The Food History Programme (formerly Historic Foodways) for which the City of Toronto’s museums are justly famous was started at Fort York in the 1980s, and it carries on today with the Volunteer Historic Cooking Group under the direction of programme officer Bridget Wranich. Several attempts have been made to complement this programming by interpreting an officers’ mess kitchen garden that would have supplied fresh food to the officers while in garrison. In 2010, the Friends of Fort York joined with city staff, volunteers, and the Evergreen Foundation to revive the Volunteer Historic Gardening Programme by building and maintaining raised garden beds in the northwest bastion of the fort.
One important document for interpreting the gardens at Fort York is an 1813 “Plan of Rebuilding” by George Williams that placed a large fenced garden in the northwest bastion. The garden was composed of individual plots of varying sizes separated by paths of circulation, which suggests that the garden beds were raised, a common form during the Georgian period. David Spittal (former Fort York Archaeologist and now Project Manager for the City of Toronto) has estimated the size of the garden to be just over one-third of an acre. That particular garden had been planted for the lieutenant-governor, whose residence occupied the site of the fort until April 1813, when it was destroyed during the Battle of York.
While it is not known exactly what was grown in the first garden planted at Fort York, there are historical sources that indicate what types of plants and seeds could be purchased in the early nineteenth century. One of the earliest known Toronto advertisements is that of merchant Quetton St. George, who listed numerous kinds of sweet herb and vegetable seeds for sale in the York Gazette of 20 February 1808. While today’s gardener can chose from seed catalogues that list a myriad of varieties for any given type of vegetable, Quetton St. George’s list did not specify varieties for many of the vegetables. Where more than one variety was available, he qualified the name of the vegetable by providing a descriptor such “early purple” bean, or “winter” cabbage, or “long” cucumber. Some vegetables such as carrots, lettuce, and celery did not receive any further description. Twenty years later, William Custead of Toronto Township advertised for sale an expanded list of vegetable seeds with names familiar to those who grow heirlooms today, such as “Early Frame” cucumber and “Hollow Crown” parsnip.
In planning the garden, William Woys Weaver’s book Heirloom Vegetable Gardening also was consulted to confirm what varieties available today are closest genetically to those available 200 years ago, given that these are open-pollinated varieties that are prone to genetic change from generation to generation. Also important was consideration of the types of vegetables commonly used in Georgian-period recipes. Thus, a list of vegetables was compiled and a garden seed shopping list created that was based on the types of vegetables that are appropriate for use by the cooks animating the historic 1826 officers’ mess kitchen.
The current project is modest, starting with eight garden squares, each of which is 8′ x 8′ in size. In addition to being period-correct, the raised beds also protect the archaeological remains of the Rebellion Barracks, a building that was located in the northwest bastion between 1838 and 1934. The garden beds were constructed in May 2010 from 2″ x 10″ untreated hemlock boards sawn into 8′ lengths and joined together in butt joints with period reproduction “rosehead” spikes made by a Toronto blacksmith. The design was conceived by Historic Site Technician Chris Laverton, who also fashioned wooden stakes to be driven into the ground outside the boxes to keep them from shifting in place. Paths of circulation 3′ wide were placed between the squares to allow for access by visitors to Fort York in wheelchairs. The beds were lined with a permeable barrier cloth and filled with triple mix soil. Seedlings for three varieties of cabbage and two of lettuce provided by City of Toronto Horticulturist Wendy Woodworth were planted on May 20-21, along with red-seeded citron seedlings I started from seeds saved from a melon grown at Doon Heritage Crossroads and used in the first “Mad for Marmalade” event hosted at Fort York in 2008.
More additions to the garden were made during Doors Open on May 29 when Chantenay carrots, Hollow Crown Improved parsnips, Blue Coco pole beans, West India burr gherkins, yellow onion sets, salsify, nasturtiums, and calendula were direct-seeded. On June 1, sweet herb plants such as basil, sage, curled parsley, English thyme, and rosemary were set out in a square previously seeded with Scarlet Runner beans. Harvest began with the lettuces, and carried through the summer and fall as staff and the Volunteer Historic Cooks used the produce in cooking demonstrations, workshops, and special events such as the Conscious Food Festival in August.
It is hoped that period appropriate tools, outbuildings, and more garden squares will be added as the Historic Gardening Programme takes root and flourishes, and allows another dimension of garrison life to be interpreted at Fort York.
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