The Important Science of Gardening


After the collapse of Rome, city life throughout the Roman Empire
broke down and was replaced by a feudal society, with castles
and a ruling class that oppressed the peasant class. Agricultural
life dominated, but Roman farming methods were less effective
in northern Europe where the soil was less fertile and the climate
undependable.

As a result, the crops produced in the northern area were not as bountiful. During the early Middle Ages, the
peasant diet consisted primarily of starches; very little animal
protein was available to them. Hunting was not practiced by the
lower class, and domestic animals were not yet raised to provide
food. As a result of poor nutrition, peasants suffered from health
problems that also led to a greater incidence of disease. Later on, a
better plow and a horse collar made farming easier, and peasants
increased production of legumes, which offered a protein source
that had been absent from their diets. This improvement in eating
eventually led to an increase in population.
During this time, people needed to be self sustaining, so the
garden was a very important part of the land and the culture; the
well-tended garden was a source of food as well as a resource for
medicinal plants. If the climate permitted, almost every manor,
abbey, and great estate would have had a combination of cultivated
lands that included utilitarian gardens, farm fields, woods,
orchards, and vineyards. The people of this time were heavily
influenced by the farming methods and suggestions of the Greeks
and Romans, particularly Columella, who wrote Res rustica (On
agriculture); Varro, who wrote De re rustica (On agriculture);
Cato, De agricultura (On agriculture); Palladius, On Hosbondrie
(On husbandry); and Pliny the Elder as well as Dioscorides.
Medieval gardens were always protected in some way. Some
gardeners enclosed their spaces with baked brick or stones used
to create walls. Others dug ditches or planted trees or hedges to
demarcate the boundaries of the garden. Still others wove a wattle
(a sort of basket-work of willow branches) that was placed around
parts of the garden. While it is doubtful that most of these barriers
kept out wildlife, they would have outlined property boundaries
and soon become an integral part of a beautiful garden.

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