Thomas Jefferson was an astute observer of the natural world. The daily activities of sowing seeds, manuring, and harvesting between 1809 and 1826 are precisely recorded in the "Garden Kalendar" in his famous Garden Book. Jefferson was often the detached scientist in the Kalendar. He faithfully recorded his failures, including that his Hotspur peas were "killed by frost Oct. 23," or that his yellow squash "came to nothing." He also recorded remarkable details about plantings and harvests, such as in 1811 when he recorded detailed notes on how the Asparagus beans were planted: "2/3 pint sow a large square, rows 2 1/2 feet apart and 1 f. and 18 I. apart in the row, one half at each distance."
For Jefferson, the vegetable garden served as a laboratory where he experimented with plants from around the world. His goal was to find new varieties that thrived in the United States, and at Monticello. These included imported squashes and broccoli from Italy, beans and salsify collected by the Lewis and Clark expedition, figs from France, and peppers from Mexico. Although he grew as many as twenty varieties of beans and fifteen types of English peas, his use of the scientific method selectively eliminated inferior kinds. As he wrote: "I am curious to select one or two of the best species or variety of every garden vegetable, and to reject all others from the garden to avoid the dangers of mixing or degeneracy."
Jefferson the Gardener
The vegetable garden was an important part of the plantation. Enslaved workers cultivated vegetables and fruits year-round to provide produce for the main house. Yet Jefferson also designed his plantings for aesthetic reasons and incorporated ornamental features. He discussed planting an arbor of different flowering shades of the scarlet runner bean, arranged adjacent rows of purple, white, and green sprouting broccoli, mixed white and purple eggplant, and bordered his tomato square with sesame or okra, a rather unusual juxtaposition of plant textures. Cherry trees were also planted along the "long, grass walk" of the garden to provide shade
Salads were an important part of Jefferson's diet, and the garden included many varieties of salad ingredients. He noted the planting of lettuce and radishes every two weeks throughout the growing season, and grew interesting greens such as orach, corn salad, endive, and nasturtiums. He also planted sesame to produce salad oil.
Although the English pea is considered his favorite vegetable, he also cherished figs, asparagus, French artichokes, and such "new" vegetables as tomatoes, eggplant, broccoli, and cauliflower. Among the more unusual plants grown at Monticello was sea kale (Crambe maritima), a perennial cabbage-like vegetable prized by Jefferson, whose spring sprouts were blanched with clay pots, then cut and prepared like asparagus.
Thomas Jefferson's Garden Book turns 250!
