Colonial Gardening

Now that spring is here, I feel so antsy to be in the garden that I'm having a hard time sitting down to write.  But, I thought I'd share some pics of our recent spring break trip to the DC area.  My kids have come to know that when we travel, they will be subjected to visiting art museums, old churches and GARDENS.  On this trip, I reveled in the gardens at Monticello, Williamsburg and Mt. Vernon.  Sadly, the weather has been unseasonably cold, so there was even less going on in these gardens than is usual for March.  Even the DC cherry blossoms are significantly delayed.  Still, seeing the layouts for the gardens and the emerging spring crops made me itch to plant my own seeds.

The above is a view of Thomas Jefferson's kitchen garden.  I followed along with the garden tour guide and learned that Jefferson loved trying new varieties of seeds, discovering what non-native plants would survive his Virginia mountaintop climate.  He tried growing veggies he'd eaten in France and elsewhere, and he kept detailed records of his experimenting.  However, he did not necessarily apply what he learned to improve his plantation's ability to produce abundantly.  As a rule, he was not able to grow enough to provide for his family.  The slaves, who had garden plots attached to their quarters, grew enough to feed themselves AND to sell back to Jefferson.

In contrast to Jefferson, George Washington--at his Mt. Vernon-- was an amazing manager, utilizing his land to produce for his family and slaves, as well as provide cash crops to sell.  He started out growing tobacco, but gave that up when he recognized how it depleted his soil.  He wasn't a science-minded fellow, but he was one of the first to recognize that amending his soil with manure replenished the nutrients needed to grow good crops.  He made sure to grow enough of a particular crop, not only to harvest the fruit, but also to grow enough seeds for the next season.  I find it all so fascinating!

In this last picture I'm posing with a Williamsburg gardener.  This fun place is a nursery and a working colonial-style kitchen garden.  The fellow told me that a garden like this one was a display of prosperity. Even so, it only provided enough for the owners to eat one or two servings of veggies  a day.  Mostly, their diets consisted of meat.

One of my few souvenirs from our trip is a packet of "Long Island Cheese Winter Squash" heirloom seeds from Monticello.  I can't wait to be like Jefferson and see if this variety will do well in the Utah climate.  Maybe I'll get around to giving a report later on in the season.  For now, I'm going back to my garden!