Latest Blog Post: 05 May 2009
The Family Kitchen Garden
THE FAMILY KITCHEN GARDEN
by Karen Liebreich, Jutta Wagner and Annette Wendland
Price: £16.99
Publication date: 14th May 2009
“Five years ago one of us climbed over a wall and discovered a secret garden, overgrown and neglected for decades . . . it was a jungle of bindweed and bramble, lying just fifty metres from one of the busiest main roads linking central London to its principal airport, a long-forgotten corner of the grounds of Chiswick House.” From the introduction
Five years ago Karen Liebreich, Jutta Wagner, Annette Wendland and others began to restore this secret garden – a neglected seventeenth-century kitchen garden - at Chiswick House in west London, bringing in hundreds of local schoolchildren to work and learn and garden and eat. This book is the fruit of that experience. With the emphasis on what will be fun to grow and suitable for a family, it provides clear instructions on growing vegetables, fruit, herbs and cutting flowers, and month-by-month advice on what to do when as well passing on child-relevant tips on how to garden with children so that both the adult and the child enjoy it! There are recipes using homegrown fruit and veg that kids (as well as adults) will want to make and eat - from oriental summer rolls and homemade ketchup to parsnip crisps and fruit ice lollies - and projects that are accessible to the whole family, such as building a ladybird nesting house and weaving a willow wigwam for climbing plants. (...
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The blog ...
In Brief ...
The walled gardens at Chiswick House date from 1682, when they were created by Sir Stephen Fox,
boss to Samuel Pepys and financier to Charles II. In 1812 they were added to the neighbouring grounds
of the more famous Chiswick House (history ...). After Chiswick House and Grounds were purchased by public subscription in 1929 the Kitchen Garden faded from memory, being left neglected and closed to the public. One day a local resident climbed over the wall ...
Chiswick House Kitchen Garden started work as an association in early 2005, completely volunteer-led and
run, dedicated to reviving the gardens and teaching local children (and adults) about
horticulture and growing food. We aim to restore the two-and-a-half acre walled gardens to a state of beauty,
productivity and sustainability (our objects).
We run drop-in sessions every week, open work sessions once a month, open
days for all to come and look, gardening sessions for local schoolchildren during the
week, after-school gardening clubs, teenagers' Duke of Edinburgh sessions, green gym
digging work-outs, etc etc.
You are most welcome to contact us and to visit.
Please check out the latest developments on TDK's blog,
make a note of when to come and do some work, or visit the gardens on one of the Open Days.
