The Gardens of Colonial Williamsburg
When traveling to Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, I was most excited to experience their gardens. It is something I have been looking into since I first started gardening, looking for answers in the history and how-to’s of the art. I was absolutely filled with joy upon arriving to the historical village to find that the gardens were just as beautiful as I had imagined and still bustling with life even in the autumn months. Virginia has a mildly different climate than Iowa, as they are in zone 7b and 8a. If you are unfamiliar, this is a humid subtropical climate that has its average first frost in late October and last frost in early April (just a few weeks ahead and behind us in zone 5b). The small city is located on a peninsula between the James and York Rivers. Upon asking residents, I discovered they do receive snow but it remains warm enough that they can leave dahlia tubers in the ground over winter. Interesting!
The colors alone were stunning to me, and the volunteers working in the gardens could not have been more blended in perfectly. I walked into the garden above, which was the largest one I toured, and had tears in my eyes. It was just so beautiful! I took note of all of the beauty and made sure to store it for my own garden plans next year. Now that we are entering our fourth season of growing edible plants, I am excited to return to kitchen gardening. What excites me most is that since I last had a small family garden, I have learned so much about the art of growing great vegetables. Now I get to implement those design aspects along with my knowledge of the seasons, plant selection, crop rotation, and more. It finally feels like I know what I am doing, and I think that 2020 will see our best garden yet in terms of both bounty and beauty. That said, things can always go wrong! I mean, look at this past spring. At least now, I do not have to worry so much about making a quota!
I found it interesting how many of the tools and structural ways to grow vegetables has not changed in over 300 years. Cold frames, trellises for peas and beans, clay pots for vegetable starts, slate garden markers, and teepees/cages for tomatoes and peppers were being used as garden tools in the 18th century. What I loved was that all materials were made from natural elements and were made by hand by the owner of the garden. The pea trellis above, for example, is made from twigs picked up around the garden and yard. And while some might find it sloppy and haphazard, I find it quite beautiful, simple, and rustic. It’s easy, and it works just as well. I was fascinated to find that the gardeners were using glass cloches all around over their newly planted starts, too. I might have to try this myself, now that we are back to small scale growing.
I was able to leave this trip feeling refreshed and inspired. I love soaking in knowledge and being knowledgable about the topics I enjoy (Enneagram 5), so this was both a trip of growth for me as well as reassurance that I was doing things right, that I was continuing down the right path. While I have big dreams for our 2020 garden, that will incorporate more of the varieties that I like, the ones that I know will grow well here, and will finally be manageable enough to be weed free again - praise! - I know that all of these additions will probably take a few years to actually happen. Our new garden plot will be at the new property Kyle and I are renting, so we’ll be starting from scratch yet again, at least in terms of starting a garden. I have already been setting aside seed varieties for next year and getting excited that it won’t be so overbearing just feeding ourselves, and that we can eventually incorporate cold frames into our plot. I am excited to show garden plans for next season!
xoxo Kayla
