Incorporating Period Garden ideas in your garden or encampment

From Gervase Markham, The English Husbandman, 1613:

"How for the entertainment of any great Person, in any Parke, or other place of pleasure, where Sommer-bowers are made, to make a compleat Garden in two or three dayes.
If the honest English husbandman, or any other, of what quality soever, shall entertaine any Noble personage, to whom he woul give the delight of all strange contentment, either in his Parke, or other remote place of pleasure, neere unto Ponds, River or other waters of cleerenesse, after hee hath made his arbors and Summer-bowers to feast in, the fashion whereof is so common that every labourer can make them, hee shall then marke out his garden-plot, bestowing such sleight fence thereon as hee shall think fit: then hee shall cast forth his alleys, and devide them from his quarters, by paring away the greene-swarth with a paring spade, finely, and even, by a direct line (for line must ever be used in this worke) then having store of  labourers (after the upper-most swarth is taken away) you shall cast up the quarters, and then breaking the mould and levelling it, you shall make flat(?) the earth againe, then upon your quarters you shall draw forth either Knots, Armes, or any other device, as Birds, Beasts, and such like: and in your knots where you should plant hearbes, you shall take greene-sods of the richest grasse, and cutting it proportionably to the knot, making a fine trench, you shall lay in your sod, and so joyning sod to sod close and arteficially, you shall set forth your whole knot, or the portrayture of your armes, or other device, and then taking a cleane broome that hath not formerly been swept withall, you shall brush all uncleanenesse from the grasse, and then you shall behold your knot as compleat, and as comely as if it had beene set with hearbes many yeeres before. Now for the portrayture of any living thing, you shall cut it forth, joyning sod unto sod, and then afterward place it into the earth. Now if within this plot of ground which you make your garden piece there be either naturall or arteficiall mounts or bankes upon them, you may in this selfe-same manner with greene sods set forth a flight, either at field or river, or the manner of hunting of any chase, or any story, or other device that you please, to the infinit admiration of all them which shall behold it: onely in working against mounts or bankes you must observe to have many small pinnes, to stay your worke and keepe your sods from flipping one from another, till such time as you have made every thing fast with earth, which you must rame very close and hard: as for Flowers, or such like adornments, you may the morning before, remove them with their earth from some other garden, and plant them at your best pleasure. And thus much for a gardne to be made in the time of hasty necessity."

Garden Arrangements

A number of different garden arrangements are documented. Some examples:

• A lawn/meadow with wildflowers, perhaps with turf benches in an open U or L in the center.
• A walled garden with seats around the outside, and lawn and/or water feature in the center.
• A fenced-in lawn/garden with paths for walking, and images of heraldic beasts on poles here and there (Hampton Court Palace, Reign of Henry VIII)
• Quarters of parterres/knotwork placed where they can be seen from the windows of the house. Gravel, brick, stone etc. can be used instead of or in addition to plants. (See above)
  Raised or non-raised square or rectangular garden plots, laid out in a gingham check pattern, or (more rarely) in a checkerboard. These can be small or large-- some seem to be only 4 feet or so in width.
• Pergolas and/or arbors along a wall, with lawn in front.
  Kitchen gardens of plants in rows (Walafrid Strabo), or rectangular beds.
• terraced gardens with parterres or a grotto set into the hillside

Fencing

• Trellis attached to posts sections topped with a 1x4 rail.
• Post-and-rail made with milled lumber
• Cement blocks colored or stuccoed to look like stone.
• Diagonal patterned fencing, available in stores
• sections of wood palisade fencing, also available in stores.
• Lashed pole fencing with prickly climbers (such as roses) trained up it.

Water features:

• A round terracotta drainage pipe with a wide opening (2-4 feet) can be lined with a round pond liner for a wellhead.
• A rectangular koi pond surrounded with a rectangular edging of flat rectangular stones will resemble a fish storage facility.
• A rigid rectangular, square or round pond liner or ceramic container around with a flexible or rigid liner, whether partially or fully buried, can be used to provide the look of a wellhead, pool, or bottom fountain basin.

Benches and Arbors

A turf bench, perhaps with a section of trellis fastened to the back, can be made with either wooden or brick sides. Some examples seem to be stucco'd over, others made with stone slabs. Landsberg's Medieval Gardens gives plants for concrete block or brick 'excedra' as she calls them. If you make a U-shaped one large enough to fit a table in, it can be used for al-fresco dining.

Stone and wooden benches are sometimes seen in the pictures-- stone benches would have been stored inside and brought out for use.

Benches against a wall or trellis would have a climbing plant such as rosemary planted next to the back and trained up the wall or trellis.

Your library's self-improvement section will include books with directions for contructing arbors or pergolas. Hop vine, ivy, grape vine, or white-flowered gourd (lagenaria) vines can be trained over these to make the period look.

Plants in Pots:

Plants for a lawn:

See Medieval and Renaissance Gardens http://www.lehigh.edu/~jahb/herbs/medievalgardens.htm for more information.

2004