Garden Guide and Information

Chimney

6

7

8

2

4

5

9

1

3

10

12

11

Blue

Green

Red

Orange

Watermelon

Peppers

Beets

Yellow

Zucchini

Potatoes

Teal

Purple

Mint

Herbs

Thyme

Olive

Read below for details and historical accounts of each plant!

Watermelons

Watermelons have been cultivated in the Americas since they were introduced by European settlers in the late 1500’s. They are useful sources of hydration without requiring heat to sterilize, and they may be preserved by pickling or turning into jellies or jam. The 18th-century gardening manual The Practical Kitchen Gardiner (sic) provides the following instructions for choosing the best melon.

“You may judge of the goodness of a melon by its ponderosity or weight; and provided it ripens well whilst the leaves and stalk are pert and green, it is a certain indication of its goodness… a perfect transcendent melon will be full, juicy, and without vacuity, which you will easily discern by rapping a little with your knuckles on the outside of the fruit."

Peppers

Peppers are native to the Americas, where they were domesticated by indigenous peoples over 5000 years ago. Hot peppers became a popular craze in Europe after colonization, where they became heavily associated with Spanish cuisine. Hot chocolate, itself a luxury delicacy in the colonial core, was sometimes spiced with powdered hot chili peppers, reflecting the traditional preparation of drinking chocolate by Central and South American cultures.

Potatoes

Potatoes were first domesticated in Central and South America and were a staple carbohydrate among the indigenous peoples of this region. Because they are both calorie and nutrient-dense, and owing to their relative ease of growth, potatoes quickly became a vital subsistence crop for European settlers during colonization. The Practice of Cookery provides the following recipe for “Potatoe Collar”: “Beat some potatoes with a little mace and cream, or beat butter; work it up, and shape it like a collar, leaving out a little, to make into round and oval balls; glaze the whole with the yolk of an egg, and bake them of a fine crisp brown; place the collar in the middle, and lay the balls round it. Make a sauce of half a mutchkin (half a pint) of red wine, some sugar, the yolks of two eggs beaten up with a little nutmeg; stir it gently on the fire till it is pretty thick, then pour it about the dish.” Mace here refers to a spice made from the outer covering of a nutmeg seed.

Mint

Mint has historically been grown to flavor foods, as well as for preparation as a tea for both taste and medicinal benefits. As The Practical Kitchen Gardiner(sic) describes, mint is “friendly to a weak stomach, and powerful against many distempers,” meaning it is useful for an upset stomach or nausea. Mint is notoriously aggressive in a garden, which is why the mint you see here is planted in buried pots.