The Walled Kitchen Garden

Details

Other features

A centrally placed ‘dipping pond', often placed at the intersection of the crossing paths, was a typical feature of walled kitchen gardens. They were useful, as well as being attractive, and were so-called because the gardeners, before the introduction of hosepipes, could dip and fill their watering cans within easy reach of the crops.

Water could also be siphoned into hand-drawn water barrows and trundled around the garden to wherever it was needed. If there was no natural water supply, the run-off from the glasshouses and other structures was drained into the pond.

Bee-boles were sometimes built into the walls for the bee skeps. Bees were essential for the fertilisation of the fruit blossom. Other features that might be found, but were not necessarily the norm, include sundials, pergolas, seats and fountains.