| Title: | Kitchen garden |
| Original Title: | Potager |
| Volume and Page: | Vol. 13 (1765), pp. 177–178 |
| Author: | Unknown |
| Translator: | Ann-Marie Thornton [Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey] |
| Subject terms: |
Gardening
|
| Original Version (ARTFL): | Link |
| Source: | Russell, Terence M. and Anne Marie Thornton. Gardens and landscapes in the Encyclopédie of Diderot and D'Alembert : the letterpress articles and selected engravings. Aldershot: Ashgate, 1999. Used with permission. |
| Rights/Permissions: |
This text is protected by copyright and may be linked to without seeking permission. Please see http://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/did/terms.html for information on reproduction. |
| URL: | http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0000.229 |
| Citation (MLA): | "Kitchen garden." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Ann-Marie Thornton. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2013. Web. [fill in today's date in the form 18 Apr. 2009 and remove square brackets]. <http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0000.229>. Trans. of "Potager," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, vol. 13. Paris, 1765. |
| Citation (Chicago): | "Kitchen garden." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Ann-Marie Thornton. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0000.229 (accessed [fill in today's date in the form April 18, 2009 and remove square brackets]). Originally published as "Potager," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, 13:177–178 (Paris, 1765). |
Kitchen garden. Different kitchen gardens have been created from time immemorial and their cultivation has been constantly perfected. Of all gardens, they are the most vital. The word ‘potager’ derives from the pot herbs which are grown there and used in soup. [1] Root crops, lettuces, bulbous plants, vegetables, and legumes are also grown in kitchen gardens.
Kitchen gardens should be laid out in sites of a favourable exposure, and the soil should be enriched. These gardens should be cultivated, manured, dug, and hoed as carefully as vineyards, and above all there should be a plentiful supply of water: if there is too much, a large drystone drain may be worked into the centre of the garden with a number of small, imperceptible furrows flowing into it in order to retain water from the borders and allées.
If the kitchen garden is intersected by walls in order to increase the number of espaliers, each main quarter should have an area of at least 15-20 toises squared, so that there is enough room for the borders, surrounding allées, and a large centre quarter laid out with levelled beds.
The wise gardener will arrange plants differently according to whether the soil is dry, or rich and damp: he will space his vegetables at greater intervals in rich land where they will thrive, than in dry land where they will scarcely grow. In rich soil, his beds will be somewhat raised so that they drain into the allées, whereas in dry soil they will be sunken. The skilled gardener will draw maximum profit from the different soil conditions which are often found in the same kitchen garden: in areas which are low and somewhat damp, he will plant artichokes, beetroot, scorzoneras, salsifies, carrots, parsnips, cabbages, spinaches, etc. In drier areas, he will plant lettuces, endives, chervil, tarragon, basil, burnets, balm, purslanes, garlic, shallots, etc. In the best section, which is neither too dry nor too damp, he will grow asparagus, strawberries, cardoons, celery, sea samphire, etc.
Notes
1. The French for soup is ‘potage’.