This was part of a project sponsored in part by a grant from the Massachusetts Council for the Humanities

Programs held on July 17th and August 21st 1999 examined the kitchen gardens, at that time divided into four quarters, each representing a different time period significant to the history of the house. It was typical in the late 18th and early 19th centuries to divide a garden into quarters, separated by major walkways.

The "three sisters" interplanting of pumpkin, corn, and beans, set up according to Native American design is found in the earliest, 18th Century quarter. Hills and raised beds, in which are planted period cultivars like Flat Dutch cabbage, Cimmarron and Tennis Ball lettuce (a favorite of Thomas Jefferson), and Cherokee tobacco, dominate this plot. Noting that early settlers usually cultivated with nothing more than shovel and hoe, Tom demonstrated how beds were raised with these tools.

This contrasted with the next quarter, the 1853 Quarter (The Bidwells having inhabited the house until 1853), which was established according to a 19th century Shaker gardening manual. Here the Early Jersey Wakefield cabbage, Red Weathersfield onions, celeriac, salsify, and other heirloom vegetables are also sown in raised beds, but the beds are all parallel, running north and south, enabling cultivation with horse drawn implements.

The 1917 Garden (memorializing the last year that the property was worked as a farm), is noticeably different than the earlier quarters in the conspicuous absence of raised beds. Interestingly enough, Tom pointed out that the adjacent Contemporary Garden displays a return to raised bed gardening. In the loose soil of raised beds vegetable roots tend to grow downward rather than splaying out, so more vegetables can be concentrated into a smaller space. Because suburban gardeners are often restricted in space, raised beds have come back into vogue. But in the early twentieth century, the authors of progressive garden manuals were still instructing a population primarily composed of farmers. The size of farms had grown to a point where space limitation for a kitchen garden was not much of an issue. The extra labor required in the raising of beds was considered a waste of time. Crops spread out in simple drills were easy to cultivate by horse, and plowing only needed to be done once a season.

Participants were also shown the period vegetables sown in this plot, such as Waltham broccoli, Indian Moon tomatoes, Champion of England peas, etc. They were invited to try out the period tools on display, but all declined. The 95 degree heat foiled Tom's ruse to have participants take care of the week's weeding chores.

A merciless downpour put a serious damper on our August 21st tour of the garden, but visitors raised umbrellas and tried to stay focused on the theme of the day,: Just how contemporary is the contemporary quarter of the Bidwell House kitchen garden?

Features of the contemporary plots that are considered to be in keeping with current trends include: intensive planting schemes, the use of mulch, raised beds, oriental vegetables, etc. He then proceeded to reveal historical precedents for all but a few of these features. He recalled the raised beds that participants walked by in the historical quarters of our garden, relating also that raised beds have been in use in China for thousands of years. It's true that mulch was not widely used in this country before this century, but interpreters at Mystic Seaport claim that seaweed was frequently used as mulch on Connecticut shore gardens in the 1800s. As for intensive planting patterns, 19th century French market gardeners in the vicinity of Paris, who had little space to sow but a lot of fertile manure at the their disposal from stables in the city, spaced seeds similarly to the pattern advocated today. Also, diagrams of George Washington's garden at Mt. Vernon indicate an intensive scheme.