Gardening was Thomas Jefferson's obsession and love for the 50 years that Monticello was his home. It was Jefferson's avid belief that the emerging republic must be aware of the need to preserve and enrich the land. An early conservationist, he introduced contour plowing and crop rotation to fellow Virginians. In order to preserve as much rich top soil as possible, Jefferson designed a plow fitted with a moldboard that created the least resistance to soil. The plow was widely implemented and became known as the Jefferson Plow. In his "History of Horticulture in America to 1860," U.P. Hendrick wrote: "Every Southerner knew of the agricultural and horticultural practices at Mount Vernon and Monticello." Jefferson created a "ferme ornée," —ornamental farm—at Monticello, his mountaintop home located just outside of Charlottesville, Virginia, by combining the practical and the ornamental. He actively sought plants that were both productive and attractive. Scarlet runner beans were trained to cover a wooden arbor, their lavender flowers and purple-green pods providing food, beauty and shade from the intense summer sun. Jefferson liked to plant okra around his tomatoes for the contrast in foliage and was fond of the color combination of purple and white eggplants.
Jefferson cultivated eight acres of vegetable garden, orchard, vineyard and berry squares. The vegetable garden, 80 feet wide and 1,000 feet long, was carved from the southeastern hillside to provide warmth and lessen the danger of spring and fall frost. The hillside was supported by a huge stone wall, which reached 12 feet in the middle section.
According to Peggy Newcomb, assistant director of gardens and grounds, the garden is now much as it was at its peak year, 1812.
"We try to be true to the spirit of the garden, " notes Newcomb, "and re-create it as much as possible to the way it was when Jefferson gardened here. For instance. we grow sea kale, a member of the cabbage family native to England, which was one of Jefferson's favorite vegetables. We know from his notes that he ordered 500 kale pots from England for his plants. The pots resemble large ceramic flower pots with lids attached. The pots would blanch the kale and the lids were used to check the progress of the plants."
Jefferson grew more than 250 varieties of vegetables and herbs. They reflect his wide range of interests. When Jefferson commissioned Lewis and Clark to explore the vast Northwest Territory, he instructed them to collect plants and seeds.
And while always eager to introduce new varieties to his garden, Jefferson was also ruthless in dispensing with those that did not do well in Virginia's climate or were subject to disease. Jefferson wrote, "I am curious to select only one or two of the best species or variety of every garden vegetable and reject all others from the garden to avoid the dangers of mixing or degeneracy."
Jefferson's desire was to have a year-round source of fresh vegetables. Toward this end he planted winter growing greens—mustard, turnips and kale as well as the lesser-known com salad and orach, a type of spinach that was popular in colonial America. Jefferson, an advocate of having meals that featured vegetarian dishes, wrote to Dr. Vine Utley in 1819, "I have lived temperately, eating little animal food. and that ... as a condiment for the vegetables which constitute my principal diet."
That Jefferson took an active interest in his garden is evident from the many letters he wrote his daughter, Martha, concerning the garden. In 1793, he replied to her letter in which she stated the garden did poorly due to insect damage:
We will try this winter to cover the garden with a heavy coating of manure. When the earth is rich it bids defiance to droughts, yields in abundance, and of the best quality. I suspect that the insects which have harassed you have been encouraged by the feebleness of your plants; and that has been produced by the lean state of the soil. We will attack them another year with Joint efforts.
Like all gardeners. Jefferson experienced first-hand the havoc of animals who consider gardens prime grazing sites. As always, Jefferson had a solution to the problem, and, as usual, there was no leeway for error. He ordered his carpenters to build "a paling (wood fence) 10 foot high ... the pales of chestnut generally from five to seven inches wide, and should be so near as to not let even a hare in." Jefferson also used plants to keep pests away. He would often have a patch of castor beans, which along with being ornamental, are poisonous to many animals and are believed to keep moles away.
Jefferson's favorite vegetable was the English pea, of which he grew 15 varieties. He grew them on the northwest border of the garden, planting them in February. An early planting was important to Jefferson as he had yearly contests with neighboring gardeners on who would have the first peas to "come to table." The winner would invite the others to dinner. which, of course, featured the young peas.
Introduced to tomatoes while serving as minister to France, Jefferson was one of few Americans to eat them. Most believed tomatoes were poisonous and Jefferson would occasionally delight in startling guests by eating the "poisonous fruit."
Especially after his retirement. Jefferson found both solace and enchantment in his garden. One month after leaving Washington he wrote:
I am constantly in my garden. As exclusively employed out of doors as I was within door in Washington, and I find myself infinitely happier in my new mode of life.
Today, when shadows begin to fall and a faint breeze stirs, it's easy to picture Jefferson strolling the garden path checking the progress of his peas. Like the evening mist that so often covers the rolling countryside, the spirit of Jefferson envelopes Monticello.
Margene Hucek, who lives and writes in Charlottesville, Virginia, wishes to acknowledge the assistance of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation Inc., which owns and operates Monticello.