Lessons from early American gardens worth repeating today

I recently stepped back in time a few hundred years.

My crew and I were in historic Williamsburg, Va., for the taping of three episodes of “GardenSMART.” In one particular show, our purpose was to feature gardens and gardening practices from the 1700s. To the casual observer, the look of those historic gardens may have appeared very similar to what we see today. But gardening was quite different back then, and it didn’t take long to learn just how challenging it was to even bring a garden to harvest in those days.

The modern conveniences we enjoy today were not an option in those earlier times, so they did things the “old-fashioned” way. Thoroughly prepping the soil, adding compost and manure and proactively monitoring the garden — this was simply how it was, and those important steps were never passed over. Natural fertilizers and organic pest-control methods kept gardens looking good, beneficial insect populations high and food crops pesticide-free.

Back then, even having a garden was the exception rather than the rule. Gardens were a sign of status. The things we take for granted today, like turning on the spigot for instant access to water, weren’t in existence then. Instead, water had to be brought in from the closest source. Even if you were fortunate enough to have a well, pulling water up a shaft at 25 pounds per bucket load was an exhausting endeavor for even the strongest worker. In either case, getting water to the garden was time-consuming and labor-intensive.

Imagine life without tomatoes. In the 1700s, they were still a crop of suspect and rarely grown. If they were part of the garden, their presence was typically limited to only a few plants. Space was precious and reserved only for the most productive crops. Tomatoes in cultivation were vastly different and much inferior to what we know and love today. In fact, they were never eaten as we enjoy them now. Instead, they were used exclusively in sauces and only then on occasion. I can only imagine how much space might have been devoted to growing tomatoes if people could have planted varieties such as Sweet 100, Beefsteak or Brandywine. I suspect their gardens would look a lot more like ours.

On the other hand, there was one thing they seemed to have a lot more of than any of us do today — time. Time to pay attention to the important things, like staying more in touch with how their garden was growing.

We reach for the “quick fix” without much thought as to the price being paid to our long-term health and that of our garden and the environment beyond. Thankfully, more and more of us are becoming better stewards of the land, growing our own vegetables and fruits and gardening without chemicals.

That’s one part of history I’m happy to repeat. Just please don’t take away my tomatoes!

Joe Lamp’l, host of “Fresh From the Garden” on the DIY Network and “GardenSMART” on PBS, is a master gardener and author. For more information, visit www.joegardener.com and www.DIYnetwork.com. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service