Hello Mid-Ohio Valley gardeners and farmers! This week I want to discuss planting a historical or colonial kitchen garden.

2026 marks Americas 250th Anniversary. Compared to today, colonial gardens were an essential component of survival, located near the house to prevent starvation and treat illness. Gardening meant feeding your family and having a ready supply of medicine. Kitchen gardens were a vital source of daily nutrition.

In many instances, gardening today is a hobby or a way to get fresh, great tasting and nutritious produce from your backyard. It is often a pursuit intended for enjoyment, to reduce stress and provide both exercise and a connection to nature, rather than for survival.

First let me say there were no specific “herb gardens”. Many consider these “kitchen gardens” because they were very practical and served the purpose of providing food, medicine, seasonings, and fragrance. Herbs were mixed in with vegetable plantings. However, pungent herbs were separated from vegetables.

Larger vegetables such as snap or pole beans, sweet corn and pumpkins were grown in the larger, outlying fields. Fruit trees were incorporated into the garden from outside edges to focal points in the center of the garden squares

Most European and colonial gardens developed from Tudor and Medieval gardening styles. Colonial gardens in the United States were quite diverse, drawing influence from early immigrants and their own heritage. Colonists from France, England, the Netherlands and Germany created gardens that reflected traditions from their homeland.

Plants brought to the Colonies included vegetables, herbs, flowers, bulbs, and fruit trees. They were placed in gardens with plants native to the United States, including tobacco, corn and other vegetables, trees, flowering shrubs, vines, and wild flowers.

Corn was a major food source for the colonies and Native Americans. Colonial families grew quite a bit for corn for making corn meal. Native Americans had been using corn ground into meal and flour for years in their cooking and people in the colonies quickly adapted growing this staple food.

A surge in popularity for cornmeal occurred around the American Civil War. Corn was plentiful and cheap, and corn bread and other dishes made from cornmeal were a quick and simple meal.

Gardens differed depending on the colonists’ needs. Garden dimensions were proportional to the size of their family. In rural areas gardens were planted around structures such as buildings, fences, livestock pens, walkways, and surrounding work areas. Most colonists did not place plants around the foundation of the home, his practice emerged later in the Victorian era.

Most colonial gardens were about function and efficiency. Gardens would be laid out in square or rectangular shaped raised-beds framed with tree saplings. This allowed gardeners access to the entire gardening space. Plants were usually in tightly packed rows to save space and walkways were created from soil, gravel, or crushed clamshells, and surrounding each bed.

Hedges or picket fences surrounding the garden to protect plants from animals and damaging wind but some would use wooden fences. A larger, central walkway leading to the focal point in the garden that was usually a well or similar stone feature.

Colonists also took advantage of hills on their property and planted crops such as peas, lettuce, and radishes earlier in the season on southern-facing slopes to take advantage of the warmer soil.

When planting a garden colonists considered things such as sunlight and shade, proximity to water, and honey bees. Most gardeners had beehives very close to the garden to promote pollination and help plants to flourish. Herbs and flowers were also used as ingredients in many perfumes and soaps made in the colonies.

Caring for an herb garden was a vital part of colonial life. Harvesting, drying, and storing properly was important because dried herbs held their essence for less than six months. Planting, wedding, and harvesting were all important aspects of care.

Many cooking and seasoning herbs were grown in colonial gardens. Rosemary, thyme, basil, chives, mint, sage, marjoram, savory, and oregano were tasty and aromatic herbs that were frequently cultivated.

An important use of herbs was for medicine. Horehound was popular for gastric upsets and sassafras was important for dental cleanliness. Cinquefoil, an astringent, was used for night sweats. Coriander was used for gastrointestinal problems and bad breath.

At the time of the Revolutionary War, most colonists with a kitchen garden grew medicinal herbs such hyssop, lavender, comfrey, and fennel, interspersed with vegetables and flowers in their garden. Soldiers at this time would pack a number of herbs that worked best on ailments they normally experienced including chamomile, mint, licorice, yarrow, horsetail, and sage.

Beans, squash and cabbage were popular garden vegetables. Greens were often listed in colonial recipes. These included kale, mustard, Swiss chard, and turnip greens.

Parsnips, carrots and potatoes were grown and often boiled or cooked into stews. Gardens that contained small vegetables such as leaks, onions, garlic, carrots, and cabbage herbs, and flowers were placed near a house door to allow quick and easy access.

There were a variety of flowers and flowering shrubs in the colonial garden including azaleas, sunflowers, hydrangeas, roses, English ivy, clematis, holly, and lilies. Columbine, crocuses, bee balm, grape hyacinth, evening primrose, star-of-bethlehem, and tulips were others grown. Flowers were also used as decorations in homes, churches, taverns, hair, and clothing.

American Founding Father President Thomas Jefferson was an avid gardener. The English pea was his favorite vegetable, and he grew 23 different varieties in his garden at Monticello. Jefferson also documented harvesting lettuce every month of the year and urged gardeners to sow a thimbleful of lettuce seeds every week from early spring to September.

George Washington was also an innovative farmer and gardener. He experimented with improving soil health through crop rotation and composting. Due to market fluctuation and soil nutrient depletion, Washington transitioned Mount Vernon from tobacco production to growing crops such as wheat, peas, and potatoes. In addition, he planted huge vegetable gardens and fruit orchards.

Planting a colonial or kitchen garden will give you a glimpse into the rich history of gardening here in America. A mix of plants and traditions from “Old World” Europe and the “New World” of North America shaped gardening and culture in our great country.

Contact me at the Wood County WVU Extension Office 304-424-1960 or e-mail me at jj.barrett@mail.wvu.edu with questions. Good Luck and until next time, Happy Gardening!