Jennie and Aaron continue to put plants and seeds in the garden.  After the first planting of kale and cabbage, we discovered that we had a rodent chewing on our plants.  Looks like a groundhog really enjoyed the kale and cabbage!

The rodent even nibbled on the borage (yuch) and hores hound.   We put up a 21st century fence temporarily, until we get our wattle fence built!

Nevertheless, the planting continues.  Here are our transplants ready to go in the ground.

And or intrepid head gardener, Jennie Bergeron, preparing the soil for more plants.

Stop by and check out our progress!

The garden begins

Our Renaissance Gardener, Jennie Bergeron, and her friend Aaron got started laying out the garden today, based on the design Jennie created.  They marked the rows and laid out straw walkways.  A few plants went in but she decided to wait a day or two to put more plants in the ground as there is a chance of a frost tonight.  Seeding begins tomorrow!

Our own American Gothic

As we have explored herbs of the Renaissance, we’ve discovered some interesting sources focused more on the middle ages (5th to 15th centuries).  In fact, not much changed during the Renaissance in the commoners gardens so these links might be useful:

The next stage of our Renaissance Garden Project is to design and build the garden.  Right now the garden is covered in snow, but we are busy ordering seeds and growing plants.  Most of the students who participated in the first stage of the project are still with us, and Jennie Bergeron has agreed to take a lead role in garden design.

For a brief introduction to the project and a partial summary of what we have learned so far, please see:

Creating a Renaissance Era Cottage Garden in New England

You are also invited to join our “friends and fans” mailing list if you want to be kept informed about our progress and future events at the Center.

Join the Renaissance Garden “Friends and Fans” mailing list here

Sonia Schloemann wrote…..

Hops – National Germplasm Repository in Corvallis has Hops in their catalog (see: https://www.ars.usda.gov/Main/docs.htm?docid=11069).  They don’t have a specific listing of old, heirloom or antique varieties as the do in some other listings.  However, if you look through the whole list, there are some old varieties there.  In particular 4 that reference dating back to ‘middle ages’, and another 8 that reference being from old English, French, German, or Polish landraces.  See the list below for specific names.  They come from the list at https://www.ars.usda.gov/SP2UserFiles/Place/53581500/catalogs/humcult.html.

Middle Ages
‘Backa’ – Czechoslovakia
‘Chum 800′ – Czechoslovakia
‘Saazar 36′ – Czechoslovakia
‘Saazar 38′ – Czechoslovakia

Old –
‘Early Prolific’ – English
‘Early Promise’ – English
‘Elsasser’ – French
‘Precoce de Bourgogre’ – French
‘Hallertauer’ – German
‘Landhopfen’- German
‘Tettnanger’- German
‘Nadwislanska’- Polish

Of all these, the only one that is said to ship as cuttings (2, unrooted) is ‘Early Prolific’.  The rest will ship as tissue culture plantlets.  This means identifying someone who can grow them out from this stage to rooted plants.  I’m not sure who at UMass is equipped to do that, but I can find out.

This same site also has the Mint collection, so if there are types of mint specific to this time period that you want to order, let me know and I can place the order (it’s probably easier for me to do it and have all the plant material come to one place).

For anyone who wants to look into other plant material, the easiest thing to do is to go to the National Plant Germplasm System page at http://www.ars-grin.gov/npgs/index.html and search a plant name (common or scientific) from there.  If you have a specific variety name, that can help narrow down the search.  Let me know if you want to order any material and I can coordinate.  I’m interested in Quince and Hazelnuts, too.

We had two excellent presentations today from Aaron and Madeline.  Also Paula submitted a written report.  Here are a few new resources:

Paula’s  Renaissance Report

Aaron’s PowerPoint on Hops

Madeline’s Report on Roses (coming soon)

Madeline’s Rose Slideshow

Thanks to Alison Kiraly for welcoming us today with coffee, tea and snacks for our discussion of the Renaissance Garden.  We always feel so welcome when we meet at the Center.

We began this project with a hypothesis.  We believed that the Columbian Exchange would have changed the way common people of the Renaissance gardened.  Our plan was to create two gardens at the Renaissance Center, representing pre- and post-1492 northern European cottage gardens.  However our research has found that New World plants coming to Europe after Columbus didn’t have a dramatic impact on cottage gardens in northern Europe until sometime after the period we think of as the Renaissance.

So….. a shift in theme!

In fact, the research has brought forth some really interesting ideas that we hope to work into our garden plans.  We still plan on designing a vegetable/herb/flower garden typical to the period.  At the same time, we think we can use the garden to tell some interesting stories about how common people lived (and ate) during the 14th to 17th centuries.

So… our research continues!

Aaron will focus on growing of hops, various period growing technologies and techniques, garden design, natural structures (such as wattle fencing) and how coppicing might be incorporated into the Renaissance Center property.

Jennie will continue to look more closely at the food plants that go into pottage, how herbs were grown, the yearly cycle of growing, what plants were used to stock the  supply closet such as medicine and cleaning products, and a bit on the “permaculture of the Middle Ages” (did they know it was sustainable?).

Paula will focus on the relationship between common plants and lifestyles (context and culture) particularly cooking and medicine.

Abby will look into the cultural meaning of the strawberry how it changed from representing “the trinity to lust.”   She will also investigate the border of  gardens an how flowers might have been used.  Finally, she will explore the impact of gardening at the manor or royal houses where commoners might have worked and taken techniques and plants home.

Eliza is looking at the structure of the garden, period tools, wintering techniques for plants, and incorporating bees for honey into the garden.

Madeline has been investigating a contemplation garden with a grape vine arbor and discovered a similar project at Penn State University! She will also explore the history and significance of the rose in Medieval England.

And the work goes on!

I seeded some oats right after the compost was rototilled in.  The oats will reduce soil erosion over the winter and will also capture any soluble nitrogen that is released by the compost.  The oat plants will die back over the winter and release the nitrogen to the vegetables in the spring.

I’ve really enjoyed reading your posts.  If you have not done so yet, be sure and check out Abby’s posts which include some nice artwork.  Interesting findings on strawberries.

Jennie has found some interesting things about the difference and commonalities between gardens of the wealthy and the commoners.

And Aaron’s findings that the English didn’t really accept common New World plants like tomatoes is important.  I had assumed this would be one of the big differences between pre- and post-1492 gardens in England.

Check out Aaron’s and Maddy’s idea of building a wattle fence, and also Maddy’s pictures of grafted fruit trees.

Paula found that turnips were a common vegetable (which doesn’t surprise me).

One plant that surely belongs in the post-1492 garden is corn, as Eliza points out.