The Kitchen Garden

2017 | History & Politics

The kitchen garden was once a vital component of the country estate, supplying fruit, vegetables and flowers to meet the needs of the family and their household whether residing at home or in town. A vast range of fruit and vegetables was grown, from everyday crops of potatoes and cabbages to the exotic delights of grapes, peaches and pineapples. The table had to be supplied all year round, and gardeners were expert in the forcing, successional ripening and storage of produce. Serving out-of-season fruit showcased the skill of the head gardener as well as the prestige of his employer. All sorts of gadgets and technology became available in the kitchen garden, from cucumber straighteners and pest fumigators to oil-fired boilers and rubber hosepipes, and horticultural techniques were passed down from the head gardener to his apprentices. Working life in the kitchen garden was a seasonal routine of sowing, potting, watering and cropping, all carried out under the watchful eye of the head gardener.

A strict hierarchy operated in the kitchen garden, with gardeners working their way up from garden boy, employed to wash pots and scare birds, to under-gardener, journeyman and then foreman, with the most ambitious reaching the prestigious position of head gardener.

Caroline Ikin (Author)