Lesson Ten
Student Essay: Gardens in Deerfield, Massachusetts - 18th and 19th Centuries

Near most of the houses was a place for the garden and that place was often on the south side of the houselot where the sun was the most abundant. This would ensure not only that the maximum amount of sunshine would fall on the plot in the course of a day but also that the soil would be warmed faster in the spring and that frost might be delayed in the fall. Gardens varied in size and often were enclosed by some kind of board fence to keep out small animals. Root crops, squashes, peas, beans - crops that were good "keepers" or that could be preserved by drying - were in most gardens, but herbs, salad greens, and seasonal vegetables were also popular.

Before the 1790s, seeds were saved or exchanged for sowing the following year, but after 1790 garden seeds were available from merchants in the region. The Greenfield, Massachusetts newspaper, which began publication in 1792, carried advertisements recording the variety of seeds available. By the 1820s the seed business was well developed.

List of Garden Seeds Available in Greenfield, MA, 1820 Compiled by J. Ritchie Garrison

Many seeds came in several varieties. Dr. William Stoddard Williams, whose garden plan appears in this lesson, planted several varieties of radishes, peas and beans. Not all families planted extensive gardens with as much variety as Dr. Williams, but most people in the region had gardens with a number of the plants listed above. Dr. Williams' garden was not typical, either in size or in the variety of plants he attempted. He was an amateur scientist and a physician and he used his plant knowledge in his profession.

Dr. Williams laid out his garden in beds and generally spaced his rows a foot apart. He devoted at least seventeen beds to vegetables. His garden emphasized root crops and vegetables that stored well, but it also included greens for "sallet" [salad]. Like the location of the house and its outbuildings, this was a carefully planned landscape feature located behind or beside the house, close to the family kitchen.

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