French Gardening

1909

Truby King SB323 F72 SM94

London: Joseph Fels

La culture maraîchère (market gardening), in and around the city of Paris in the 19th century, carried on the intensive and innovative gardening techniques of La Quintinie from the 17th century. French market gardens were typically only two acres of land at most, but they could produce up to ten crops per year with the use of walled gardens, cloches, growing frames, and large quantities of manure. The author of this book, former Manchester printer Thomas Smith, was involved in an early 20th century gardening scheme in England. A French maraîcher was brought to a farm in Essex to teach the inventive French techniques used to produce as much as possible from a small piece of land. Here is Smith’s plan for his ‘French Garden’, consisting of 20 beds in total.