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Concept
Monastic garden
Summary
A monastic garden was used by many people and for multiple purposes. Gardening was the chief source of food for households, but also encompassed orchards, cemeteries and pleasure gardens, as well as providing plants for medicinal and cultural uses. For monasteries, gardens were especially important in supplying the monks livelihood, primarily due to the fact that many of the plants had multiple uses: for instance, peaches were used for closing wounds.
Concerning the structure of the gardens, they often were enclosed with fences, walls or hedges in order to protect them from wild animals. Even though wealthier monasteries could construct walls that were made out of stone and brick, wattle fences were used by all classes and were the most common type of fence. Occasionally, bushes were also used as fencing, as they provided both food and protection to the garden. Gardens were typically arranged to allow for visitors, and were constructed with pathways for easy access. However, it was not uncommon for the gardens to outgrow the monastery walls, and many times the gardens extended outside of the monastery and would eventually include vineyards as well.
Incorporating irrigation and water sources was critical to keeping the garden alive. In some more complicated systems, the irrigation system used canals to control water-flow. This required that the water source be placed at the highest part of the garden so gravity could aid in the distribution of the water, with smaller canal channels branching out for greater distribution. This was more commonly used with raised bed gardens, as the channels could run in the pathways next to the beds.
When it came to the action of gardening itself, monks of this time typically would use astronomy and the stars to help in calculating the best time of year to plant their gardens as well as the best time to harvest. The tools that were used at the time were similar to those gardeners use today; for example, shears, rakes, hoes, spades, baskets, and wheel barrows were used by monks and are still pivotal to gardening today.
Official source
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