The garden is nothing new. Medieval gardens were utilitarian in nature, being one of the main ways in which the castle or keep were kept in food for the winter.
Preservation at that time was not an easy task. Keeping a garden growing and in good shape may have meant the different between starving or eating well over the winter months.
In addition to this, the medieval garden was also a place where leisure time was spent. These gardens, owned by the gentry, or the nobles, were quite ornate. Walking the garden was common for the nobles, who spent a great deal of time outdoors. Imagine yourself in a dank and damp castle which wasn’t always as clean as it might be and you can understand the pull that the outdoors might have had for them.
Ornate and very costly plants were planted here. Beautiful hedges, garden paths, walkways and lovely layouts were the order of the day. Castle and noble gardens were among some of the most carefully attended things that existed on the grounds.
Using a little imagination, as well as some common plants and the layouts that are still found for these medieval garden paradises, we can recreate them. If you’re a fan of the medieval life and you’d like to have a medieval garden of your own, the means to do it are at your fingertips.
The internet is a super resource for finding medieval gardening methods. You can also order many of the same plants and even find directions to build a knot garden, one of the common things that were part of every castle grounds.
Any part of your yard may serve to be an ancient garden, planted in the medieval way. The ancient garden is more about the means which are used to plant, rather than the plants that are used there, although this enters into play as well.
The use of each part of the garden was carefully plotted. Vegetables, as well as medicinal and aromatic herbs were used, and a section was reserved in the very earlier times for herbs used in brewing the various types of wine and mead as well.
The medieval lawn and garden usually had sections for herbs, for lawns and flowers, for hedges and hidden areas, as well as vegetables. These were wound around an entire set of castle grounds, interspersed with small statues, as well as stone or other seating for the person who wanted to tarry in the gardens.
Recreating the look is simple to accomplish using some of the online resources. This is one of our favorites http://www.superbherbs.net/design5.htm
