Several hundred years ago the emerging gardens of Great Britain employed the benefits of what became known as the 'walled garden.' Today we can enjoy those same benefits by planting within the ‘walls' of an old building.
I have seen this done successfully in the foundation of an old Canadian barn. In this case, the ‘shed' or repair shop of street cars now serves as the ‘walls' for a garden that grows in the centre of the city of Toronto.
The benefits are:
- an extended growing season – plants are placed out earlier and harvested later than normal
- protection from wind – providing for unblemished fruit and opportunities to grow otherwise tender plants in a cold growing zone [like pineapples!]
- security – no ‘fruit poachers'
- raised beds that attract and ‘hold' the power of the sun by day and radiate that power into the soil at night – again, extending the growing season.
- Wall space to grow vertical fruiting plants
In my dreams I have a large walled garden just like this, where I grow my own ‘secret garden'!"
Mark
