Walled kitchen gardens

[homewardbound]

Back in the 1980s British TV did a series, The Victorian Kitchen Garden, about restoring a walled garden on a Victorian Era county estate. The 80-something year old head gardener who worked on the estate running a commercial plant nursery was trained as a child by his uncle who was the head gardener at another estate so he grew up learning about the tools and techniques that were used in the Victorian Era.

Someday I want to create my owned walled garden, but I am wondering if such a thing would be practical in America. The purpose of a walled garden in Victorian Britain was to create micro-climates that would let you grow as much food and as much variety of food as possible because space in Britain was at a premium, but this has never really been the case in America. Also,
you need the walled garden and greenhouses to grow things like peaches and grapes in Britain, but you can grow these things in the open just about any place in America. And nowhere in America would a walled garden let you grow citrus outside of Florida and in Florida you can grow citrus in the open. So would there be any practical use for a walled garden in America? Does anyone know if walled gardens were ever used in America?

 

[momofdrew]

a walled garden sounds romantic...but I havent heard of one here...

 

[Jared77]

It would be practical depending on where you live. If you lived in the northern part of the U.S. I'm sure it would have a place. I think it may be more cost prohibitive than anything else. People who would spend the money to have one built are doing it because they want one, not because they need one. With people in Maine able to buy avacados from Mexico and strawberries from California at the store putting the money up to have the ability to grow these things I don't think would really take off. Plus with the GMOs tweaking everything I don't think it will be long before we have watermelons growing in snow banks in Montreal.

I really like the idea of one and if I had a small plot and planned on staying on that land Id definately put one up. It may affect the resale value, but if your planning on getting carried off the propery by mourners then your not worrying about resale values at that point

 

[homewardbound]

With people in Maine able to buy avacados from Mexico and strawberries from California at the store putting the money up to have the ability to grow these things I don't think would really take off.

Part of the reason why the walled gardens in Britain were given up is that cheap imports reduced the economic value of the walled gardens and in the process Britain forfeited its self-sufficiency in food (and could have lost World War II as a consequence). America is now in the same situation. What happens in Maine when there is a crop failure in Mexico or California? What happens when the cost of gas means nobody can afford to ship produce thousands of miles to market? Florida used to have a major strawberry industry, but you can seldom find Florida grown strawberries in Florida anymore. And most oranges sold in Florida now come from California or Mexico.

 

[digitS']

Who on here was talking about using pallets as vertical gardens? Landscape fabric, potting soil, 3 weeks on the horizontal before tipping upright . . . garden walls??

We were also talking about sheltering from wind with walls (& fences). The best results, the ag engineers tell us, is within 5 times the height of the wall. So, a 4' wall would shelter about 20' of garden. Shade would be a concern but the UK is so far north that the summer sun is both very high in the sky and rises & sets, far into the north.

I'm all for walled gardens - got the rocks .

Steve

 

[homewardbound]

Who on here was talking about using pallets as vertical gardens? Landscape fabric, potting soil, 3 weeks on the horizontal before tipping upright . . . garden walls??

I've always been space limited so I've always been interested in growing things vertically (however when you are space limited something growing vertically covers much of the rest of your garden with shade so in a small space you don't really gain anything). But its never occurred to me to make a pivoting wall. It would certainly make planting easier.

We were also talking about sheltering from wind with walls (& fences). The best results, the ag engineers tell us, is within 5 times the height of the wall. So, a 4' wall would shelter about 20' of garden. Shade would be a concern but the UK is so far north that the summer sun is both very high in the sky and rises & sets, far into the north.

The British TV program said pretty much the same thing. A 12 foot high wall like the garden in the program had could provide protection for up to 100 feet of horizontal space used for low-growing vegetable plants.

I'm all for walled gardens - got the rocks .

Ive got the lime rock for the mortar. We need one of these things for crying your eyes out, but works just as well.

 

[ducks4you]

OMGosh, aren't we ALL here interested in some food self-suffiency?
DH has just been diagnosed pre-diabetic. We are eating from our garden now, will be all summer, I'm planting for summer consumption and canning stuff for healthy winter consumption. I'd look into this bc it makes a lot of sense.

 

[Jared77]

Part of the reason why the walled gardens in Britain were given up is that cheap imports reduced the economic value of the walled gardens and in the process Britain forfeited its self-sufficiency in food (and could have lost World War II as a consequence). America is now in the same situation. What happens in Maine when there is a crop failure in Mexico or California? What happens when the cost of gas means nobody can afford to ship produce thousands of miles to market? Florida used to have a major strawberry industry, but you can seldom find Florida grown strawberries in Florida anymore. And most oranges sold in Florida now come from California or Mexico.

Oh I get it, trust me I get it. At my house we can aggressively, and we made our own baby food. Most of what we made came from the farmers market since it was a bit of a surprise Our 2013 garden will focus on GROWING our food to turn into baby food. No we're not expecting yet, just planning ahead.

The problem is not enough people have gardens. Back in WWII WAAAY more people had gardens. That's the thing. Sure would more people be safe and well fed in the N.E. if they had walled gardens. But not enough people think along those lines. They are more worried about WiFi connections and reading about what some reality star's upset with some other reality star or getting charged with a D.U.I. doing than about actually feeding themselves yet they throw a fit when the price of groceries goes up at Wally World because fuel prices jumped up. Too many people are willing to be dependant on the whims of Govt ours as well as foreign because "we're in a global market" well guess what when you give up control you and expect to be cared for, your at the mercy of your keeper.

The eat local movement is growing but your absolutely right people need to get on board or they are going to be in trouble.

 

[canesisters]

Westover Plantation in Virginia has a walled garden. It's wonderful. It's devided into quarters. Two of them are flowers. The other 2 are fruit trees and a veggi garden/grape arbor. If you ever in the area, the grounds are open year round.

 

[897tgigvib]

I want to see a photo of one of these walled kitchen gardens.

They don't violate tenants do they?