The ornamental kitchen garden - Geoff Hamilton

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more Elizabeth David Cookery

The wonderful Geoff Hamilton (as he was described by a charity shop volunteer, as she put my copy below, through the till with a sigh), may have passed on, but his books remain to inspire the green fingered gardeners of the UK, and even the world! This one I'm reluctant to sell, so it's staying on my shelves, until I find another copy ...

The ornamental kitchen garden by Geoff Hamilton

THE ORNAMENTAL KITCHEN GARDEN is a beautifully illustrated and highly practical guide to a new style of gardening. In fact it is not a new style but a return to traditional methods once found in gardens all over the world, from medieval monastries to Victorian kitchen gardens, when fruit, flowers and vegetables were planted in the same beds in an attractive and productive mix.

This sort of garden not only looks good and provides constant variety all year round, but is essentially kind to the environment and in tune with nature. And it's ideally suited to small gardens as well as to large. It attracts wildlife - especially birds and insects - which help to keep pests under control, while the different species growing side by side make the most of the soil.

Geoff Hamilton, BBC TV's popular gardening expert and the writer and presenter of The Ornamental Kitchen Garden television series on which the book is based, tells you everything you need to know to create an ornamental kitchen garden from scratch or to transform an existing garden. He explains, with the help of drawings, how to plan your garden with paths, beds, patio and garden pool. Using step-by-step photos and easy-to-follow drawings he shows how to make all the essential components: brick and scree paths, arbours and pergolas, cold frames, cloches and compost bins, as well as how to lay lawns. He gives detailed descriptions of the decorative plants - perennials and annuals, bulbs and herbs, climbers, vegetables, ornamental trees and shrubs, fruit trees and bushes - which would be most suitable for this sort of garden and explains how to cultivate them.

Geoff Hamilton is a great believer in organic gardening and a final chapter tells the reader how to deal with pests, diseases and weeds without recourse to chemicals, and gives advice on how to increase the productivity of the soil using natural fertilizers.

Inspired by the wealth of suggestions and ideas in this highly illustrated, informative book, you can spend many happy hours creating and looking after your own ornamental kitchen garden - a place of beauty to relax in and enjoy. (Source: front flap of book dustjacket 1990 BBC hardback edition)

GEOFF HAMILTON trained in horticulture before going to work in many different branches of gardening, including vegetable growing and landscape gardening. He now cultivates his own five-acre garden at Barnsdale in Rutland where he has planned, built and planted his own ornamental kitchen garden, as well as growing a wide range of vegetables, fruit, flowers, trees and shrubs.

Geoff Hamilton's career as a gardening journalist began over twenty years ago on the weekly magazine Garden News. From 1974 to 1979 he was editor of Practical Gardening. He writes regularly for several gardening magazines and is the author of many books on gardening, including Successful Organic Gardening and First Time Garden. He is the regular presenter of the very successful BBC TV series Gardeners' World, and the series accompanying this book, The Ornamental Kitchen Garden, which was filmed in his garden at Barnsdale.

Front jacket photo: Geoff Hamilton in his ornamental kitchen garden at Barnsdale, near Oakham, Rutland. Back jacket photo: Mixed flower and vegetable bed at Barnsdale.
Photographs by Stephen Hamilton (Source: back flap of book dustjacket 1990 BBC hardback edition)

Contents

Foreward

Introduction

Basic principles :- growing in rows, using chemicals, choice of varieties, the primrose path, fertility, aesthetics
Past gardens :- companion planting, the formal design, elizabethan science
The victorian garden
Formal gardens
Growing fruit attractively :- fruit training

Design and planning

Design :- membership requirements, requirements
The drawing board
My own garden :- the patio, the paths, the lawn, the pergola and rose arbour, the greenhouse, the pool, the utility area, containers
Planning the planting
The large garden – including a plan for a small garden and a plan for a large garden
Planning the formal garden including two simple designs for a herb garden
Knots and parterres

Construction and cultivation

Making a clean start
Laying a patio :- setting out, the base, laying the slabs
Scree paths
Brick paths
The rose arbour
Garden pools :- a barrel pool, a larger pool, the bog garden
Pergolas
Making a cold frame :- making the frame, heating
The lawn :- preparation, seed or turf?
A wild-flower meadow :- sowing, maintenance, planting
Building the formal garden :- the walls, paths, borders, planting, fixing wires, designs for a formal garden
Making knots and parterres :- the design, planting, maintenance
Compost bins
Cloches :- the modern lantern cloche
Cultivation :- the deep-bed method, double digging, single digging, between crops, weeding, mulching, extra feeding
Planting and sowing :- planting the permanent plants, annuals and vegetables, keeping the continuity, trimming and pruning

The gardening calendar

Winter plants :- autumn cherry, pieris, hardy cyclamen, daffodil, snowdrop, scorzonera, iris, brussels sprouts, chicory, mahonia, carrot, potato, leek, savoy, apple, twisted hazel, lungwort, viburnum, stinking hellebore, heather, parsnip, salsify, laurustinus, jerusalem artichoke lenton rose, witch hazel
January :- outside, inside
February :- outside, inside
Early spring plants :- skimmia, flowering currant, viburnum, flowering almond, forsythia, wood spurge, tulip, drumstick primula, lettuce, elephant's ears, spurge, cauliflower, polyanthus, flowering cherry, pieris, grape hyacinth, flowering quince, magnolia, daffodil, radish, spring cabbage
March :- outside, inside
Late spring plants :- flowering gooseberry, honeysuckle, carrot, clematis, avens, french marigold, barberry, parsley, spinach, rhododendron hybrid, granny's bonnets, japanese snowball, flowering thorn, false acacia, whitebeam, rosemary, creeping blue blossom, cranesbill, turnip, geranium, bleeding heart, knotweed
April :- outside, inside
Early summer plants :- chilean glory flower, maple, cape marigold, mountain ash, petunia, pansy, oriental poppy, monkshood, potato, fennel, lilac, laburnum, begonia, fuchsia, mexican orange blossom, daisy bush, lupin, spurge, plantain lily, jamaica primrose
May :- outside, inside
Midsummer plants :- False acacia, chilean glory flower, senecio, giant bellflower, ornamental onion, fig, cabbage, sweet pea, gum tree, masterwort, lily, cotoneaster, marjoram, sweet william, thyme, rose campion, red currant, swiss chard – rhubarb chard and spinach, potato
June :- outside, inside
Midsummer plants (more) :- honeysuckle, carnations and pinks, marigold, cinquefoil, borage, rhubarb, lettuce, canterbury bell, smoke bush, miniature marguerite, globe flower, spiraea, broad bean, jacob's ladder, gooseberry, penstemon, salad onion, globe artichoke, July :- outside, inside
Midsummer plants (more) :- Norway maple, clematis, cranesbill, yarrow, poached egg flower, pansy, delphinium, kohlrabi, carrot, honey locust, weeping pear, cinquefoil, red raripila spearmint, apple mint, water iris, rose, strawberry, cauliflower, anthemis, St John's wort
August :- outside, inside
Late summer plants :- veronica, apple, fuschia, yellow flax, gladiolus, morning glory, aubergine ( egg plant ), courgette, red lettuce, grape, coyote willow, mallow, tomato, nasturtium, sweet corn, parsley, rosemary, climbing french beans, globe artichoke, nutmeg tree, dwarf french beans, cucumber, endive
September :- outside, inside
October :- outside, inside
Late summer plants (more) :- barberry, cape figwort, sage, petunia, blackberry, melon, french marigold, floss flower, feather grass, gladiolus, raspberry, honetsuckle, runner beans, ivy, clematis, oregano, butterly bush, garlic chives, senecio, sweet pepper, chives
November :- outside, inside
December :- outside, inside
Autumn plants :- virginia creeper, crab apple, passion fruit, climbing nasturtium, beauty berry, climbing monkshood, pears and cotoneaster frigidus, calabrese, onion, ice plant, orange peel clematis, apple, mountain ash, sweet cicely, shrubby veronica, japanese maple, chinese plumbago, chrysanthemum and dahlia, squashes, celery

Decorative plants

Trees :- recommended trees for small gardens – specified varieties of – malus, crataegus ( ornamental thorns ), cotoneaster, ilex ( hollies ), sorbus, amelanchier lamarckii, betula ( birches ), salix ( willows ), planting trees, aftercare
Out-of-reach plants :- shrubs for sunny positions – specified varieties of – berberis, caryopteris clandonesis, choisya ternata, cornus, cytisus, deutzia, helichrysum lanatum, hibiscus syriacus, hypericum, ligustrum ovalifolium, lonicera nitida 'baggesen's gold', olearia haastii, paeonia suffruticosa, philadelphus, phlomis fruticosa, potentilla fruticosa, roses, spiraea, syringa, viburnum :- shrubs for shade – specified varieties of – arundinaria, aucuba japonica 'crotonifolia', berberis thunbergii, cornus, cotoneaster, elaeagnus pungens 'maculata', fatsia japonica, hydrangea, hypericum, ilex, mahonia, photinia fraseri 'red robin', skimmia, viburnum davidii :- hardy perennials for sunny positions – specified varieties of – achillea, agapanthus, allium, anchusa azurea, asphodeline lutea, aster, astrantia major, campanula, centaurea dealbata, chrysanthemum, coreopsis verticillata, crocosmia, delphinium, echinacea purpurea, echinops ritro, eryngium, euphorbia, helenium autumnale, helictotrichon sempervirens, hemerocallis, lilium, lupinus, lychnis, monarda didyma, paeonia, penstemon, phlox, phygelius, rheum, rudbeckia, scabiosa caucasica, thalictrum aquilegifolium, verbascum :- perennials for shade – specified varieties of – aconitum, anemone hybrida, aquilegia, astilbe, brunnera macrophylla, cimicifuga, dicentra, digitalis, geranium, helleborus corsicus, hosta, polygonatum, rheum, rodgersia
Front-of-border plants :- shrubs for sunny positions – specified varieties of – berberis thunbergii, cytisus kewensis, euonymus fortunei, fushia, genista pilosa, hebe, hypericum, lavandula, roses, santolina chamaecyparissus, senecio greyi, spiraea japonica :- shrubs for shade – specified varieties of – berberis, euonymous, sarcococca humilis, viburnum davidii :- perennials for sunny positions – specified varieties of – anaphalis triplinervis, anthemis, armeria, astilbe, bergenia, carex, dianthus, diascia cordata 'ruby field', euphorbia, geum, heuchera, iris, linum perenne, lychnis flos-jovis, molinia caerulea 'variegata', oenothera, phlox, potentilla, prunella webbiana, saponaria ocymoides, silene schafta, viola :- perennials for shade – specified varieties of – alchemilla mollis, aquilegia, astilbe, bergenia, chiastophyllum oppositifoliu, dicentra formosa, epimedium, helleborus, heucherella 'bridget bloom', hosta, liriope muscari, primula, pulmonaria, tiarella collina
Bulbs – out-of-reach bulbs - specified varieties of – acidanthera, allium, gladiolus, lilium, narcissus, tulipa
Bulbs – front-of-border bulbs - specified varieties of – allium, anemone, chionodoxa, colchicum, crocus, erythronium dens-canis, galanthus nivalis, muscari, narcissus, scilla
Raising from seed :- direct sowing, sowing in the greenhouse, sowing in modules, sowing perennials, sowing hardy annuals, sowing half-hardey annuals, sowing biennials, collecting seed
Propogation by cuttings :- cuttings of tender perennials, cuttings of shrubs, hardwood cuttings, another way with shrubs and herbaceous plants, division
Plants for the scree path– specified varieties of – acaena, antennaria dioica, arabis ferdinandi-coburgii 'variegata', arenaria balearica, armeria, campanula, frankenia, geranium, helichrysum bellidioides, mentha requienii, nierembergia repens, raoulia australis, saxifraga, sempervivum, thymus, veronica prostrata 'trehane'
Annuals :- hardy annuals – agrostemma, anchusa, bartonia, calendula, calliopsis, clarkia, convolvulus minor, eschscholzia, larkspur (delphinium solida), lavatera, limnanthes, nasturtium, phacelia, sunflower, sweet pea :- half-hardy annuals – ageratum, antirrhinum, aster, begonia, cineraria maritima, cosmos, dahlia, dianthus, gazania, impatiens, ipomoea, lobelia, french marigold, mimulus, nemesia, nicotiana, petunia, poppy, rudbeckia, tagetes, verbena
Tender perennials :- argyranthemum, chrysanthemum, cosmos atrosanguineum, dahlia, euryops pectinatus, fuchsia, nepeta govaniana, nicotiana langsdorfii, nicotiana langsdorfii, nicotiana sylvestris, osteospermum, pelargonium, salvia patens
Climbers :- aconitum volubile, actinidia chinensis, actinidia kolomikta, celastrus orbiculatus, clematis, eccremocarpus scaber, hedera, humulus lupulus ' aureus', jasminum nudiflorum, jasminum officinale, passiflora caerulea, rhodochiton atrosanguineum, roses, solanum crispum, sweet pea, tropaeolum tuberosum, vitis
Pool and bog plants :- necessary plants :- oxygenating plants - elodea crispa, ceratophyllum demersum :- aquatic plants – nymphaea pygmaea, nymphaea 'froebelii', nymphaea laydekeri, nymphaea 'james brydon', nymphaea marliacea, aponogeton distachyus, azolla caroliniana :- marginal and bog plants – acorus, arum italicum 'pictum', astilbe, caltha palustris, euphorbia palustris, gunnera manicata, iris, lobelia cardinalis, lysichiton, mimulus, myosotis scorpioides ' mermaid', primula, trollius
Attracting wildlife :- plants to attract birds, food plants for bees, plants to attract butterflies, plants to attract moths
Containers :- tubs and troughs – hanging baskets

Herbs

Balm (melissa officinalsis), sweet basil (ocimum basilicum), bush basil (ocimum minimum), bay (laurus nobilis), borage (borago officinalis), chervil (anthriscus cerefolium), chives (allium schoenoprasum), dill (anethum graveolens), fennel (foeniculum vulgare), garlic (allium sativum), lovage (levisticum officinale), pot marjoram (origanum onites), sweet marjoram (origanum majorana), oregano (origanum vulgare), mint (mentha rotundifolia), parsley (petroselinum crispum), rosemary (rosmarinus officinalis), sage (salvia officinalis), summer savory (satureia hortensis), winter savory (satureia montana), tarragon (artemisia dracunculus), thyme (thymus vulgaris)

Vegetables

Planning a continuity of produce :- selecting what to grow
Choosing varieties
Feeding
Sowing
The vegetables – varieties of – sowing – planting and harvesting of :- asparagus, globe artichokes, jerusalem artichokes, aubergines, broad beans, french beans, runner beans, beetroot, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, spring cabbage, summer cabbage, late summer and autumn and winter cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, chicory, chinese cabbage, courgettes, cucumbers, fennel, kale, kohl rabi, land cress, leeks, lettuces, marrows – squashes and cucumbers, onions, salad onions, pickling onions, shallots, parsnips, hamburg parsley, peas, peppers, radish, potatoes, salsify and scorzonera, spinach, swede, sweet corn, swiss chard, tomatoes, turnips

Tree fruit

Buying trees
Tree shapes :- cordons, fans, espaliers, step-overs, pillars, lollipops, :- supports
Apples :- varieties :- early-flowering varieties – discovery, katy, james grieve, jupiter, fiesta, kent, bramley's seedling :- late flowering varieties – merton charm, orleans reinette, ashmeads kernel, suntan, howgate wonder :- rootstocks – M27, MM106 :- planting :- pruning – cordons, espaliers, step-overs, lollipops :- nicking and notching :- feeding :- thinning :- harvesting ans storing
Pears :- varieties :- early-flowering varieties – conference, williams bon chretien, beth, merton pride :- late-flowering varieties – gorham, onward, doyenne du comice :- rootstocks – quince A and quince C :- planting :- pruning :- frost protection :- harvesting and storing
Quinces :- varieties :- rootstocks – own :- planting :- pruning :- harvesting and storing
Peaches :- peach varieties – duke of york, peregrine, rochester, :- nectarine varieties – early rivers, lord napier :- rootstocks :- planting :- pruning :- cultivation :- harvesting
Plums and apricots :- varieties – denniston's superb, czar, victoria, marjorie's seedling, moorpark :- rootstocks :- planting :- pruning :- cultivation :- harvesting
Cherries :- varieties :- rootstocks :- planting :- pruning :- cultivation :- harvesting
Citrus fruits :- types and varieties – oranges, mandarin oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit :- planting, cultivation, pruning, harvesting and storing
Mulberries :- varieties :- planting :- pruning :- harvesting
Medlars :- varieties :- rootstocks :- planting :- pruning :- harvesting

Soft fruit – and some others

Buying plants
Making space
Problems
Strawberries :- varieties – pantagruella, idil, elsanta, hapil, pandora, aromel, serenata :- planting :- cultivation :- harvesting :- forcing :- container growing
Blackcurrants :- varieties – ben sarek, ben more, ben lomond :- planting :- pruning :- cultivation :- harvesting :- propagation
Gooseberries, red currants, white currants :- varietries :- planting, pruning, cultivation, harvesting, propagation
Raspberries :- summer-fruiting varieties – glen clova, glen prosen, malling leo :- supports :- planting :- cultivation :- pruning :- autumn-fruiting varieties :- harvesting
Briar fruits :- varieties – ashton cross, medana tayberry, LY654 :- planting :- training :- cultivation :- harvesting
Rhubarb :- varieties – early victoria, cawood delight :- planting :- cultivation :- forcing :- harvesting
Grapes :- varieties for outside – madeleine angevine, mueller-thurgau, siegerebbe, brandt :- varieties for inside – black hamburg, buckland sweetwater, muscat of alexandria, :- planting :- training :- cultivation :- harvesting
Melons :- varieties – sweetheart, ogen :- raising :- cultivation :- harvesting

Control of pests, weeds and diseases

Husbandry :- rotation
Encouraging your allies
Physical pest controls :- carrot-fly, winter moths, vine weevil, peach leaf curl
Resistant varieties
Biological pest control :- caterpillars, silverleaf disease, whitefly, red spider mite
Special methods of pest control :- slugs, codling moth, wireworms, earwigs, flea beetles, whitefly, club root, root rots, apple canker, fireblight
Controlling weeds