The garden of the Chateau de Villandry looks like it dates from the sixteenth century, but it was created between 1906 and 1924. The potager at Villandry consists of nine large squares which are planted to form geometric patterns. It is uncertain whether this approach was characteristic of Renaissance gardens, but Villandry had an enormous impact on the design of twentieth century potagers.
Planting vegetables in geometric patterns isn't very practical, since you may have to plant more vegetables than you need in order to create the desired pattern, and these beds tend to look best if an entire crop is harvested at once rather than removing one cabbage at a time. While impractical, elegant potagers have become status symbols and they are well suited for entertaining guests in.
My garden doesn't feature a potager, but it is descended from Northern Renaissance gardens and I combine edible and ornamental plants in ways which are similar to sixteenth century gardens. Two sides of the original part of my garden feature formally trained espaliers, and when I expanded the garden, I placed my vegetable beds and strawberry patch right in the middle of my ornamental garden. I call the style of my garden "rustic formal" and I feel that the straight rows of vegetables harmonize with my garden's straight paths.
If you want to grow a lot of edible plants in an ornamental manner, it is usually best for the garden to have formal lines. This is because many food plants have traditionally been grown in either straight rows or geometric beds, but it is also because geometric gardens are attractive even when the planting beds are empty. It is also easy to rotate crops when a garden contains several geometric planting beds of the same size.
 |
 |
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Kirk Johnson's Garden Design topic, please visit the Discussions page.