The kitchen garden was designed to provide a continual supply not only of fruit, flowers and vegetables, but also of plants that had medicinal and veterinary uses, plants for flavouring food and drink, and those providing dyes, perfumes, narcotics, disinfectants, poisons and pesticides. With the aid of heated glasshouses, there would be out-of-season delicies such as strawberries for Christmas, exotic tropical fruits, and even figs and grapes. Once found in the grounds of most large country houses in Britain and Ireland, many have sadly fallen into disuse and ruin. Their remains can still be seen, however: some have been converted to other uses, others simply abandoned, while a few have been restored to their former glory and productiveness. This highly illustrated book explores a horticultural history spanning hundreds of years, and provides an extensive gazetteer of kitchen gardens that can still be visited today.

Make a beautiful, practical, environmentally conscious garden, even in a small space - grow UP with a living wall!

BBC presenter Jules Hudson (Countryfile, Escape to the Country) is passionate about walled gardens. In this book, he looks at walled gardens throughout England and Wales and explores their history, innovative design and cultural heritage. The walled garden was once an essential component of every country house, its shelter providing ideal conditions for growing food, flowers and medicine. This book from the National Trust looks at walled gardens throughout England and Wales and explores their history, innovative design and cultural heritage. Walled gardens are a feature of British gardening history. In the late 18th century, gardens became status symbols, with aristocrats vying to grow ever more exotic fruits – ushering in innovations such as glasshouses and even heated walls. With the First and Second World Wars many of these gardens fell into disrepair, but renovated ones feature at many key National Trust properties and remain a source of pride and fascination today.

This book is a new and significantly revised version of the much acclaimed Charleston Kedding: A History of Kitchen Gardening, which was published in 1996.

Elevate your backyard veggie patch into a work of sophisticated and stylish art. Kitchen Garden Revival guides you through every aspect of kitchen gardening, from design to harvesting—with expert advice from author Nicole Johnsey Burke, founder of Rooted Garden, one of the leading US culinary landscape companies, and Gardenary, an online kitchen gardening education and resource company. Participating in the grow-your-own movement is important to both reduce your food miles and control what makes it onto your family’s table. If you’ve hesitated to take part because installing and caring for a traditional vegetable garden doesn’t seem to suit your life or your sense of style, Kitchen Garden Revival is here to show you there’s a better, more beautiful way to grow food. Instead of row after row of cabbage and pepper plants plunked into a patch of dirt in the middle of the yard, kitchen gardens are attractive, highly tailored food gardens consisting of easy-to-maintain raised planting beds laid out in an organized geometric pattern. Offering both four seasons of ornamental interest and plenty of fresh, homegrown fruits, vegetables, and herbs, kitchen gardens are the way to grow your own food in a fashionable, modern, and practical way. Kitchen gardens were once popular features of the European and early American landscape, but they fell out of favor when our agrarian roots were displaced by industrialization. With this accessible and inspirational guide, Nicole aims to return the kitchen garden to its rightful place just outside of every backdoor. Learn the art of kitchen gardening as you discover: What characteristics all kitchen gardens have in common How to design and install gorgeous kitchen garden beds using metal, wood, or stone Why raised beds mean reduced maintenance What crops are best for your kitchen garden A planting, tending, and harvesting plan developed by a pro Season-by-season growing guides It's time to join the Kitchen Garden Revival and start growing your own delicious, organic food.

A design and recipe resource with “all the tools to plan a productive garden before seeds ever meet the ground” (The Wall Street Journal). Based on seasonal cycles, each chapter of this indispensible book provides a new way to look at the planning stages of starting a garden—with themes and designs such as the Salad Lover’s Garden, the Heirloom Maze Garden, the Children’s Garden, and the Organic Rotation Garden. More than 100 recipes—including a full range of soups, salads, main courses, and desserts, as well as condiments and garnishes—are featured here, all using the food grown in each specific garden. “There’s no reason a vegetable garden must be an eyesore, banished to the corner by the garage. . . . The Complete Kitchen Garden . . . combines design advice, garden wisdom and recipes.” —Chicago Tribune

Behind high redbrick walls at Chilton Foliat in Berkshire lies an extraordinary example of a traditional Victorian kitchen garden. This book traces its recent restoration from a neglected patch of weed-choked ground into a productive and well-ordered plot, cultivated with the use of Victorian tools and techniques and planted with 19th-century varieties of flowers, fruit and vegetables. The garden reflects the characteristics of the era - the inventiveness and interest in science, the constant quest for improvement and the strict social hierarchy.