a larger size and earlier variety than that which used commonly to be grown. How sorely rhubarb would be missed now, by thousands, aye, millions of children, who are regaled with a capital substitute for fruit puddings at a season of the year when such an addition is the most welcome to our table ! We could furnish many interesting particulars of a similar nature, but we have said enough to strike the key-note of our subject.

2. SITUATION.—Very much depends upon the situation of the garden, a gentle slope to the south being universally preferred, as a garden in this position gets the largest possible amount of sunshine during the day; but in the majority of cases the gardener has no choice, but has to take to a piece of ground of certain dimensions, which he has to do the best he can with; but by skilful management natural difficulties may be overcome and surmounted.

Some of the best laid-out gardens in England, as regards situation, were designed by the monks at the time monastic grants were made, and although it is customary of late years to speak of them as idle drones, that were well swept away at the time of the Reformation, yet in truth we are indebted in no small degree to their labours and knowledge as gardeners, which survived them long after their extinction as a legalised social institution in England; and many a gentleman’s seat which occupies the site of some old monastery or abbey, and is endowed with a fertile garden of no common description, may be traced to their useful labours.

William Cobbett, who was a capital gardener, though a very prejudiced one in some matters, as is evidenced by his hearty abuse of the potato, which he thoroughly despised as a vegetable, in speaking of situation, remarked that if he could have had his choice, he would choose a situation resembling the ancient kitchen-garden of Waverley Abbey, near Farnham, which was his own birthplace. The name of Waverley is best known as being the first of the series of that long list of delightful creations from the pen of Sir Walter Scott which now adorn our literature, but Scott probably never saw Waverley in his life, and he has told us that he first came across the name in some old State papers to which he had access. While speaking of situation it will perhaps be desirable to employ Cobbett’s own words, whose downright trenchant style will amuse many of our readers who are not familiar with his writings.

ORNAMENTAL GARDENING.

If, says Cobbett, "one could have what one wished in point of situation, from the wall on the north side of the garden, after a little flat of about a rod wide, one would have a gentle slope towards the south, about 30 feet in width. The remainder of the ground, to the wall on the south side of the garden, one would have on a true level. The gentle slope contributes to early production; and although it is attended with the inconvenience of washing from heavy rains, that inconvenience is much more than made up for by the advantage attending the circumstance of earliness.

"I recollect the ancient kitchen-garden, which had been that cf the monks, at Waverley Abbey. It lay full to the south, of course; it had a high hill to the back of it, and that hill covered with pretty lofty trees. The wall on this north side of the garden was from 12 to 14 feet high, built partly of flints and partly of the sandstone, which is found in abundance in the neighbourhood, and it was about 3 feet through, even at the top. The ground of which the garden consisted had been the sloping foot of a hill, taking in part of the meadow that came after the hill, and lay between it and the river Wey. A flat of about 20 feet wide had been made on the side of the hill, and, at the back of this flat, the wall was erected. After the flat, towards the south, began the slope; at the end of the slope began the level ground, which grew more and more moist as it approached the river. At the foot of the garden there ran a rivulet, coming from a fish pond, and at a little distance from that, emptying itself into the river. The hill itself was a bed of sand; therefore the flat, at the back of which the north wall stood—that is to say, the wall on the north side of the garden—this flat must have been made ground. The slope must have been partly made, otherwise it would have been too sandy.

RUSTIC GARDEN FENCE.

"This was the finest situation for a kitchen-garden that I ever saw. It was wholly torn to pieces about fifty years ago; the wall pulled down; the garden made into a sort of lawn, and the lower part of it, when I saw the spot about three years ago, a coarse, rushy meadow, all the drains which formerly took away the oozings from the hill having been choked up or broken up; and that spot where the earliest birds used to sing, and where prodigious quantities of the finest fruits used to be borne, was become just as sterile and as ill-looking a piece of ground, short of a mere common or neglected field, as I ever set my eyes on. That very spot where I had seen bushels of hautboy strawberries, such as I have never seen from that day to this; that very spot, the precise locality of which it took me (so disfigured was the place !) the better part of an hour to ascertain, was actually part of a sort of swampy meadow, producing sedgy grass and rushes. This most secluded and beautiful spot was given away by the ruthless tyrant, Henry VIII., to one of the basest and greediest of his cormorant courtiers, Sir William Fitzwilliams; it became afterwards, according to Grose, the property of the family of Orby Hunter; from that family it passed into the hands of a Sir Robert Rich, much about fifty years ago. The monastery had been founded by Giffard, Bishop of Winchester, who brought to inhabit it the first community of Cistercian monks that were settled in England. He endowed the convent at his own expense, gave it the manor and estate, and gave it also the great tithes of the parish of Farnham, in which it lies. A lofty sand-hill sheltered it to the north; others, in the form of a crescent, sheltered it to the east. It was well sheltered to the west; open only to the south, and a little to the south-west. A valley let in the river Wey at one end of this secluded spot, and let it out at the other end. Close under the high hill on the north side a good mansion-house had been built by the proprietors who succeeded the monks; and these proprietors, though they had embellished the place with serpentine walks and shrubberies, had the good sense to leave the ancient gardens, the grange, and as much of the old walls of the convent as was standing; and, upon the whole, it was one of the most beautiful and interesting spots in the world. Sir Robert Rich tore everything to atoms, except the remaining wall of the convent itself. He even removed the high hill at the back of the valley—actually carried it away in carts and wheelbarrows; built up a new-fashioned mansion-house with gray bricks, made the place look as bare as possible; and, in defiance of nature, and of all the hoar of antiquity, made it very little better than the vulgar box of a cockney.

ARCHED RUSTIC BRIDGE.

"I must be excused for breaking out into these complaints. It was the spot where I first began to learn to work, or rather where I first began to eat fine fruit in a garden; and though I have now seen and observed as many fine gardens as any man in England, I have never seen a garden equal to that of Waverley. Ten families, large as they might be, including troops of servants (who are no churls in this way), could not have consumed the fruit produced in that garden. The peaches, nectarines, apricots, fine plums, never failed; and, if the workmen had not lent a hand, a fourth part of the produce never could have been got rid of. Sir Robert Rich built another kitchen-garden, and did not spare expense; but he stuck the walls up in a field, unsheltered by hills and trees; and though it was twice the size of the monks’ garden, I dare say it has never yielded a tenth part of the produce

"It is not everywhere that spots like this are to be found; and we must take the best that we can get, never forgetting, however, that it is most miserable taste to seek to poke away the kitchen-garden, in order to get it out of sight. If well managed, nothing is more beautiful than the kitchen-garden: the earliest blossoms come there; we shall in vain seek for flowering shrubs in March, and early in April, to equal the peaches, nectarines, apricots, and plums; late in April we shall find nothing to equal the pear and the cherry; and, in May, the dwarf, or espalier apple trees are just so many immense garlands of carnations. The walks are unshaded; they are not greasy or covered with moss in