The Victorian Kitchen Garden

Once every big house had its walled kitchen garden. In an age before imports and deep freezers, the head gardener and his staff had to supply the hous...

Harry remembers his life in the walled gardens and his rise from garden boy to head gardener. In the garden he tackles the winter jobs - building hot...

Winter locks the garden in its icy grip. It is an opportunity for repairing tools. Peter shows the range the Victorian gardener had at his disposal. H...

Harry and Peter draw up a cropping plan for the coming year. Harry expects to plant over 25 different crops including what he calls his 'fussy pieces'...

It was called 'the hungry gap'. While the staff were fed tired offerings from the root store, the head gardener had to play a horticultural conjuring...

A wet May frustrates Harry's attempt to sow seeds on the open land. Under glass he starts on the cultivation of what the Victorians called 'the nobles...

'Flaming June' lives up to its name. Harry is kept busy manipulating the blinds and ventilators of the glasshouses, to protect the emerging tomatoes,...

The soft fruit is ready for picking - morello cherries and black, red and white currants, red and yellow raspberries. Gooseberries, too, are ripening...

The preoccupation of the Victorian gardener during August was getting water to his plants. The invention of the India rubber hosepipe transformed his...

September is the month that brings cook the widest choice of fruit and vegetables. Although a time of plenty, little goes to waste. What is not eaten...

One October morning Harry walks to the garden to gather a choice melon and an artichoke-like vegetable called a cardoon. Harry has entered both in the...

Whenever the family was in its London residence, it still received fresh vegetables from its country garden. Harry shows how he used to pack a hamper...

Christmas occupies much of the head gardener's time. Harry ensures he has a plentiful supply of produce for the festive meals by stockpiling well in a...